The end of the roadtrip

We left Prince Edward Island, with snow on our window! amazing the weather here, it was 3 degrees and when we got back to New Brunswick it was warm again. We had to cross the Confederation Bridge, which was build 10 years ago and crosses 12km of river, it's pretty impressive and very long for a bridge.



We headed to Fundy Bay, that's between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, where you can watch the watertides, which reaches sometimes a difference of 45 feet (I think that's around 15 metres). They say this is the highest tide in the world and it goes pretty fast. We stood there for one hour and you could see the water coming in a metre every 10 minutes.



The rest of the day and the day after we spend in Fundy National Park, which is located along the bay. It offers some nice forests, lakes, views and animals off course (which made my friend a bit uncomfortable this time considering our last meeting with the black bear :-) ). We dared to camp one more night, but it was freezing cold (around 2 degrees) and because of the rain the last weeks all the wood was very wet, which made it very difficult to keep the fire burning, but we survived and our camping equipment was usefull one more time (defenitely the extra blanket we bought).





In the late afternoon we drove back to Quebec, because on the 26th we have to be back in Montreal to drop the car off and that was still around 900km away. On our way we passed the longest house bridge in the world, woodstock and we had some great views over the Apalachian Mountains.


We stranded in Riviere du Loup and had to speak French again, although the slang they speak on the other east part wasn't English either. It was more a funny dialect mixing Frech and English with a funny tone, very difficult to understand.
So now I'm sitting in Quebec city, which is a very beautiful city, with an old town to cruise around in, some nice restaurants and pubs, but very fancy as well. At the moment we drove more then 6000km already and if you look on the map, it looks like we haven't seen a thing, such a huge country. I'm swetting like a pig as well because overhere it's 30 degrees at the moment, which is a bit to much for me (I'm sure that all the people who know me well can agree with me on that matter). But we shouldn't be complaining, we had only a copple of days of rain, so we've been very lucky untill now.
It's end of May now and you do notice a difference of the amount of people who are walking around in the city. The tourist season is starting and frankly that brings the pleasure of travelling down a bit, so folks if you ever deceide to travel to Canada, avoid july and august and if you can go in may or oktober.

Atlantic canada

Thanks to our locals we got some tips of things we should visit in New Brunswick and our first stop is Magnetic Hill. It's a small animation park just of the highway that we're following. At first sight there's nothing much special to see, just a small hill and a sign with instructions which you need to follow. The attraction is to drive down the hill, put your car in neutral and then just watch and see. What happens then is directly against all laws of nature, the car actually drives up the hill again without doing anything. It sounds pretty stupid but when you see it, you just don't get it and we were like little children who tried it over and over. Normally you even have to pay for this during the high season and I can amagine there's a traffic jam as well on top of that. Luckely for us it's still very quiet everywhere, so entrance for free.

New Brunswick isn't a very big provence so we arrived later on that day to Halifax, the capital of Nuova Scotia. This Provence lies directly at the Atlantic ocean and although it doesn't look that big on the map it's still much bigger then Belgium.
We stayed here in a cosy Bed and Breakfast, because apparantly it was a Canadian holiday this weekend and so all the hostels were booked.
With the crowd also came the shitty weather. The whole city was in the fog. It lies at the ocean but you couldn't see any further then 20 metres, even when we were passing the bridge towards the city we couldn't see a thing. This is also the first rain we have in weeks, so we can't really complain, but now we're a bit limited with our activities.
We first visited a small fisher village, Peggy's cove, south of Halifax, which has a lighthouse that supposed to be the most picturised in the world. The village itself has only a population of 40, but in summer you can't even see them anymore.
We drove on to Lunenburg, which is also a fisher village and the whole town is unesco protected. They have some old houses, English style and they are famous for lobster. Actually the whole atlantic area is famous for that and you can already eat lobster for 15 dollars if you want.



Because of the bad weather we deceided to drive on to Prince Edward Island, the smallest province of Canada, and skip Cape Breton (North from Nuova scotia), we can't see everyhting anyway. We took the ferry to PEI and found a great hostel in Charlottetown. Some people told us that we could do the island in one day, but again the distances look so much smaller on the map then in reality. They have heeps of birds here and off course a lot of beaches. Blue Herrons, eagles, Seals, Lobster,... all that you can find here. Now that we came this far we deceided to play the real tourist and treated ourselves with a huge fish dinner, lobster included. Eating lobster isn't the easiest thing to do, but tasty mmm... and damn cheap overhere.
Satisfied and full, that's how i feel right now.


Now serious again :-)

Thank you Miramichi!

After making some stops at unusual rockformations (an Indianhead and a famous one in Perce) into the Gulf and after tasting the famous Quebec speciality 'poutine', which is fries with cheese and meat sauce (actually just spaghetti bolognaise but then with fries, which is not bad), we left Quebec behind us and entered a new Province, New Brunswick (our third in Canada).



The plan was to drive to another National Park and to camp there for one night, but our drive took a bit longer then expected. By the time it got dark we ended up in Miramichi, a town in the middle east of New Brunswick. We got some fuel, then deceided to get some coffee and donuts and then we thought just fuck it let's go to a pub and we can stay in the car for one night (at least if we move some of our stuff, it's amazing how fast you collect junk in the car and after a copple of days a car which can seet 5 people only fits 2 anymore).
So that's what we did, went to an Irish pub (which they have everywhere, with live music and is always fun) and got drunk with some locals we met there. There was a band playing 'Mooseknuckle', just some local guys who wanted some fun. The name explains why they don't want to hear themselves on the radio. For those who don't know; a mooseknuckle is the male version of a camel toe and believe me girls we don't want that! For those who still doesn't know what it means, I've put on a link, just click on the title ;-)
Anyway they were lovely people and by the end of the night we even had the choice between 3 different places to stay the night. Well the night became a morning and at least we had our first sunrise in Canada.

Fierce Creatures

It's been a while since I posted my last news, but I haven't had any chance untill now to get to an internet connection, but don't worrie I'll not forget you guys. At this moment a lot of things already happened, the last time you've looked I was still in Montreal, planning to get my next bus to Quebec city. The plans has changed a bit though and right now I'm sitting in a hostel in the farest Northern point of Quebec. The bus trip with the Moose network has been delayed for an unknown period and instead I rented a car with a friend of mine, who deceided in a moment of crazyness, to come overhere for 3 weeks. The first days of his arrival we shopped around to find a cheap deal and even tried to find a real campervan (but that wasn't for our budget and even not for our drivingskills, 30 feet is a bit to lang for 2 people). We ended up renting a nice American car with the company "rent a wreck", which isn't this bad as it sounds like. So 1000 dollars and 2 days later we finally started our roadtrip. The first stop was a National Park west from Montreal, Algonquin Park, where we camped for 3 days. Yep we also bought ourselves a really cheap tent, one sleepingmat (considering the size of our tent, one matrass was plenty enough :-) ) and something to cook some easy travellers food. The high touristic season starts in juin, so we had almost the all park for ourselves. It was great, the sounds of birds, the frogs, the stars in the sky and a nice campfire to warm us up a bit. We did a copple of walks, saw a lot of beaverdams (no beavers though), a lot of moose, squirls, snakes, turtles (who apparantly also live there, I even saved one from crossing the street on his slow paste), rabbits, some strange chickens who make a noice like a starting engine (this is something we found out after a one hour chase after a beaver, what in the end seemed to be a bird), ... and so on. The wildlife is indeed amazing here in Canada and on these 3 days I saw more animals then 6 weeks of holiday in Scandinavia (the landscape is a bit simular with Sweden, the lakes en the forest).
After this campingtrip we had to go back to the city life again and went on our way to Toronto again. Yes very stupid because I just came that way, but well my friend had to see the Niagara Falls as well. So my second visit in a short time, but defenitelly worth while. It has been only 3 weeks since I was there the first time but everything had already changed. A lot more tourist, everything was packed, the boots were working as well and of course now you had to pay a lot more then before.
On the way there we also passed a very pitoresk village, Niagara on the lake, where they have some good wine vinegards and an old village centre.
Spending the evening then in a city outside Toronto, Milton, where we had a small reunion with John and a friend of my travelcompanion (who know lives in America but was in Toronto for work) and where we had the chance to stay in a nice hotel for a change. The huge bed (American size) made it all worth while.
Enough civilasation for then and on the road again back towards Quebec, but off course first we got aqueented with the Highways of Canada. It's amazing how difficult they make it. On the Highway around Toronto they have 16 lanes (two ways) with so many different entrees and exits that it wouldn't be possible to drive the right way from the first time. The same thing in Montreal and Quebec where we also made a bit of a detour before catching the correct Highway and direction (because everything is marked with east, west, south and north but it's not always that logical).
Now after 2 days of driving, shopping for food and some other equipment to use during our journey (that's something we always figure out when it's actually to late) we managed to get up North of Quebec. The drive was very nice, along the coast line of the big St. Lawrence river that then ends up in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Not only the landscape has changed but also the weather. Up here the spring hasn't really started yet, so it's pretty cold and you can still see some snow here and there. We wisely deceided then to sleep in a hostel during our stay here, because camping might not go that well here.
We spended 2 days here in a small National Park, Forillon, which is also great to see wildlife and to enjoy the ocean's fresh air. I've learned already some interesting facts about porkypines, who live here with heeps and apparantly also live in the trees. If you look at the creature it looks so clumpsy and slow that you can't really imagine it sleeping in a tree, but it does. Then we learned about he black bears who also live here in high amounts. On these 2 days we saw 4 black bears and believe me when I say it was a bit from to close by. I would never had thought it was that easy to see one, but everytime when we started our walks after 1km we walked into a bear on the path. The theory is to walk back slowly, not to look in his eyes, clap your hands a bit and then it should go away, but one of the bears was really interested and didn't want to leave us alone untill we got back to the car. Very exciting all to see it from a distance, but this was a bit to exciting. Beside the bears we also saw a moose again, some seals who were swimming along the coast and some speedy consales birds (who managed to get to a speed of 100km/h).
It's just all to much to talk about, but the pictures will say it all. I hope to be able to put them on my blog soon so that you all can enjoy these great animals.

Quebec - Je me souviens

Today my third day in Montreal, which is actually an island, and i've pretty much seen everyhting there is to see. The first day I walked around in the old centre of Montreal, saw some very nice buildings, the cathedrale of Notre Dam, actually they are trying to make a second version of France, although I don't think they succeeded well. You see some big contrasts between the very modern, high buildings and then beside that there's an old church or something, amusing! Montreal is divided in a copple of area's, like the latin quarter, chinqtown, the village (the gay area), downtown, ... and every area has his own things to do and to see.
At the boarder of the city there's a very big park, parc du Mont Royal, where you can walk around, have a nice view over the city or just lie in the grass for the whole day. They have some nice cycling paths as well through out the whole city and besides the old port, which is the largest fresh water port in the world. You can cross one of the big bridges and pay a visit to the islands as well, where there's a big theme park, a big plastic ball that's called the biosphere and you can cycle around on the racing track of the formula 1 track.
The second day we went to the Olympic park. They have a big stadion for over 70000 people, which has been used at the olympic games in 1976. It's a funny design with a big tour, on which you have a great view over the city and the St. Laurence river, and normally they are able to open the roof of the stadion but it doesn't really work. Besides the stadion there's the Biodome, which is actually an indoor zoo. They've created the rainforest, the antartic and some other nature enviroments.
I also now witnessed the nightlife in Montreal, which is packed and very diversed. Together with a whole international group of the hostel (Australians, Swiss, Germans, Argentinian, English, ...). We actually had to look for some good places and even then it was difficult to get in, because there were so many people. Like in every city, everybody comes outside on friday or saturday. Finally we found a nice pub where we sat on the roof terrase all night long, the summer is finally coming!
Anyway that's the story about Montreal for now. I've met already some nice people, like a Swiss guy who started his cycle trip in december 2005 in Argentinia and cycled all the way up to here and is gonna continue his trip till Alaska, cross to Russia and then further to Switserland, talking about courage! I've put his website on my links, so have a look.

Let the travels begin!

On Tuesday, 1ste of May, the lazy life finally came to an end. John dropped me off in Toronto at the Global village backpackers and that's when the adventure started. It was a nice hostel in the centre of the city, but it was strange to be the backbacker again. Although it's so much fun as well, because everyone who's there knows how you're feeling and has felt exactly the same thing before.
After a good night of sleep, I left with the moose bus on wednesday morning towards Montreal. The first person I start talking to is an Australian guy (from Melbourne), Peter, who just spend the whole winterseason at lake Louise as a ski instructor, and guess what? he worked in Falls Creek as well last year in Australia, together with Selina, the friend that Lynn and me picked up last summer in Australia. Isn't that hilarious, such a small world!
(for those who don't really know Selina or Lynn, skip this part)
Back to our bus tour: we made a first stop at the big apple, an enormous statue of an apple, where you can also buy famous apple pie. They have sold almost 3 million of them and believe me when I say it's quiet good.
Our next adventure was a boot trip around the 1000 islands on a big river (looks more like a lake) somewhere around Kingston and Gananoque (for those who know some of the places here). Half of the islands is on the Canadian site and the other half is on American ground, which give you funny situations like the smallest bridge in the world that is a boardercrossing as well. There's also a very beatiful castle on an island, which has the shape of a hart, build by a rich person ages ago for his wife, but his wife never got to see it finished because she died. If you do want to visit the castle you first have to pass the boarder customs because it's American property.
After this lovely cruise we're hadding to Montreal, where we finish the day with a nice beer and some cheap food. Apparantly the Quebec service isn't that friendly as in Ontario. In a bar or restaurant in Canada they always assume that you'll leave a tip from 15% of the bill, but here in Quebec provence the waiters don't earn much money, so they really ask for the tip if you don't give them enough. It's unbelievable and so rude, but for them it's very normal. At least that's one new custom i learned today.