Canadian Maritime Provinces

2 August –

We drove off Mount Desert Island and Acadia NP heading north up the scenic coast road. It was a lovely drive with many views of the coast and passed blueberry farms. We drove up the USA side of Fundy Bay and stopped at a state park at Cobscook Bay where we had an isolated site in the trees. It was a short walk to the bay where we started to get a sense of the huge tides in this area. We will see more of this in the next few days. Collected some firewood for a good fire.

3 August –

We continued up Fundy Bay and at the top crossed the USA/Canada border into New Brunswick with a ½ hour wait at customs. There was a change in time zone from Eastern Seaboard to Atlantic Time which we did not expect. At the visitors centre we picked up maps and information for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.  We found a Provincial Park at New River Beach and were allocated a sloping site with power. There was a lovely beach with golden sand looking a bit like Kaiteriteri. If you think the tide goes out at Kaiteri you should see this place. Max tides in the Able Tasman are 5m, this place 12m. The whole bay just empties!! It was a nice walk along the beach but we were not tempted for a swim. The temperature is now quite cool as we have passed the 45^th parallel. The locals were not put off however.  Time was spent this afternoon planning our trip through this part of Canada.

4 August –

It was very foggy when we drove on up the Bay of Fundy and thru the city of St Johns where we stopped to shop. Alcohol is only sold at the state liquour stores and was quite expensive. Still a man has to do what a man has to do! We continued on to a nice private camp right on the beach at St Martins. Again we see evidence of the huge tides. The weather is cool and windy and it rained off and on.

5 August –

Val tried to change our password for our bank account and it all went wrong! They sent the new password to our NZ cell phone which we are not using. Could be a bit of a problem when we run out of money! We drove the coastal scenic route down into the Fundy National Park where we have 2 days booked. Down to the visitors centre for some information. There is not much to do here as most of the trails are at other parts of the park. There was a small fishing town (Alma) so we walked to the harbour where there is a pub on the wharf. Before dinner we returned to the pub for a beer. The first boat photo was taken about 3 hours before the second one. An indication of the tides!

 

6 August –

The forecast was not great so we set off for a walk up the Salmon River. The bush and the river were very much like NZ. There were some big pools in the river and the fishing would have been great! At one stage we crossed the river using a rope. Back at “Ernie”, Val did laundry and I had a clean-up. The sun came out and we read before heading inside as the forecast rain started. It did not last long however.

7 August –

It was a longer drive today around the Bay of Fundy. We stopped at the Hopewell Rocks for a look. These are a series of “flower pots” which stick out of the sea when the tide is in. It was low tide when we were there. They are formed by the wave action on the soft rock. The mud around here is brick coloured. Back on the road and across the New Brunswick/Nova Scotia border where we stopped at the visitor’s centre to check that we were not missing anything on our proposed route.  Nova Scotia is much bigger than we thought and we will only see some of it. We were taking the scenic coastal road which at times is very rough.

Our overnight stop was at Five Islands Provincial Park where we had a great site on top of a cliff with fantastic views. We walked the cliff path in both directions to several viewpoints. Dinner outside in a cool breeze with the sun setting across the bay.

8 August –

Back on the coastal roads for another long drive following the coast passed fishing villages and farms. The tide was out and we are still amazed at the huge expanses of red mud as far as the eye can see.

We stopped at a private camp at Grand Pré. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site which we knew nothing about. We joined a tour at the visitors centre and learned that the Acadians were French settlers who arrived in 1680. They were low land farmers and so built dikes, drained and farmed the land, and formed many villages, Grand Pré being the largest. In 1755 the English deported 10,000 of them because they would not sign unconditional allegiance to the English king. They were put on to ships and sent all around America, some to Louisiana, the Caribbean and many back to France.
The young guide was very good and passionate about the subject. Back in the visitor’s centre we watched a very clever audio visual which explained more of the Acadians history. All very fascinating and stuff we had no idea of. We got a phone call from Westpac and after some hard questions Val was given a new password. We have access to money again thank god!!

9 August –

We turned away from the Bay of Fundy. We have been following its coastline for a week. Last fact about this bay and its huge tides. When the bay empties with every tide, more water flows out than all the rivers in the world!! We drove south thru lowland farming and then cut thru the centre of this part of Nova Scotia on a great smooth road in the forests passed some beautiful lakes. Back on the south coast we stopped at a state park at Crescent Bay and got the last site. It was a nice walk thru a forest trail to the beach. There were lots of people there which looked very similar to a NZ beach complete with very cold water temperatures (15C). We paddled along the water’s edge and returned via a long boardwalk for an ice-cream.

10 August –

We continued on the coastal drive along the south coast with some lovely inlets and coves. Our camp was at Luneburg. This is another UNSECO World Heritage site. The fishing town is one of the best examples of an English colonial settlement around 1850.

The buildings do not seem as old as they are because they are of weatherboard construction. We biked over the other side of the harbour before wandering the old town. There were many tourists and the old atmosphere was somewhat spoiled by cars everywhere. We walked back down into the town later for a drink and dinner overlooking the harbour.