Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday we cleaned up Winnie and filled tanks etc. Then we drove to St. Johns to look at the Reversing Falls - the St.
John River meets the Bay of Fundy at high tide forcing the river to churn, tumble and turn upstream through a rocky gorge.
Reversing Falls in St. John.
Afterwards we drove to St. Martins, another very quaint little fishing village and picked up information about the Fundy
Ecotrail, a multi use driveway and walking/cycling track that runs along the fundy coast.
On Tuesday we spent the whole day on the trail, visiting various lookout points and walking some of the trails. In the
afternoon we drove to the interpretive centre and walked across the suspension bridge. We thought we had the bridge to
ourselves, but within seconds, loads of people turned up out of nowhere! So we decided to follow a path that lead to Hearst
Lodge. We hadn´t really intended to walk as far as the lodge, but the walk was quite challenging, up and down, over thick
tree roots, using ropes to help us down and up the steep parts and we just kept going. The route back took us up a very,
very steep track and then through woods to get back to the suspension bridge in half the time it had taken us to get to the
lodge. We walked about 8 miles in total and our legs knew it!
Then we drove back to St. Martins for a humungus ice cream before driving off to find a spot for the night. On Wednesday
we drove to Sussex to try and find internet access but didn´t find any. On the way out we picked up two hitch-hikers, Daniel
and Friederike, who turned out to be from Germany and had come to New Brunswick to study until next April. They had some
time before their term started so they were doing a bit of sightseeing.
We drove through Fundy National Park and went to the information centre at the other side. Not very impressive. They
certainly don´t know how to market their national parks here. There was no video and very little in the way of maps to
see what there is in the park. There was also an entrance fee and the camping prices are too high so we decided to drive
on to Alma, a little village just the other side of the park.
After picking up fresh bread and cake, and Daniel and Friederike had given up trying to find a gas container that fitted their
little camping gas cooker, we took them with us to Cape Enrage to see the lighthouse. We found a spot where we could park
Winnie and our two new friends could pitch up their tent, and introduced them to cauliflower, mashed potatoes and hollandaise
sauce.
On Thursday, we drove to Hopewell Rocks to see the highest tides in the world. It was expensive to get in - $7 per person. We
got a discount for AAA members that saved us all $1 dollar each, but it was still expensive for what it was. Apparently the
tides rise around 10 metres but we would have had to wait until 8-30 pm to see it! We spent a couple of hours walking around
the rocks and then sat at a picnic table for lunch. Afterwards we gave our ticket to another RV er, so he could get in for
free, but it didn´t work!
Mid-afternoon, we drove to Moncton and updated our website - finally! Then we headed off for Nova Scotia and found a park to
stop for the night on the border between the two provinces. Unfortunately, at 11pm, a park ranger came along and told us we
couldn´t stay for the night! Daniel and Friederike were already asleep in their tent and we were almost in bed ourselves! So
we had to pack up the tent, shove it in the back of Winnie and moved a few hundred yards down the road to another spot to set
up camp!
Fortunately we managed to sleep through the rest of the night without getting disturbed and drove into Nova Scotia. We had
pancakes for breakfast which Daniel and Friederike thought were wonderful. Then we drove to Wards Falls for a 5 mile round
trip walk to 3 waterfalls and a small gorge. We saw a garden snake on the way there and back. That night we went to a
campground for the night so we could get some sleep and a hot shower!
Friederike was having a few problems with Winnie! In the evening, they put their rucksacks on the drivers and passengers seats
so that we had more room in the back for 4 of us. Winnie is just not big enough for 4 people, its quite a squeeze. Anyway,
she kept accidentally sounding the horn! It became a regular part of our evening ritual! Then she went to turn on the hot tap
inside Winnie. Before Helen could stop her, she´d already turned it on and water exploded out of it, soaking her! (As we only
use our cold water tap, and we were hooked up to the water supply, the water pressure in the hot tap was quite high!)
On Saturday, we woke up to fog outside - a real pea soup! We decided to move on and drove into Truro and went to a library to
use the internet. Daniel asked how to write Winnebago and thought Helen had said Winniebeagle, which is what he wrote in his
email! Friederike had a real laughing fit in the middle of the library! Afterwards we went for a Chinese meal and then went
to Victoria Park in the centre of the town. The fog had gone and it was really hot and sunny so we enjoyed our little stroll.
Unfortunately there was hardly any water in the waterfalls!
We drove out to Maitland to try and find the place for river rafting as Daniel wanted to try it out. We couldn´t find the
rafting place but found a lovely place to park and pitch a tent for the night. The next morning, we realised we were only a
few hundred yards from the rafting place! Daniel managed to get on the waiting list for the 4 hour tour and finally got the go-ahead.
We watched him go off in the boat and then we drove down to a bridge to watch the rafts going through the tidal bore, where
the river meets the tide coming in causing a great rafting area. Well, from what we could see from our lookout point, it
didn´t look very exciting at all! More like a stroll in the park for grandparents! But at least we had made blueberry
pancakes for the three of us! We drove back and waited for Daniel who told us that the rafting was far better after he´d
passed us at the bridge. So at least it wasn´t a waste of money.
Tidal Bore Rafting.
In the afternoon we drove west and went to Margaretsville as it was described as a "paradise for photographers". Ten minutes
later we drove out again! There was really nothing there, just a little fishing village that needed a new coat of paint! I
think we are going to have to lower our expectations a bit - this isn´t the south west USA where all the spectacular national
parks and canyons are!
