Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday, Daniel and Friederike made sausages and eggs for breakfast whilst Kirsten and Helen went for a shower. We
had managed to work out how to use the small space in Winnie to its maximum for the four of us. Two do the cooking
whilst the other two are out having a shower or putting up the tent! Otherwise its impossible to cook when there are
four people inside.
We drove off to Digby as we wanted to see the balancing rock at the end of a 25 mile peninsula that runs along the
north west coast of Nova Scotia. The sun was out whilst we were in the supermarket picking up supplies, but by the
time we got out, the sun had disappeared and a thick fog had taken its place! We started driving along the peninsula
but the fog meant that there was no point going any further. So we turned around and drove up to a little village
called Bear River, described as the "little Switzerland" of Nova Scotia. Well, we wouldn´t compare it with
Switzerland but it was quite a quaint little place, full of arts and craft studios. The girl in the information
centre, situated in an old windmill, was really pleased to see us. Its off the beaten track, so not many tourists
bother to go there.
We walked around for a while and sat at a picnic table for lunch and were joined by lots of bees who were after our
sticky cinnamon rolls! Then we drove south along the "scenic route" past a national park. There were just trees on
either side of the road but maybe that's scenic for the people of Nova Scotia! It was just as well it wasn´t that
scenic as Daniel and Friederike were sleeping in the back of Winnie. They had definitely got what we call "truck
syndrome" from all the truck tours we´ve done - the swaying motion of Winnie or a truck sends you to sleep!
On the southern coast of Nova Scotia, we stopped at Lunenburg - a Unesco world heritage site due to all of the
preserved buildings. We spent and hour or so wandering around the streets looking at some of the buildings which
dated back as far as 1760 - well that's old for Canada! Then we drove through another lovely fishing village at
Mahone Bay and stopped at another Passport America campsite for the night. We got the computer out again and carried
on showing Daniel and Friederike the photos from our South America tour.
On Tuesday, we drove to Halifax, the capital city, and tried to find accommodation for Daniel and Friederike but the
hostel was fully booked. After a very good Vietnamese lunch, we went for a walk around the city. But we got caught
in heavy showers without rain gear or an umbrella! When the rain wasn´t too bad we walked up to the citadel but the
entrance charges were too high. So we walked down to the harbour and along the sea front.
We decided to take our two travelling companions further up north with us as we had decided not to drive the 1400km
round trip to get to Cape Breton and the national park. The cost of petrol in Canada is nearly twice as much as in
the US and its hitting our budget really hard. We decided that the national park wouldn´t be worth it. Daniel and
Friederike had to get back to Fredericton by Thursday anyway, so we thought we´d save them a bit of money in bus fare
and take them back towards New Brunswick.
We drove about 25 miles north of Halifax and stopped at another Passport America campground. The office was locked
(it was nearly 7pm when we arrived), but there was a note asking us to use the walkie talkie hanging nearby. Kirsten
pressed the button and said "Hello" in quite a deep voice!! But at least it worked and the campground host came out
to us to open the barrier to let us in. Then he had to open the barrier again as we weren´t quick enough to get
through before it crashed down on Winnie!
After eating, we walked back up to the office to play pool, but neither of the tables would accept the coins, so we
went back and played cards and had a good laugh videoing the four of us!
Playing cards.
After pancakes for breakfast, we drove up to the office to pay on the way out. We couldn´t pay last night because the
camp host had forgotten the keys. The lady said they didn´t accept Passport America any more but seeing as we´d
already stayed the night and hadn´t been told, she accepted the pass anyway. Then Helen told her that Daniel and
Friederike were Helens children so that we wouldn´t get charged extra!!
We only drove for 15 minutes and then stopped at Mastodon Ridge, where 70,000 to 80,000 year old mastodon bones
(prehistoric elephants) had been found. There was a Mastodon replica on the hill which looked a lot bigger in the
photos so, yet again, we were a bit disappointed. Then we drove up to Amherst on the border with New Brunswick, which
was where we dropped off Daniel and Friederike and said fond farewells. From there they would get the bus back to
Fredericton as our plan was to go along the east coast of New Brunswick heading North. The four of us had travelled
a week together and we had really enjoyed it.
We waved goodbye and went back into New Brunswick and stopped for a coffee at Cap Pelé, where there are loads of
lobster fishing companies. Further on up the east coast we wanted to stay at a Passport America campground, but when
we got there, we found out that they don´t accept the pass either, anymore. That's two campgrounds in a row! So we
went to Bouctouche and walked along the boardwalk along the sand dunes. It was already late (7pm) so we did the
3 mile walk in an hour! Then we drove further north to another Passport America campground that actually did accept
the pass! As Helen was talking to the owner, Kirsten went to the toilet. There was a load crash! When Helen looked
over, she saw Kirsten holding her nose and she´d obviously hurt herself! She´d walked right into the fly sheet across
the doorway to the toilets, because she hadn´t seen it and thought the doorway was open. The fly sheet still had a
nose shaped dent in it!!
On Thursday, we drove through Kouchibouguac National Park and went to a seaside campsite which was so nice we decided
to stay for three nights. We went for a two hour walk along the beach and then went berry picking with the owner -
fresh blueberries and blackberries which got used in two cakes that we baked the next day. The owner also gave us two
pots of her homemade blueberry jam and mixed berry jam. Yummy!
As it rained all day on Friday we used the time to try and get our website up to date and to try and eat all the
homemade jam!
On Saturday, in between the rain showers, we walked along the beach to a wharf and bought some really good bread -
you guessed it - to eat with our jam!! On Sunday, we cleaned up Winnie and then drove up to the Acadian Peninsula.
On the way, we did a short boardwalk at Ile aux Foins. We stopped at the very tip of the peninsula on Miscou Island,
virtually in the sand dunes for a very peaceful free stop.
