Our last email was from Sydney when the van was in the garage being fixed.
We are now in Western Australia in a place called Esperance on the SW coast
and yet again the van is in the garage again!
Basically from Sydney we journey to Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide catching
up with friends and family along the way, which was a nice break for us. In-between
we visited The Blue Mountains, The Snowy Mountains, Tasmania and The Great
Ocean Road.
Tasmania in particular was really enjoyable, a little like New Zealand, and
our 10 days there was not enough time really. We travelled anti-clockwise around
the state and went to The Bay of Fires first in the NE corner, which has some
of the best beaches, crystal clear water and white sand. Visited as many of
the National Parks as we could and saw lots of wildlife, especially wallabies.
Also got down to Port Arthur, which was a penal colony during the 1800's for
the worst offenders sent from other prisons in Australia.
We didn't have tickets for The Games in Melbourne, so headed to Adelaide along
the Great Ocean Road, and as the name suggests it's a scenic drive mostly following
the coast. The coast begins with some great bays and surf beaches (including
the famous Bells Beach) and then turns more rugged with lots of rock formations
to check out.
Had a relaxing time in Adelaide with my Uncle and explored the Mclaren Vale
wine region. We then hit the road again to begin our long drive to Western
Australia. Travelled north through the Clare wine region and up to Port Arthur.
It was here that we joinded the Eyre Highway, which runs right across the border
to Western Australia.
Had a rest in Streaky Bay before starting the long arduous drive west. From Ceduna
there is not much to see, literally, just long straight bitumen road surrounded
by flat, fairly featureless scrubland. Saw a few snakes and lizards and a couple
of dingoes on the road, but nothing else - avoided driving at night, which can
be dangerous as most animals are nocturnal. It took us several days to drive
the 2000km plus, which took us across the Nullabor PLain. Nullabor means treeless,
which wasn't exactly true, but not a great deal to see. The true Nullabor desert
is further north where the rail track runs east to west. The road runs fairly
near the coast and during June to October you can get right onto the cliffs at
the Head of the Bight and see the Southern Right whales migrate. There are no
real towns along the way, just roadhouses or homesteads, some with just a population
of 8! They are basically just a service centre , so have petrol, a motel and
campsite and there was usually one every 200km.
The drive was pretty boring and we'd only pass another vehicle every 10
minutes or so. The roads are so long and straight that you can see
oncoming vehicles
5 minutes before you pass them! One particular section of road was 90miles
straight before there was a bend to negotiate!
When we crossed from South Australia into Western Australia we had to pass
through a Quarantine Station, where you have to get rid of any fruit or veg
etc, so as
to prevent the fruit-fly from passing between states. This is all very well,
but it's not until 1500km later that you can buy more fresh produce!
The drive was more or less incident free - we made sure we carried extra
jerry cans of fuel and water just in case. It was only yesterday on our way
to the
end of the Eyre Highway in Norseman that we knew our battery wasn't being
charged properly, so potential alternator problem. Made our way south to
Esperance with
a jump-start along the way and got the van in the garage today to sort out.
Just relieved not to break down in the middle of nowhere!
Norseman is on the edge of the gold mining region - named after a horse who
started it all after pawing at the ground and uncovering a nugget of gold!
You can actually
buy a permit from the visiters centre here and go gold fossicking in certain
areas yourself!
Hopefully be back on the road again soon and begin our journey around to
Perth, which is still another 1000km away. We then want to get up as far
as Coral Bay
and the Ningaloo Reef and Monkey Mia before heading back down to Perth to
sell the van. That's the plan anyway....
Basically, we've been working our way down the east coast since we emailled last. Have done a lot of mileage, driving from the Queensland/New South Wales border down to Sydney. Tried to get into the ocean for a swim most days.
Hit the Gold Coast after visiting friends in Brisbane for our first Aussie BBQ and welcome change from living in the van. The Gold Coast is big, brash and touristy with lots of theme parks. Avoided Surfers Paradise, but did spend a day at "Wet and Wild", which was a lot of fun. Ducked back onto the Gold Coast at Burleigh Heads and Kirra beach, which are top surf spots. Have been using our cheap bodyboards a lot - embarrasingly one local surfer laughed at them and told us we need to get them upgraded! Still, we have fun with them, but the waves are incredibly strong and big here, so i generally chicken out and stay closer to shore.
Next major stop was Byron Bay, the cape of the same name is the most easterly point of Australia. Did a 4km walk around the headland to the lighthouse here, which practically wiped us out in the 35 degree heat! Byron Bay is a real magnet for backpackers and holiday makers wanting a chilled-out atmosphere and is really busy - we stayed just 20km down the coast at Lennox Heads, which has just as good a surf beach as Byron, but is quieter and more relaxing because of it.
Because it's been so hot we haven't been doing a great deal on our trip
down the coast. Decided not to head inland, as it's even hotter there
without the
sea breeze. Other stops included Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie, for those
that have been here before.
Then we made a beeline for Sydney and stayed on the north shore at Narrabeen.
Drove down to Manly on the north side of Sydney Harbour, which brought back
good memories for me as i lived here when i went backpacking 7 years ago.
Showed Alan
the sights, had a beer in my old local pub The Steyne and had a look at the
flat i shared, which hasn't changed at all and is still in need of some major
repair.
Probably still has a cockroach problem too!
Took the ferry across the Harbour to see the major sights of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Did heaps of walking around the city and botanical gardens and used the local ferries to see the different parts of the harbour. Saw all the Captain Cook Cruises boats i used to work on too, but wasn't tempted!
We're still in Sydney for an unscheduled 3+ days, as our van broke down on our way out of the city to the Blue Mountains:( Awaiting parts from Melbourne, so we're not going anywhere fast. On the plus side, we've been staying in a hotel while the van's in the garage! Hopefully, we'll be back on the road again on Monday or Tuesday. This has meant we've had the w/end in the city, which is good because there's lots of markets to explore and events going on for Chinese New Year.
Arrived in Cairns on the 8th Jan - It was 28 degrees at 10.30pm, so you can
imagine how hot the days are! It's the start of the wet season in northern
Queensland, so days are hot and humid (mid 30's) with tropical rain storms
occasionally.
We've found another van -a Mazda E2000 with stretched wheel base, so a bit
more room than the "flying lemon". Current nickname for this one
is " Nellie" (aka the white elephant)!
We stayed with a friend in a place called Yorkeys, a quiet beachside town just
north of Cairns. No swimming in the ocean this time of year (between Oct and
May), as the "stingers" or box jellyfish are found in coastal waters.
Most popular beaches have a stinger net, which encloses a swimming pool sized
piece of water near the beach. Anyone doing watersports such as windsurfing
or kite surfing need to wear a full-body lycra suit for protection - v. attractive!
Have hit the road and first headed north into the rainforest and to Daintree
National Park and Cape Tribulation, where the rainforest meets the ocean. It
rained a lot while we were here, but was great to see the rainforest in it's
full glory. Almost managed to ditch the van in a creek, but just about got
through after stalling.
Also did a day trip out to Green Island from Cairns, which is on the fringes
of the Barrier Reef. Did some snorkelling here, which isn't as good as the
outer reef, but saw some good fish and coral and Alan saw big fish and rays.
It was here that our underwater camera bag failed on us and our camera died
of drowning, so had to buy a new one:(
Have now begun our journey down the east coast after visiting the Atherton
Tablelands. These are inland from Cairns and 1000m higher, so was a nice relief
with the cooler weather. Stops down the coast have included Mission Beach,
Townsville and Ayr.
We're currently in the Whitsundays at Airlie Beach. Decided to blow the budget
and went on a seaplane trip out to the Great Barrier Reef and Hardy Reef today,
which was amazing. Great to see from the air and had a good couple of hours
snorkelling there. There was only 6 of us on the trip, so it was very peaceful
on the reef. On the flight back we stopped at the famous Whitehaven Beach on
Whitsunday island, which has really fine white sand (98.8% silica).
Will continue south on our travels tomorrow - heading towards Fraser Is. next.
Just thought i'd email what we've been doing over the last month here. Since
our last mail from Christchurch we went across to the Banks Peninsula and spent
a couple of days exploring a few bays and saw lots of NZ fur and elephant seals
swimming near shore and lazing on the beaches.
We then headed across country to Arthurs Pass National Park and got some great
views of the Southern Alps again. Ended up wild camping here as those pesky
sandflies were out in force at the Dept. of Conversation campsites. Only did
one day hike here, as most are longer and harder - probably better for rock
climbers here. Continued across over the pass towards the west coast and stopped
at Lake Brunner via the Okita gorge. We decided to double-back to the east
coast again via Lewis Pass, but the scenery wasn't as spectacular as the other
passes we've travelled.
Next stop was Kaikoura, which is famed for the dolphin and whale watching.
Plenty of Dusky dolphins and sperm whales to be seen. Alan was keen to swim
with the dolphins - i decided to stay on terra firma, as the seas were considered
swelly with sea-sickness warning!. I was lucky enough to see a large pod of
dolphins through the binocs swim offshore - pods here can reach well into the
100's, so it's an impressive sight to see them.
Alan didn't get any really close encounters, as the dolphins weren't in a playful
mood, but he got some better sightings and photos from the boat. He said they
saw a large nursery pod and that it was funny to watch the younger dolphins
trying to jump like their parents, but they couldn't get the hang of re-entry
and were doing belly flops!! The sea was a bit rough and he looked a bit green
when he got back!
From here we had planned to head into Nelson Lakes National Park and try and
get more use out of our tent and do some tramping, but the weather turned for
the worst and wasn't set to change, so we made the decision to get back to
the north island. We by-passed Wellington this time and travelled up the east
coast to Hawkes Bay. On the way we passed a place, which apparently has the
longest place name in the world and is as follows, give or take a few typos:
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenvakitanatahu
!!
Next stop was Napier via Te Mata peak for Alan , which is a flying sight -
Gave fantastic views of Hawkes Bay and beyond and we could even see the volcanoes
in the centre of the north island it was so clear. We've bought some cheap
body boards, so spent some time at the beach here too.
Spent a relaxing day in Napier, which along with nearby Hastings was pretty
much flattened by an earthquake in 1931, and was rebuilt in the art deco style
of the times. Many original buildings remain, so it's an interesting place
for a wander.
About a week before Xmas we decided to do one last long walk - headed to Lake
Waikaremoana just SE of Gisbourne. We more or less had 3 days of wind and rain,
and the walk was very muddy and boggy as a consequence, so we weren't happy
campers! The weather tested our cheap tent to the limits and survived the elements,
but a naughty rodent nibbled a hole in the inner tent trying to get at our
food! Our last night had to be spent in one of the huts on the trail because
it was on an exposed bluff - The huts are basic with dorm style beds and benches
for cooking and sitting. There were only 12 of us in a 36 bunk hut, so not
too crowded. Fortunately we had a good last day and had great views of the
lake and surrounding native forest as we climbed down to the end.
Then we headed to Gisbourne for Xmas eve and day and Waikanae beach. The sun
finally came out for Xmas day and it was nice to stop travelling for a couple
of days and just relax.
Explored the east cape after that, to Ohope beach for more bodyboarding and
the ocean was warm for a change. From here it was to Rotorua for a day and
onto the famous Waitomo caves to see glowworms. The caves have had a bad year,
suffering a fire about a month ago and then vandalism the night before we arrived,
so they were shut. Made it in the next day - glowworms were intheir 1000's,
so like a miniture star system on the cave ceiling. Also took ourselves on
a night bushwalk in a local reserve where we saw heaps of glowwoms too in the
damp, dark vegetation and cliff walls.
We then drove up and past Auckland to Orewa beach for New Year. The campsite
had a live band playing new year's eve, so went along to that, but they got
progressively worse as the midnight approached due to alcohol consumption!
The van gave us a new year's present of not starting for us! , but luckily
the campsite maintenance guy fixed our points problem and we headed to Devonport
on the north shore of Auckland city. Since then we've packed up, cleaned the
van and headed back into the city to sell it. Secured a buyer on our second
day and completed the deal yesterday.
Have changed our flights and fly out to Cairns tonight, so just hanging around
the hostel until we have to get to the airport.
Just a quick email to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Thanks to those who sent us xmas messages.
We'll be spending Christmas in a place called Gisbourne on the East coast of
the North Island in NZ. Campsite is right on the beach, but not really beach
weather. It's still warm, but really windy and cloudy. We're bucking all xmas
traditions this year and having Chicken Fajitas for our xmas meal, as no BBQ
at campsite!
Anyway, best wishes for 2006.
Since our last email we've covered a fair bit of ground and i've become an
Auntie again! (Congrats to Graham and Sarah on baby Thomas - photo's are lovely
and keep them coming)
From Westport we travelled down the west coast of the South Island towards
the Westland National Park and the glaciers. Stopped off at the "pancake" rocks
at Pukanaiki National Park - here the coast is rugged and great at high tide
seeing the waves crash in and the blowholes. If anyone has seen the programme "walking
with dinosaurs", this is where the flying pterodactyls hang out.
Next we drove to the glaciers and the weather turned for the worst. Managed to do some valley walks up to the front of both the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers, but other longer walks we had planned were closed due to rockfalls. Next came torrential rain for 3 days, so along with a few other travellers we stuck it out in Fox until the weather improved. It was worth the wait, as we finally got to see the snowy mountain peaks and blue sky and sunshine and decided to treat ourselves to a heli-hike on the glacier. A helicopter did a short sightseeing trip on the way up and then landed on the glacier - equipt with crampons we were led on a 3 hour hike over the glacier and could see all the way to the Tasman Sea it was so clear. Saw lots of ice caves and tunnels too.
From here we took a couple of days to drive to Haast and over Haast Pass and onto Wanaka. The drive itself is spectacular, surrounded by mountain scenery and the road follows a couple of lakes. Then we drove into Queenstown, which seems to be the extreme adventure capital of NZ - only spent a day there and went up the gondala for views of the area. Alan was jealous watching all the paragliding from here and not being able to have a go!
Bungy jumping wasn't on our agenda, so left Queenstown and went to Lake Manapouri, just beyond Te Anau. We really wanted to do some kayaking on Doubtful Sound, so booked onto a tour. There was only 10 of us including the guide. A boat took us across Lake Manapouri and then a minibus across Wilmot pass to the Sound (technically a fjord, as formed by a glacier). As Doubtful Sound is harder to reach it therefore gets fewer visitors, and is the more beautiful for it. Most of you have heard of Milford Sound, which is more pointy peaks and shear cliffs, whereas Doubtful is more rounded, but still stunning. A motor boat took us deeper into the Sound before we got into our kayaks - spent about 4-5 hours kayaking in different off-shoots of the Sound. Saw fjordland crested penguins and fur seals swimming, which was great. The best part of all was seeing some of the resident bottlenose dolphins, which live in the Sound. Two were rubbing their stomachs on a stoney beach with their tails in the air and another swam under our double kayak and came up for air just 2m away!, which was amazing. All the other people on the trip weren't excited at all , as they were from Florida Keys and see dolphins all the time!
After the day-trip in Doubtful Alan and i decided we wanted to do more kayaking, so our camping gear was dropped off with us and a kayak at a beach along Lake Manapouri. It would have been idylic except for those pesky sandflies (yes, they bite!) and a persistent possum trying to get in the tent!. Had a glorious sunny day the next day though and had fun exploring some of the many islands in the lake. The people we rented the kayak from fully-kitted us out and we had a radio to check-in with them in the morning and flares etc in case we got into trouble!
From here we headed down the road to Milford Sound - the 120km journey to Milford is a destination in itself really. The scenery is stunning and looks particularly beautiful this time of year when all the mountain lupins are out, so the river valleys are a carpet of pinks and purple with the snowy peaks as a backdrop. The snow line was still fairly low too even now it's nearly summer, with some snow patches on the side of the road. Stayed in Milford for a night and did a cruise on the Sound early the next morning when there are fewer visitors. It's also the best time for calmer waters and we got to see more seals and fjordland penguins, which have had their chicks now and are heading back out to sea.
We then decided to take the long route along the south coast to Dunedin. It's a road less travelled, which is always good and discovered some lovely bays. Unfortunately, this involved travelling down lots of gravel tracks and coating everything in dust both inside and outside the van! One of the places we stayed was on Porpoise Bay overlooking the beach. Here there is a resident pod of Hector Dolphins, which i think are the smallest and certainly the rarest trpe of dolphin. We watched them for hours swimming and even surfing the waves close to shore. Alan went in the ocean despite the freezing temps, and was rewarded with the dolphins being curious enough to come really close to him several times.
Just 200m across from our campspot here was a colony of yellow-eyed penguins at Curio Bay and we were lucky enough to see a few of them come ashore in late afternoon through binoculars. These penguins are quite shy and solitary, so lucky to see them at all.
We eventually made our way into Dunedin and then inland towards Mt Cook and the southern alps again. Managed to get a short walk in here to the Hooker Valley before the rain came. We've since headed back to the east coast via Lake Tekapo and are now in Christchurch. We plan to go into the Banks Peninsula from here before going across Arthurs Pass to the west coast and then back to the east along a different route.
Weather is still mixed here - a spell of rain again now, but still warm.
No plans for Christmas yet, as not sure where we'll be. Hopefully a beach
and a BBQ somewhere. Things seem to shut down here over Christmas and everyone
goes on holiday, so who knows where we'll end up!
Well we've travelled a fair bit since we emailed last, so will try and give a brief run-down.
We continued to head around the Coromandel Peninsula, where there are some great beaches, a couple where you can dig your own natural hot pool in the sand at low tide! From here we headed into Karangahake Gorge at the end of the peninsula, which is an old mining area and our walk here led us along the river and through old mining tunnels, which we had to negotiate in the pitch black, as no-one mentioned we'd need a torch!
We then started to head around the Bay of PLenty, but from Mt Manganui we headed inland to Rotorua, as we'd heard there was flooding in the East Cape. As many of you know, Rotorua is located in an area of geothermal activity and the whole place smells of rotten eggs because of the sulphurous emissions i guess - the hot weather didn't help. We visited one of the thermal parks to see some geysers, but didn't really need to as our campsite had areas of boiling mud and thermal steam vents around the place. There was a thermal oven in the garden, which we used to cook and if you were tenting then the ground would have kept you warm at night!
From Rotorua we drove south to Blue lake for hikes and then Lake Taupo, then onto "Craters of the Moon" (another free thermal area) and Huka Falls.
We then ended up in Turangi at the southern end of Lake Taupo, as we wanted
to do the Tongariro Crossing day hike in Tongariro National Park. The hike
was 17km and takes you from alpine meadows up to the saddle between the volcanos
of Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngaurahoe then across lunar landscape of craters,
pumice and lava flows and emerald lakes. There was still some snow
on the trek, so
didn't attempt any of the side tracks up to the summits. There is still a
lot of hype here about the Lord of the Rings films and for those interested
the
volcanic plateau of this national park were used for much of sam and frodo's
journey through the land of Sauron and i think Mt Ngaurahoe was Mt Doom.
We then headed west to Mount Taranaki, where we just hiked up to the snow
line and then down the west coast, passed some great surfing beaches and
down to
Wellington. Did a bit of sightseeing here & engagement ring shopping. Stayed
an extra day for the Nov 5th fireworks over Wellington harbour, which were
spectacular, but not sure why Guy Faulks was being celebrated here.
We then took the ferry across to Picton on the south island, which gives great views of the Marlborough Sounds. Decided to do some of the multi-day hikes in NZ, as they looked too good to miss , so bought a cheap tent. We first did the Queen Charlotte Track in 3 days over 55km, which gave great views of the Sounds, but was hard work carrying all our gear. We then headed over to Golden Bay west for a couple of days relax before doing the 3 day Abel Tasman Coastal Track, another 55km hike. On one day we had to cross 2 esturaries at low tide, but torrential rain and a full moon seemed to make the low tide higher than usual and ended up wading through nearly up to my waist, after which we still had a 4 hour hike to camp! Most of our stuff stayed dry apart from one sleeping bag and the bag with all our important docs in such as passports and tickets!! Met some nice people at the camp who built a fire, so we dried off even if our stuff didn't! The scenery along the bush and coast is lovely though, with some great bays and beaches.
We did these 2 treks within a week, so are now feeling very achey. Heading down the west coast now and are currently in Westport, where it's pouring with rain again. Hopefully the weather will improve before we hit the glaciers and fjordlands.
Firstly, thank you for all your emails - no update on the ring hunting yet!
Well, as you know we went from Canada to The Cook Islands for a week. Took
us 26 hours door to door to get there, and several changes of plane, but it
was well worth it. Went to the island of Aitutaki for a few days first, which
is an hour flight from the main island of Rarotonga. We were really lucky with
our accomodation there as we scored the best lodge , which was the only one
overlooking the beach and ocean. A lagoon surrounds the island, so spent most
of our time snorkelling, which was excellent - saw heaps of colourful fish,
starfish and Alan even spotted an octopus. Good thing i didn't see it as it
would have freaked me out! Alan's now looking forward to the Great Barrier
Reef and more snorkelling. Had a couple of rainy days, but didn't really affect the temperature, otherwise
it was warm and sunny.
This is where Alan proposed - it was raining outside and Alan insisted on going
out onto our veranda before breakfast, which i couldn't understand until i
saw the message written in the sand asking me to marry him! - quite romantic
really!
The weather cleared up fortunately and we had a really good day on a boat trip
out into the main lagoon, which is about 12km by 15km and crystal clear. Stopped
at some good snorkelling spots and also some of the many islets in the lagoon,
which are like picture postcard paradise islands.
After 4 days here we flew back to Rarotonga for 3 days - again had another
great apartment on the beach. Also managed to see some humpback whales off
the north coast at Avurua.
We then flew to Auckland, our last flight for a few months thank goodness.
Spent a few days in Auckland while trying to sort out our next van. We've
got a Toyota Hi-ace, which has been nicknamed "The Flying Lemon" not
just because of its colour! It's a bit of a come-down from our Dodge in Canada,
as it's a standard van with a bed in the back and nothing else! It's a bit
of a rust bucket, but runs ok and hopefully lasts our 2-3 months.
We left Auckland and headed north to the warmer "Northlands" region,
travelling up the east coast first and stopping at some really lovely sandy
beaches for long walks on the way up to The Bay of Islands. We did a jet-boat
trip around the islands and fortunately wasn't too rough - disappointed not
to see dolphins and whales here, as they are in the area at the mo.
Next we headed up to Cape Reinga, which isn't quite the most northerly point,
but is where the Tasman sea meets the Pacific Ocean and also where Mauris
believe their spirits enter the underworld. We actually took a trip here
because we
wanted to drive down the 90 mile beach, which we weren't going to risk in
the van! We've now driven down the west side of the northlands, stopping
for walks
through the Kauri forests there (big trees, some up to 17m in girth). We're
now travelling along the Coromandel Peninsula, but weather has taken a turn
for the worst, but should be sunny again for the weekend. It's end of spring
here, so weather can only get better, but it's still warm. From here we think
we'll head to The Bay of Plenty, then Rotorua, Taupo and just south to Tororangu(?)
National Park for hiking. You probably won't find any of these places on a
map as i can't spell any of the Mauri names!
Not much else to report - as Alan's parent said all the campsites have a
fully equipped kitchen, much like the hostels, so makes life easier.
Hope all is well with everyone and i'll try to reply to a few of your emails
soon.
Just
thought you'd like to know that Alan and I have recently got engaged. Alan
proposed in the Cook Islands last week and we're both really happy. No "rock" to
parade yet, but hope to resolve that here in NZ - I think Alan reckons his
British pounds will go further here!!
Anyway, just wanted to share our news.
Sorry, this will be a long email - last time i tried emailing a couple
of weeks ago the computer crashed and nothing was saved!
We left you last in Jasper National Park in The Rockies. The hiking wasn't
as good there as in Banff, so we took things easy for a few days checking
out the local lakes. From Jasper we headed west, stopping briefly at Mt
Robson, the highest peak in The Rockies, before leaving the mountains behind.
Our plan from here was to drive across to Prince Rupert on the west coast
and catch a ferry down the Inside Passage to Vancouver Island. We'd
heard the 15 hour ferry journey down the Inside Passage was spectacular,
so despite
only being on a standby list with no guarantees of sailing we decided
to take the risk. The drive across was very scenic (more lakes, rivers
and
hills), especially between Terrace and Prince Rupert. At one place
along the way, Moricetown Canyon, we watched large pink salmon try
and jump upstream.
Some local First Nation people were catching several salmon at a time
just using large nets on long poles.
On arrival in Prince Rupert we put our names down on the standby list
at the ferry terminal for all sailings that week, as not getting on
would
mean driving back to Prince George and a 1000km detour to head south.
Anyway, we were very lucky to get on the ferry at our first attempt.
We were there at 5am with all the other "standbys" and allocated
number 10 out of 14 with 2 RV's ahead of us in the queue, so weren't
initially hopeful. Just 5 minutes before the ferry left at 7.30am we
got the go-ahead
to board. We spent most of the trip on deck, as we were told there
was a good chance of wildlife viewing, particularly down the inside
passage,
which is only 1km wide in places.
We saw deer swimming across the channel, which both moose and bear
do occasionally too. The best part was that we saw 7 whales during
the trip. The most impressive
sighting was of a humpback whale, which breached (jumped) about 20
times before we lost sight through the binoculars.
We arrived at Port Hardy that night to begin our travels around Vancouver
Island. It's pretty much whale-watching season around the coast of
the island, so keen to see more we headed down the east coast to
Telegraph Cove. Telegraph Cove overlooks Robson Bight ad the Johnstone
Strait,
which
is apparently one of the best places besides Victoria to see Orca
(killer) whales. We weren't dissappointed and despite the foggy morning
we saw
2 pods of Orcas, totalling about 20-25 whales, which we were able
to keep
track of for the whole trip and 2 even swam belly up under the boat.
A lot of the tour companies are involved in the whale research community
here, so our guides were busy trying to identify the whales, which
they
do by looking at the nicks in their dorsal fins and the white "saddle-patches" behind
this fin. The boat we were on also had a hydrophone, so were lucky enough
to hear the whale song too.
After travelling further down the east coast we went inland to Strathcona
Provincial Park for a couple of days to hike. We then began making
our way across from the east coast again to the west coast and the
Pacific
Rim National Park and Tofino for my birthday.This part of the national
park is called Long Beach for obvious reasons and there's good surfing
to be had here and the beaches are wide, flat and sandy. Great location,
but accommodation is a rip-off here. We just chilled out for a few
days and on my birthday took a picnic lunch and champagne to the
beach. The
weather was warm, but unfortunately foggy. Have since found out that
the locals nickname August "fog-ust"! Alan took me out
to dinner at a local oceanfront restaurant - wiped the mud from our
hiking boots
and we just about passed the dress code! The food was fantastic and
it didn't matter that it was a fog-set instead of a sunset.
Before leaving Tofino we did a day of guided sea-kayaking, which
took us around islands and inlets. They organise the trips around
the tides,
so
it was pretty easy going, especially as we had a double-kayak, so
i let Alan do most of the paddling.
After getting back to the east coast and travelling further south
stil we headed west again along gravel roads to Port Renfrew and
followed
the west coast to Sooke and eventually to Victoria, the capital of
British
Colombia. In Victoria we met up with my badminton partner Jackie
and her family for the day, and was good to see them and catch up
on their
west
coast USA adventure. They too had a successful whale watching trip
to see several pods of orcas, so this is the place to be for them
in July/Aug.
We then went back to Sooke for a couple of days and were lucky enough
to see orcas offshore on one of the coastal walks we did. We went
back into
Victoria again and followed the coast round the peninsula up to
Sidney-on-Sea and took a ferry across towards Mil Bay. From here we
made our way
up to the ferry in Nanaimo via Duncan to see some of the 80 totem
poles they
have in town. The heavens opened that w/end, so we got the ferry
to the mainland and westVancouver and headed straight up to Whistler.
We rough
camped the few days here, as it turned out to be the most expensive
place to camp in Canada! It turned sunny and warm again, so headed
up the gondola
for walks at the top and views. Alan had been skiing in Whistler
a
few years before, so showed me around. There is a big mountain
bike scene here
during the summer and we were toying with the idea of taking our
bikes up the chair lift and cycling down, but seeing that everyone
had bikes
with full suspension and were wearing full body armour we thought
better of it! Instead we cycled around the valley and lakes , which
was really
beautiful.
We're now in Squamish - have been watching the kite-surfing and
windsurfing out at the spit today. The "For Sale" signs are on the van now
and the ad goes in the local paper tomorrow, so fingers-crossed we get
a good sale. So really we're just hanging around the Vancouver area until
we get rid of the van and await our flight out on the 28th to The Cook
Islands.
Hope everyone is happy and well. Will try and reply to your emails
next time.
At the end of our last email i think we'd just arrived in Banff National Park
in The Rockies.
We spent a week in Banff itself before moving further up the park to Lake Louise.
Banff is located where several valleys converge, so the area is an important
route centre not only for humans but is also a major corridor for wildlife. Judging
by the local papers there is continuing conflict between expanding Banff and
protecting the wildlife habitats.
Alan's been to Banff and Lake Louise before snowboarding, so he showed me around
some of the areas. Needless to say we came here for the wonderful mountain scenery,
hiking and cycling. We tried to do most of the longer trails to get away from
the crowds here. Unfortunately, this generally meant climbing up mountains, which
has taken its toll on the legs!
One day we hiked up Sulphur Mountain instead of taking the gondola to get views
of Banff townsite and surrounds. According to our Lonely Planet we'd have a free
ride down, which spurred us on, but on reaching the top realised they now impose
a one-way fee from May 2005!
On another trail in the Norquay ski area we came across a grizzly bear with
2 cubs basking in the sun just 10m from our path! Fortunately we'd made enough
noise on the way not to surprise them, as the "Be bear aware" guide
suggests. Alan cdarried on oblivious - goodness knows how he missed them!
Anyway, we backtracked pretty quickly as they're obviously very dangerous
and i'm sure
very protective of young. No photos i'm afraid - wasn't worth the risk. We'd
read that one woman was killed that week by a grizzly in Canmore near Banff
while out jogging, so the dangers are very real.
Runners and cyclists are particularly prone to bear encounters/attacks because
of the speed and silence of their travel, which can easily surprise a bear
and trigger an attack. All the "Be Bear Aware" stuff tells you
to make lots of noise by talking loudly, singing or yelling out especially
on
blind corners
or in dense vegetation etc. What we haven't worked out yet is how you're
supposed to make all this noise while gasping for breath climbing up a mountain!!
Clapping
is all i can think of! Lots of places sell bear bells, but these are completely
useless, as unsurprisingly bears do not associate bells with humans (plus
the continuous ringing is .... annoying).
It's buffaloberry season here now, an important food source for bears, which
means lots of bears about on the lower slopes feeding before things ripen in
the upper slopes where they'll move to afterwards. Lots of trails have been closed
in these areas, some you can hike but only in groups of 6 or more for safety
reasons.
Some of you have probably heard of or been to Lake Louise. Lake Louise and Morraine
Lake are both a striking blue colour surrounded by peaks and glacial valleys.
We made sure we got to these lakes early to see the classic reflections of the
mountains in the water.
From Lake Louise we also did a cycle ride to the Continental/Great Divide, which
also marks the border between Alberta and British Colombia. Along this line in
the mountains the watershed splits, so water on the Alberta side flows into the
Atlantic and that on the B.C side flows into the Pacific.
From Lake Louise we exited Banff National Park and did a circuit which took us
through Yoho, Glacier, Mt Revelstoke National Parks, so checked them out. Made
our way back up to Lake Louise again via Kootenay NP and Radium hot springs.
We stopped in a place called Golden for a couple of days. Took our mountain bikes
up the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort gondola to bike down the ski runs there
- even the green runs were damn scary and fast, i think we would have both preferred
to have skied/boarded down the mountain instead! There was also a hanglider/paraglider
competion going on locally, so as Alan was missing flying we went and checked
out the landing and take off points.
Our black bear count is now up to 8, including a female with a cub. 7 have
been sighted from the safety of the van and Alan has finally got a picture
of one.
The 8th Alan saw at one campsite when returning from the washrooms in the
morning. The bear was just wandering through without a care in the world
just checking
out if any campers had left anything out to eat. All campsites have a "Bare
Campsite Program" in place, which means everything needs storing in
the vehicle which a bear could consider food - this includes toiletries,
cosmetics,
even the clothes you cook in!
We've just spent the last day making our way up to Jasper form Lake Louise along
a route called the Icefield Parkway. Lots of Mountains , lakes and glaciers to
view along the way. You can walk right up to and onto the Athabasca glacier here,
which we did, but didn't take a tour as it was over commercialised for our liking.
Not much else to add, although the alpine flowers are just peaking now, so when
hiking up high the mountain meadows and avalanche paths are really pretty. However,
this is prime bear feeding habitat too, so will continue to try and be noisy
hikers to avoid incident.
We were about to enter Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan last time
we emailed. The whole park and campground was mozzie hell, so we only stayed
one night. We did get chatting with a man from Saskatoon there who gave us
a contact in Vancouver in case we have problems selling the van, which is good.
From there we pretty much headed straight to the Alberta border. Our first
main stopover was in Drumheller, about 150km NE of Calgary in Red Deer Valley.
This is the "Badlands" region, which is basically steep canyons eroded
out of the Prairie lands. The whole area is renowned for its dinosaur fossils.
Drumheller was a bit tacky and touristy for our liking, exploiting the dinosaur
theme for all it's worth, so we just passed through. Although, we did visit
an excellent paleontology museum outside town, which amongst other things has
a large display of complete dinosaur skeletons, most of which have been found
in the local area.
Before we left the region we visited Horseshoe Canyon where the landscape looks
like a miniture Grand Canyon. From there we drove SW to Dinosaur Provincial
Park, still in Badland country, so very dry with lunar type landscape with
lots of features eroded out of the sandstone. Dinosaurs obviosly thrived here
because over 300 complete skeletons have been excavated here. We hiked a couple
of trails and the archeologists had encased some dinosaur skeletons behind
glass , so visitors can view the excavation site as it was.
Whilst in this park we discovered we had a puncture in one of the rear tyres.
It took both of us to jack the van up, but changing the tyre wasn't a problem.
The trouble came when the jack wouldn't release to get the van down again.
Eventually, we found a warden with a hydraulic jack, which helped a bit, but
Alan still ended up driving off our jack eaving a small dent in the van!
A place called "Head-Smashed-in-Buffalo-Jump" was our next stop.
Here the Blackfoot native peoples used to stampede bison (buffalo) over the
cliffs. There was a good centre there documenting the culture of these Plains
people. The place is so called because apparently a young brave wanted to view
the killing of the bison below the cliff and i guess he got a little too close!
We next headed into the Rockies for the first time to Waterton Lakes National
Park, which borders Montana, USA. This park has been one of our highlights
so far and comes highly recommended for anyone thinking of visiting Canada.
It was also more or less bug free, which was a bonus!
Our campground was right on the lakes edge with great mountain views and we
managed to get some really good hikes in here. The best walk we did was up
to a glacial cirque lake, which was 20km return trip, climing an elevation
of 2300ft. The trailhead had to accessed by boat, then it was up all the way
through forests, open mountainside and past 4 waterfalls. The final section
was accessed by ladder, a crawl through a small tunnel in the mountain and
a careful walk along a 2ft ledge. The trail ended in a stunning cirque with
500m high sides and a deep green lake. The hike had apparently been voted the
best hike in Canada and we could see why.
We wanted to spend more time here, but had tickets to the Calgary Stampede,
so needed to get to Calgary to secure a campsite.
On the way to Calgary Alan wanted to stop at the Lancaster Museum in Nanton.
The museum honoured all those associated with Bomber Command during WW2 and
commemorating the actions of the British Commonwealth Air Training PLan. Alan
was particularly chuffed, as we were allowed inside the Lancaster for a look
around.
From there we headed into Calgary and stayed right next to the 1988 Winter
Olympic park, so had views of the ski jumps and bob sleigh run. Had a great
2 days at the Stampede. The opening day had a big parade through downtown involving
over 850 horse, 20 showbands and 50 floats as well as anything else "cowboy".
At the stampede ground it was much like any other agricultural type show with
lots of different events going on and a fair. We had grandstand tickets to
the evening chuckwagon racing, the rules of which were confusing and we didn't
really follow it! Basically the race started in the "in-field" area
where 4 wagons had to do "figure-of-eight" turns around 2 barrels
before racing once around the track. The confusing part is that 4 outriders
accompanied each wagon for an unknown purpose! A big gala show followed with
fireworks, which was good.
The second day we had tickets to the rodeo. Here we saw the men compete in
bucking-bronc riding, calf roping, cattle steering and bull-riding. Many competitors
already had limbs in cast or slings before they started! The women sensibly
stuck to barrel racing, riding around three barrels in a clover leaf pattern
in the fastest possible time.
From Calgary we headed into Banff in the Rockies where we are now. We've been
here nearly a week and will be moving up to Lake Louise tomorrow and then out
to Yoho and Kootenay National Parks before heading up to Jasper. Got some great
tips for places to visit from the locals we met at the stampede, so will be
checking those out too.
Hope all is well with everyone - particularly those living and working around
London.
We left Thunder Bay, where we emailed
last and crossed another time zone, so are now 6 hours behind GMT. Passed
a couple of amethyst mines on the way to our next stop at Quetico Provincial
Park, but didn't do any prospecting ourselves, although the opportunity
was there.
Quetico was another huge park with a maze of lakes and rivers and whose
southern border was in Minnesota, USA. It was very peaceful there, as there
were no roads or logging in the park and motor boats were banned too. We
camped on the edge of one of the main lakes and hired a canadian canoe
for the next day. The water was warm and calm and we had a relaxing paddle
around the lake, making several stops on rock islands for swims. Saw loads
of bald eagles flying close by too.
From the park it took us another days drive west and then north to get
to the Manitoba border. The traffic got busier here, especially American
tourists towing boats for the well renowned fishing in Ontario's lakes.
Passed lots of float planes offering fly-in fishing trips or fly-in/canoe-out
holidays. The numerous public boat launch areas provided good wild camp
spots with sunset views over the lakes!
Have had a really bad time recently with the mozzies and black flies. Apparently
they're worst in June, but we're not holding our breath that they'll decline.
The van has mozzie nets on the windows, but they're still getting in at
night. We're currently conducting experiments to find out where they are
coming in from - Alan has blocked various vents using cereal packets and
duct tape. The jury is still out, but it's becoming a vendetta to find
their route in! Black flies are even more annoying, as they're small enough
to fit through the mozzie nets and they have an irritating nip.
Anyway, we headed into Manitoba, the first of 3 prairie provinces. The
scenery changed dramatically from timberland and lakes to flat and fairly
featureless with very long straight roads. The state of the roads have
deteriorated again since Ontario, with potholes, cracks and bumps everywhere,
much like the Maritimes, so the van is getting a hammering again. It's
a miracle we've only lost one hubcap so far with no blow-outs.
We decided to give the city of Winniepeg a miss and headed to the south
east corner of Lake Winniepeg, which dominates the province. Went to the
beach here to swim and relax before heading through the interlake region
to Lake Manitoba. Not much to see between the two lakes, just a lot of
beef farming.
We then headed to another national park called "Riding Mountain" -
trying to get our money's worth out of the annual passes we've bought!
We didn't do much hiking here as a lot of trails were waterlogged. Apparently
we just missed a very wet spell in Manitoba. We did drive further into
the park to the Bison range where we saw a herd of about 30 bison. We drove
down a track to get closer to them, then realised they were moving our
way. We couldn't turn around on the single track, so turned off the engine
and were soon surrounded by them! They were'nt bothered by us or the van
fortunately. On our way out of the park i spotted another black bear walking
along the treeline of the bison range and we were able to watch him through
binoculars for a while, which was good and obviously stayed in the van!
We drove straight from there into Saskatchewan, the next province. The
locals in Manitoba said that most people drive through Saskatchewan at
night because there's not much to see! More flat prairie land really in
the southern section, with grain elevators and storage containers dotted
along the railway lines, as the growing of grain of all sorts dominates
here. We spent our first day in a place called Manitou Beach 120 km south
east of Saskatoon. We had read that Little Manitou Lake has similar mineral
properties to the Dead Sea, so we decided to check it out for ourselves.
The day was cooler and windy, but we went for a dip anyway and had fun
in the buoyancy of the waters.
That brings us to today, where we've driven up to the town of Prince Albert,
the gateway to the national park of the same name. North of Saskatoon the
scenery changed to rolling hills. Much further north it becomes undeveloped,
unpopulated, with woodlands and lakes and eventually Tundra, so it's not
all flat across these provinces - it is if you only stick to the main Trans-canadian
highway.
Hope all is well with everyone back home and elsewhere. We're planning
to be in Calgary by at least the second week of July to catch the "stampede" there.
Then we plan to reduce our mileage dramatically and take a relaxing couple
of months in The Rockies - can't wait.
Our last update came from Kingston i think. Since then we've been putting in the mileage (nearly 8000km now!) and have added to our wildlife count, but will come to that later...
From Kingston we pushed onto Toronto. The driving and navigating through the city was a nightmare, but we eventually made it to the CN Tower only to be ripped off for parking! We went up to the observation deck of the CN Tower for views over the city and beyond, before taking a wander into the downtown shopping area. It was 32 degrees and 80% humidity again, so didn't walk too far. Toronto is very much a modern city and doesn't have the "old town" interest of Montreal and Quebec city.
Glad to leave the cities and their traffic behind,
we next headed to Niagara. We stayed in Jordan Valley, which is in the middle
of Canada's
wine-producing region, so were surrounded by vineyards and orchards. From
here we made the short trip to Niagara Falls. We parked 10km outside the
Falls area and cycled in along the Niagara River, which was really
picturesque, and peaceful until we hit the Falls!
Naturally, the Falls area is very touristy, but the waterfall itself is very impressive sight. We didn't do the "maid-in-the-mist", as Alan had done it before, so we just took a walk behind the falls and below to an observation deck where you stand pretty close to the edge of the falls. We got soaked, but was nice and cooling in the heat.
From Niagara we drove north to Georgian Bay and the Bruce Peninsula, which juts out into Lake Huron and is relatively undeveloped. The east side of the peninsula is rugged rocky shoreline, which is part of the Niagara escarpment, which runs all the way down to the Falls. The west side is sandy beaches and warmer water. We diid more hiking here, which was great - i saw a rattlesnake on the beach which freaked me out! At the tip of The Bruce we had to take a ferry across to Manatoulin Island to get to the north shore of Lake Superior. For the last few days we've been making our way across Lake Superior, stopping at various parks for hikes and swims etc. The drive itself along the Trans-Canadian highway gives some fantastic views over the Lake and the islands within it.
One evening in a campsite, while cracking open a couple of beers, we spotted a black bear wander through our campsite to check out the bins! Fortunately, we were in the safety of our van. He did pass within 15m of our van on his way back and stopped to look in our direction - we thought he might have smelt the sausages we'd just cooked for dinner! No photos though.
Among other places, we stopped briefly in White River, which claims to be the original home of Winnie-the-Pooh! Apparently, a canadian soldier bought an orphaned cub here before his departure to Europe. He named it Winniepeg after his hometown and became the regiment's mascot. The bear was left at London zoo during WW1 whn the soldiers went to fight in France and it's name was abbreviated to Winnie. It was obviously popular at the zoo with visitors, who included Christopher Robin, the son of AA Milne.
We're currently in Thunder Bay - not impresses with this town, so will be leaving as soon as we can. Our plan is to get out of Ontario in a week into Manitoba and the Prairies. Our original plan was to have at least 2 months in and around the Rockies, so have been hitting the road a lot recently and putting in the mileage.
We're hoping to get some pictures on the internet soon - Alan is working on it as I type!
Last time we emailed we were just
heading into Quebec from New Brunswick. We decided to cut across straight
to the St Lawrence river to St Fabien. Entering Quebec was like entering
a different country and not just because of the language. The scenery
suddenly changed to heavily forested and mountainous. We then followed
our noses
down the south side of the St Lawrence river, which has a lot of resort
and beach areas and is obviously a place the locals come to take time
out.
With Alan only knowing a couple of words in French and me having not
spoken or learnt it for years communication proved difficult. There were
small
pockets of french being spoken in Nova Scotia and the east coast of New
Brunswick was bilinguel in French and English, so you get to choose which
you speak! Very often the locals in New Brunswick would mix the two together
in a conversation and add the canadian accent and it's a tricky thing
to understand! In Quebec though it's very much the french of France that's
spoken by 95% of their population. My trouble was that i could remember
how to ask for things, but it was understanding the reply where i failed!
Got ripped off at one petrol station where they charged us $70 for $20
worth of fuel and my french wasn't good enough to argue our way out of
it.
Anyway, we travelled leisurely down the south of the river to Levis and
took in the views across to Quebec city. We headed over the bridge and
up to the Jacque Cartier National Park for a couple of days, to avoid
being in the city on a Sunday. Here we relaxed and did a couple of hikes.
During one night there in the woods we were woken by a strange scratching/scrabbling
sound on the back of the van. We thought it was some 
animal trying to
get in, as perhaps they could smell our rubbish bag. Bears sprang to
mind and
i wouldn't let Alan out to take a look. Then logic set in and we reckoned
that if it was a large animal the van would rock/move, so Alan went to
investigate. It turned out to be a couple of large porcupines scatching
and biting the underside of the vehicle in different places - we have
no idea why. Unforunately, they kept coming back and woke us several
times
and wouldn't be scared off!
From there we visited Quebec city. It rained in the morning, but we parked
about 7km out and cycled in to avoid the traffic (they certainly drive
like the french in France here - enough said!). We parked up at
the old port and walked up to the Dufferin Terrace and onto the old walls
for views over the river, when we were treated to
a thunder and lightening show! The heavens then opened and we got absolutely
soaked. It didn't ease off, so we headed back to the van on the bikes.
We were so wet that we had to pour water out of our boots!
From Quebec city we headed along the north shore of the river towards
Montreal. We had a really hot and muggy day there, first visiting
the Olympic park
and then headed up to Mont Royal. Here there are views over the city,
where we did a 10 mile circuit on foot through downtown and the old
port and
old Montreal, so were exhausted at the end of the day.
We are now in Kingston, between Montreal and Toronto. We decided
to avoid the capital Ottowa. We will probably have had enough of
the cities soon,
it's a shame they all came along at once! Quebec city was really
picturesque though, especially the old town, so were frustrated the
weather intervened
there.
This morning we did a cruise on Lake Ontario around the Thousand
Islands at Gananoque, which was a nice change of pace and very relaxing.
You
can get off at some of the islands, but the other shore is US soil
(New York
State) and we don't have visas and didn't want the hastle.
We're probably off to Toronto tomorrow and then we've planned to
head up to the Bruce Peninsula - will keep you posted.
Hope all is well with you all.
Thanks again for all your messages - we have read them all, but don't have time
to reply to everyone i'm afraid. Internet access is limited to either public
librarys or border information centres, neither of which we pass very often!
Anyway, i think the last time we wrote we were in Louisborg, south Cape Breton
Island in Nova Scotia. Family at home have the atlas out, so excuse all the geography
bits - From Louisborg we travelled back to our starting point of Halifax along
the south coast. There are some great surf beaches about 60km outside Halifax,
but again the weather was pouring with rain and cold, so we didn't venture far.
When in Halifax we met up with Mum's cousin Keith's best mate Tony and his wife
Dorothy. They kindly had us over for dinner and put us up for the night, which
was good. However, Dorothy's home-brew red wine was far too drinkable annd we
were all feeling worse for wear the next day. We headed straight out of Halifax,
destined not to see it due to torrential rain. We've since heard that there were
floods in south Nova Scotia after we left.
We travelled north to Truro and turned west to follow the coast around up to
New Brunswick. We stopped at Cape Chigneto for hiking and continued to Joggin
and the border. The coast here was very rocky and there are fossils and gemstones
such as amethyst to be found, but we came away empty handed.
We then entered New Brunswick and turned west to go along the south coast to
Fundy National Park, where again we did some walks and cycling, having picked
up a couple of cheap bikes in Halifax. Here we managed to increase our moose
tally to 17! It stepped right out in front of us through undergrowth and startled
me, as we were chatting and not paying attention. These animals are 6ft tall,
so pretty imposing. Weather again wasn't great, being cool and foggy!
We decided then to back-track for a quick 3 day visit to Prince Edward Island,
heading first west and up towards North Cape - this side of the island is more
remote and less populated and the more beautiful for it. Prince Edward Island
is famous for two things - L M Montgomery, who wrote Anne of Green Gables grew
up and wrote here, and potato farming. The soil there was a deep red colour and
potato fields covered the whole island, probably the only Maritime province where
fishing takes second place. We also managed to get a lot of cycling in, as there
is a trail which disects the whole province. We cycled into Charlottetown, the
capital, but everything was shut down, as it was Sunday - no Sunday trading here.
We also spent time in the P.E.I National Park, which is a coastal dune system
they're trying to protect. It was here we were served with a "Notice of
Violation" by the park warden for rough camping in a parking lot!! The
fact that none of the campsites in the National Park or hardly anywhere else
in P.E.I
were open seemed to matter! It's a jobs-worth for these people to catch the
only visitors to the park! Anyway, we've been black-listed in the National
Park computer
and next time we'll be fined!
On that note, we left P.E.I and headed up the East coast of New Brunswick, stopping
at Shediac, alledgedly the lobster capital of the world, for a lobster platter
lunch. Then after another stop at Boucouche for more beach walks we camped at
Kouchibouguac National Park for a couple of days. It is here that the weather
has changed dramatically. Last week it was still cold, 12 degrees and foggy with
some rain and now it's hot and sunny nearly 30 degrees!
From Kouchibouguac we travelled directly to Miramichi and Bathurst before going
to Campbellton and Sugarloaf Provincial Park, which is where we hiked up this
morning for views over the river to Quebec - and that brings us bang up to date.
We can't find a map of Quebec and there's no tourist info office the other side
of the river, so who knows where we'll end up! Planning to get to Quebec city
and Montreal in next week.
Van living is going well, although there's a particular cupboard above the
sink our heads find on a daily basis! The van drinks up the gas/petrol, but
it's cheap
here at roughly 50p a litre. Most people just have licence plates on the back
of the vehicle and often put personalised plates on the front. A couple of
previous owners just used the van to go to Nashville and the country music
festivals,
so we have a plate which reads "Music City USA - Nashville, Tenn",
which gets a lot of stares and points. People must think we are either American
or country music fans or worse both, so we must remove it soon!
Thanks to all of you for the A-Team references - i wish i hadn't mentioned
it now! In answer, no our van is not black with a red stripe (it is white with
a
blue & red stripe), no we will not be crime fighting along the way and
no we haven't picked out names for ourselves. Although, best suggestion comes
from
Julie for Hannibal because he always has a plan!
Anyway, enough from us. Hope all is well with everyone.
Wednesday 18th May 2005Since we last emailed we've continued travelling around Nova Scotia's coastline
anti-clockwise. Most of the Island is involved in some way with the fishing industry,
so lots of small, sleepy fishing towns and villages with lots of oppotunities
to eat lobster. Have just spent the last few days in Cape Breton National Park
in the far North East corner of NS. Did loads of hikes and at last count saw
16 moose! Fortunately, haven't bumped into any bears yet!
Weather hasn't been very spring like at all - damn cold at night still. Our van
has a furnace, so at least we've been able to keep warm. There's even some snow
left up in the mountains where we were hiking!
For Liz's benefit it is a Dodge camper (not dodgy - or hasn't proved to be yet!)
- Think A-Team van with a raised roof and that's our home for the next 5 months.
Hope all is well with everyone. Thanks for all your messages so far - will try
and respond individually when there's time.
Well we arrived safely in Canada
last Thursday, and have bought a Dodge campervan to take us from coast to
coast. Currently touring Nova Scotia down the western coast and are at Lunenburg
at the mo.
Hope everyone is well and will email again soon.
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