our awesome world adventure

Now this is getting remote …

Corner Brook is a small settlement on the wild west coast of the island of Newfoundland. As we cruised in, in the middle of summer, snow lay on the hills nearby …

… pretty villages along the waterfront of the fjord.

On the dock a pair of the symbolic dogs! Jan became sentimental for Lulu, the Newfie she owned when we first met …

We hired a car … visited a nearby memorial to James Cook who spent years exploring these parts (he got around didn’t he!) …

… good view of town from here (and the ship again!)

The car broke … oil leaking, smoke rising … hmmmm …

We went back and quickly received a replacement and set off exploring …

… past meadows and mountains …

… along the fjord …

… to Fisherman’s Cove …

… where Jan was amused by these … Papa, Mama, big baby and tiny baby!

… to a rocky river …

… where we walked and found this family fishing …

Then this remote house and this little “hotel” …

Towards the end of the road we found York Harbour

… and Lark Harbour

And at the very end, Little Port and Bottle Cove

Around these parts the winter can last 8 or 9 months, so they need to keep warm. This guy seemed to have things under control in that regard … enough firewood, do you think?

At school we heard a bit about the St Lawrence River. We know it’s one of the biggest and most important in the world.

But sailing on it gives a new perspective. The scale of it is just amazing.

It’s immense …

And it flows pretty quickly when it narrows … this fixed navigation marker near Montreal was being buffetted by the swift current …

As we sailed away from Trois Riviere in the afternoon, we saw this river join in … the fresh brackish water pushed to the far bank, by the flow of the mighty St Lawrence …

We passed hundreds(?) of churches (and many RV parks) …

… many beaches

… rows and rows of houses along the bank

… beautiful farms – most are long and skinny with narrow access to the river and a house on the river bank …

… ships going somewhere – maybe Chicago, nearly 2000km upstream!

Then somewhat surreally, we just sail under these bridges …

… and straight past Quebec …

… and into the night!

It’s hard to imagine this river frozen solid … they have a constant procession of icebreakers to keep it open right up to Chicago in the winter. The ice, 20 feet thick near the banks!

Don’t worry, we’d never herd of it either until it popped up on our itinerary …

So … it was the second oldest (after Quebec) settlement in “New France”, on the St Lawrence River about half way between Montreal and Quebec, also formerly a major centre for Canadian manufacturing – hydro power, pulp and paper – that kind of thing.

So we were kinda expecting a dirty industrial town that had seen better days …

… but what a nice surprise …

We parked by the Park …

Got off and took a short walk (it only needed to be short!) through the little historic town.

Lots of pretty old houses and buildings of many shapes and purposes.

An old hospital …

And of course, a monsterous monastry …

…and a huge church (one of many) …

We ventured along the main street … more restaurants here that could possibly survive, I thought (particularly in the winter!)

As we pulled away from the riverside pier, there were lots of the hospitable and enthusiastic waving farewell …

And as we sailed past the one adjacent river (not three) that joins the St Lawrence here, a surprising sandy beach, with lots of Canadians enjoying the short summer sunshine …

After Quebec, Montreal can’t really compete (if you’re a tourist). It’s a bigger, bustling, commercial city. Attractive enough, but without the very French pizzazz of Quebec.

We docked right beside the historic old city …

… and walked. Things were only just starting to get going in the old cobbletone streets …

… and the impressive 19th century market …

The shops were very elegant. Jan was in paradise! These were marked down 50% … to just $20,000!!! … I don’t think so!!! (quite apart from the principle …)

Then we wandered more towards the old commercial hub. Huge Victorian/French buildings everywhere …

In one pretty street, the old gas lamps have been restored.

City Hall could have been lifted straight out of Paris …

Little squares and parks, and big statues of very important looking blokes dotted around.

And there was interesting “modern art” in the streets. This one reflecting the busy intersection behind us …

Horses carrying tourists … and huge churches, of course …

Then further to the throbbing modern heart of Montreal. Some wide boulevades with many glassy temples to modern commerce …

… and the fabled “underground city” … more than 20 miles of passages, thousands of shops, the Metro, bus stations and car parks … you never have to go outside (apparently a good thing in the legendary freezing winter!)

We made a token visit to McGill University to see where Peter Walker had once diligently studied …

… and returned to the ship and said goodbye to Montreal in the evening light …

We came up on deck on a beautiful morning to be greeted by this …

… the “most photographed hotel in the world” …??? Fairmont’s le Chateau Frontenac …

(We walked inside it later, along with hundreds of other sticky beaks … very opulent.)

First we explored the lower town … conveniently adjacent to the ship …

… early in the morning it was quiet in Place Royale …

… a lot busier in the afternoon (I had to wait many minutes for this photo opportunity to clear)

… and the nearby streets …

We then rode up the Finicular at the end of this street to the high town …

… and went for several kilometres walk around the monster Citadel. This huge fortress, glowering high over the St Lawrence River, was built in stages by the French and the British. It is still in use by one Canadian Regiment today.

Then to the seat of Government for Quebec. Gardens, statues, fountains, and a very French looking palace. “Much too nice to be a work place for damn politicians”, I said to Jan.

Now, how about these nearby pots? Jan wants one for our courtyard back home!!!

Then we plunged deep into the bustling shops and restaurant areas.

Time for a some lunch here … Jan tried “Canadian pea soup” … turned out to be cold, but very hearty!

We explored a gallery of Inuit Art and actually bought a miniature version of this chap as a souvenir.

Lots of tourists were riding round in these …

… and of course, they need fuel too!!

Back down to the lower town.

… things had livened up now … crowds pressing … (and this was Thursday, can’t imagine what’s it’s like on a Sunday afternoon!)

We found this for our gorgeous Giselle …

Salute Quebec … just wonderful!! (… at least in the summer time … a local told us it gets to -40 sometimes in the winter!).

Colour and style everywhere …

The blurb says it’s the fourth longest fjord in the world. It took nearly 5 hours to sail it’s length each way. In the winter it freezes over and the locals drive out and go ice fishing on it!

We cruised in early …

… sailed past many of these …

… and were greeted by the locals … how very French!

We drove to the National Park for a better look. Over Big Salmon River …

Past many mountain lakes …

We found the pretty village of L’Anse Saint-Jean … complete with a covered bridge.

And drove to a high lookout for a better view of the fjord in both directions …

Then into the National Park. A rapid stream right by the road. I went down for a closer look.

We walked in the woods …

… and found this porcupine having lunch …

… and met Chip (or was it Dale?) …

And then went down to a marshy inlet on the fjord. Beautiful! … but, man, how ’bout dem bitin’ bugs!!

Back to the town of Chicoutimi, once home to a big paper mill. Now derelict (with a Museum, of course!) …

Then back down the fjord to the St Lawrence River. Past a 10 metre white statue of the Virgin Mary …

… and into the night.

This turned out to be the first port where we thought the poor weather spoilt the show a bit. It must just be the most fabulous place to see in the sunshine …

Prince Edward Island is just beautiful, and Charlottetown is as good as the image its name conjures …

As we sailed in to its lovely harbour, the image started to unfold …

This is home to Ann of Green Gables, of course. So off we went looking. First through the the richest farming land you can imagine.

Corn …

Potatoes … (see later)

Hay for the dairy cows …

Past many farm houses like this …

… and little fishing settlements like this …

Green Gables is now a Canada National Park Monument. We visited …

…and went inside to “Ann’s room”

Then on to the wild north coast National Park. Obviously beautifully protected dunes of red sand (to match the bright red soil of the island). Castle building is popular, but no swimming today. The enormous beach carparks were empty.

We drove back into Charlottetown to explore. And found these in the most beautiful little suburb. Every house a picture postcard!

Then into town. Big Victorian era influence everywhere …

Magnificent public buildings … red bricks and stone reflecting the rocks and soils of the Island

One of many magnificent churches …

This is “Victoria Row” …

Wooden apartment buildings …

One group, now a very posh hotel …

On the walk back to ship, we sampled some of the local potato produce … now these were fries!!!!

An hour an half after sailing we passed under the Confederation Bridge … regarded as a Canadian engineering marvel, its 8 miles links PEI to the mainland … we couldn’t see either end!

Obvoiusly we had a curiosity about this stop … but, hmmmm, this is not quite the Sydney we know. Formerly a big centre for coal mining and shipping, just 30,000 population, bashed around by VERY harsh winters … bleak … you get the picture …

Nevertheless, the morning (and the suburb across the harbour) looked promising.

We hired a car and drove 80km or so to Baddeck … over this pretend SHB …

Baddeck was home to Alexander Graham Bell. It’s a pretty little holiday town on a lake called Bras d’Or.

On the way back … carefully following signs today!!!!! …

… we drove a little way along the Cabot Trail, apparently one of the best coastal drives in North America … past a couple of pretty stops … but the weather was unkind and we retreated back to Sydney.

On this tour, we completely lost count of the number of old white wooden chuches!!! Some in towns, and some in the middle of nowhere … must be something about the Canadians of yesteryear?

The good weather couldn’t last forever. We crawled into the very large harbour at Halifax. Guarded by an old fort. The French and British slugged it out in these parts!

A pleasant walk along the harbourfront boardwalk to pick up a car.

Halifax looks like just another city and the nearby countryside was scruffy. But … nearing Peggy’s Cove the coastal wilderness looked interesting (if a bit bleak today).

From one of the biggest harbours, to one of the smallest. This is pretty much the whole harbour!

Lots of pretty scenes in this old fishing village …

I went on a small boat tour out to sea. There I am at the back. Jan declined.

Jan walked and visited the lighthouse …

I went past in the boat …

… and then along the pretty coast darting around islands …

… on the way back I got to drive …

Back in Halifax we found the Public Garden. Small, simple, beautiful.

Jan drooled over the dogwoods.

And, it’s aparrently a favourite backdrop for Halifax brides …

We were welcomed to Saint John by these chaps catching a few early morning rays …

We didn’t see the city. It looked a bit industrial, with churches.

We hired a car and set off for St Martins. Along the way we passed a surprising number of little white churches like this …

Then in St Martins itself, houses like this … as you can see it was a beautiful day!

The St Martins village is an old fishing base. Charming as you would guess. The tide was out, but coming in …

We decided to have very early lunch … a bowl of seafood chowder each … YUM!

Then around to St Martins Cove to check out the sea caves …

… two huge caves into the soft red cliffs.

I decided to explore. Shoes off, across the channel, clambering all the way to the second cave …

… back on the “beach”, Jan was a little agitated (can you find her?). The tide was coming in … fast!

(Just three hours later it looked like this.)

Then we decided to explore a little further, and, completely unplanned, we found the Fundy Trail, part of a Canadian National Park. What a surprise.

Spectacular coastline …

Fuller waterfall …

Wildflowers were absolutely everywhere …

The Big Salmon River …

… and this little gem … “Pot Rock”

We retraced back to St Martins village, and took this photo …

… just 3 hours and 10 minutes after taking this one. Big tide, eh?

Then we hit the road back to Saint John in plenty of time to catch the ship. Hmmmm … coming out of town we (both) saw a sign to Saint John and followed it. Half an hour later we realised we were LOST!! After a bit of panic we found an old farmer who said, “go this way to the 865, and that will take you to the “big 4 laner””. We drove and drove. Further and further. Faster and faster. Rallying back roads at 120kph in our little Kia. Phew! Finally, the Trans Canada Highway! … but we must have travelled at least 50km out of our way, and had 52km to get to Saint John. This was not in the plan! Quick calculation … to get to the ship on time we needed to go real FAST … 140kph down Highway 1. Hope the Mounties aren’t around! Jan made calls to the rental car company and to the ship as we hammered along! Go, go, go! We got to the car depot with a few minutes to spare. But then the driver misunderstood where he had to take us … not the car ferry, mate … the cruise ship! … another 10 minutes lost! We rushed on board, just in front of 3 others who were also 10 minutes late!

Jan went, all the way straight, to the BAR!!!

But hey, it was FUN!