A smooth flight up from Newark saw us arriving at our airport hotel around 11pm, eating at a nearby 'Tim Horton's' which became a snack of choice particularly if driving, there's one at every roadside stop. Tim Horton's was established by a Canadian sports star, and are everywhere... the answer to McDonalds/Starbucks but certainly of a higher quality. Although we thought our rental car pickup had gone smoothly, we decided on the short drive to the hotel the supplied Chevrolet Spark seemed a tad small, given how many km's we had in front of us... on checking our booking we ascertained we had actually been down graded!!
So, luckily as we were still close to the airport we doubled back in the morning and after a bit of assertive persuasion, following their initial statement " nothing was available", we were issued with a much more suitable Hyundai Elantra for the following 17 day trip around the Maritime provinces... and it didn't mean a suitcase perched on the back seat compared to the inadequate Spark!
Parked up the car at our reserved AirBnB (the first for the trip), which was ideally located a 20 minute walk from downtown, and we headed to the harbour area to meet our guide for a Halifax Bike tour. Halifax is the capital city of the Nova Scotia province of Canada and has a population of approximately 400,000. The city was established around 1749 as a British settlement and now has 7 universities, and although few students are currently present due to the summer break, it has a definite party atmosphere... full of tourists at this time including many cruise ship passengers.
Statue recognising the immigrants arrival in the New Lands... Halifax being the first port of call for many
Didn't quite get why Winston was there, but an impressive statue...
The 4 hour bike tour on a very hot day meant the guide was melting, all of the locals were struggling with the heat! The tour gave us a good look around the inner city areas, and with only 3 clients it was a pleasant introduction to the town. Went through Point Pleasant park, the Citadel, University, Brewery area (lots of craft brewery's, so little time!), passing many great sculptures/statues and finished at the very cool new library building.
One of the more interesting history episodes was the Halifax explosion... which we didn't know of. During WWI huge sections of the city were wiped out with resulting loss of life (approximately 2000 died and 9000 injured)when a French cargo ship, packed with explosives (unknown to port authorities), collided with another vessel. The resulting explosion was the largest man-made, although accidental, explosion ever... before the Hiroshima atomic bomb.
Halifax is known as a party town, this sculpture signifies some results... a passed out pole being watched over by a concerned friend, whilst the far one urinates into the harbour!!
After finishing the tour we found Alexander Keith's Brewery, it is amongst one of the oldest commercial breweries in North America being founded in 1820... so had a much appreciated drink on a pleasant roof top bar, the first cider for Caro since leaving NZ!
A walk around the harbour area on a beautiful evening along with the annual buskers festival being on during our visit made it very pleasant. Lots of people around and a cruise ship seen departing into the sunset.
The next morning a few more town photos whilst it was quiet.... a new cruise ship just berthing... a quick breakfast and then out of town we headed.
Exploring New Scotland
First stop for the day was Peggy's Cove, a cute historic coastal fishing village swarming with people! A sign of the fact we are in peak summer tourist season but also how small these towns are and how the tourist growth is putting stress on infrastructure, car parking, restaurants, accommodation etc over what is a condensed tourist season.... due to the short summers and long winters.
Just up the road from Peggy's Cove is a monument for Swiss Air flight 111 which crashed into the Atlantic ocean just off the coast in September 1998 with loss of all on board. The communities in the area helped with the recovery of the bodies and the hosting of their relatives.
Next a short stop at the picturesque town of Mahone Bay for a Haskap berry ice cream ...(honeysuckle berry) anyway we'd never heard of it but yum we can certainly recommend it!!
Then onto Old Town Lunenburg a British colonial township established in 1753 and now a UNESCO world heritage site because of the large number of original buildings still standing. We checked into our B&B Lennox Tavern which claims to be the oldest operating inn in Canada. It was built around 1795 -1818 and is one of the oldest buildings in Lunenburg.
There was a sailing vessel in port, on the same basis as NZ's Spirit of Adventure, so it was interesting to view that from on-board as it was open to the public. After a walk and a fish and chip dinner we lined up for a walking ghost tour....fun to learn the background to some of the buildings and cemetery in the town and very easy to believe in the ghost residents as described!!
Anyway not too many bumps in the night and after breakfast we headed across the island to the town of Annapolis Royal on the Bay of Fundy on west side of Nova Scotia. Annapolis Royal town evolved from the 1605 French settlement of Port Royal. It became a British settlement in 1710 after several attacks and the French were forced to abandon the town for other Nova Scotia areas, with many deported to southern USA. Its dominate feature is Fort Anne, a four star (shape) fort built to protect the town and harbour. So a walk around the town and fort... it was quite hot so we didn't dawdle for too long.
The Bay of Fundy has a tidal difference of up to 16 metres, the highest in the world, so a quick stop at the Annapolis tidal generating station showed us how the tidal changes generates electricity ... built in 1984 it is the only tidal power plant in North America and operates at this point of the bay on a 8m tidal difference.
Next stop Digby, a small fishing town (pop around 2000), with time to visit their lighthouse
Another province (or 2), another day (or 2)...
After our overnight stay at a cheap and cheerful motel in the fishing/industrial city of St John, New Brunswick, we headed off to explore the western shore of Fundy Bay. First point after breakfast at St Martins was to drive the one way Fundy Trail, a community developed scenic road along the coast. Renowned for its dramatic seascapes and cliffs.... we were greeted after paying our entry fee with banks of sea fog rolling in and obliterating the views!!
We did a couple of walks to small waterfalls and enjoyed what we could. From there we drove through the Fundy National Park to Alma and found our accommodation, Peck Colonial House BnB, a Georgian home built around 1795... and it felt that way too with the floor sloping on weird angles!
Snorkel anyone...
That evening we drove to Hopewell Rocks and checked out the area at high tide.
The following morning it was a revisit at low tide.... at times up to 16 metres different! At low tide it is possible to walk around the formations on the sea floor, keeping your feet dry.
Same spot at low tide... 14m lower!!
A quick, but very enjoyable visit to Prince Edward Island
We departed Hopewell Rocks around midday for our afternoon drive to Prince Edward Island. Crossing over the almost 13km long bridge was a fun experience... the Confederation Bridge is the longest bridge in the world that crosses ice-covered water (in winter obviously, completely opposite temps whilst we are there!).
Drove through scenic farmland to our accommodation on the outskirts of Charlottetown. A beautiful area and nice to see farmland, lots of potatoes, some grain and dairy, a change from trees which much of Canadian driving encompasses! Lovely AirBnB on a lifestyle block along with friendly owner, friendly cats, friendly hens and rescue (some friendly) horses.
Went into Charlottetown for dinner, a walk around followed by sampling the Prince Edward speciality of Cows Ice Cream (the brand... as well as where it came from!!).
Beaching and onwards...
Next morning after farm eggs for breakfast we headed off to explore a little of the island. Prince Edward Island is reasonably small so it was possible to see a little bit on our brief visit. The northern beaches are quite spectacular... long expanses of sand which are reasonably underused but popular over the short summer. After visiting St Peters beach we passed through a number of scenic villages, including lunch at Georgetown on the eastern shore.
A bit like Winston... not sure why he is here, but pretty cool!
An afternoon ferry crossing from Wood Islands back to Pictou, Nova Scotia, a beautiful day and a calm crossing with seal and dolphin (?) spotting on the way. A drive up to Cape Breton Island to stay near Mabou, in another stunning 1800s BnB property, The Inn at Glendyer. Going back into town for dinner we spotted a couple of bald eagles, and enjoyed Celtic live music whilst we ate at Glenora Inn and Distillery.
