September 16-22, 2011

September 16, 2011


Nick was right--parts of New Brunswick are...repetitive...but not the Fundy Shore.  Who doesn't love the world's largest Lobster (Shediac) or giant tides and beautiful sunsets in Fundy National Park.  After setting up camp there we started to bike to the beach, and then realized it was about 4 km. downhill (not much fun one the way back up). We thanked our lucky stars that we set up early and were warm and snug when it rained all night.   Did I mention that we picked up lobster for dinner?  Oh for a little more time to walk to all of the waterfalls and play golf on the park's beautiful course.   

September 17, 2011

Saturday was devoted to a lot of sightseeing.  We checked out the town of Alma (boats high and dry on the Fundy shore), Cape Enrage Lighthouse (isn't that a great name for a piece of seashore?) and Cape Hopewell Rocks (aka the Flowerpot Rocks) before moving on to "Smiley's Povincial Park" in NS (another great name).  The Rocks were amazing and took up a ton of photo footage.  And...yes, we did manage to find another camp site right next to a disgruntled two-year old again.  Note to parents--under 4's seem to need their own beds (or their own campgrounds) at night.

September 18, 2011

On our way down through Nova Scotia, we stopped to exchange our malfuctioning mattress  (bought in BC--no receipt--we were impressed) and to pick up some scallops in Digby.  After a quick viewing of Yarmouth, we moved on to Shelburne.  Such a lovely reconstructed harbour front (past movie location) with a "Whirligig Festival" wrapping up.  We were enchanted with the creativity of these constructions--everything from "Marie Antoinette loosing her head" to "moose dueling".  Wish we had arrived earlier.  We decided to camp at Thomas Raddall Provincial Park and were rewarded with one of the nicest sites yet.  It was huge, completely isolated, next to the "comfort station" and we were serenaded by coyotes during the evening.  Yeah Nova Scotia!

September 19, 2011

After a morning spent exploring the park and learning about the area's settlers, we moved on to Liverpool and the Hank Snow museum.  Liverpool is very proud of being his birthplace (or at least the town next door).  We were treated to a video, music, and viewing of Hank memorabilia and then were on our way to visit with Heiner and Alison on Second Peninsula (out of Lunenberg).  Good thing for the GPS!  We arrived in time to check out the chip trails and have happy hour before a wonderful meal and plenty of great conversation.  What a beautiful home and site--we can see why Alison and Heiner are "bicoastal" people.

September 20, 2011

Next day dawned bright and sunny--ordered up specially for a kayaking trip with Alison and Heiner.  They had arranged for us to use a neighbour's new double so off we went to spend most of the morning and afternoon paddling through the splendid waterways near Second Peninsula.  We stopped for lunch on a small island and learned about another use for thermarests.  We played in and out the surge channels and checked out some pretty incredible sea-side cottages.  It was a truly spectacular day, made even better by a feast of scallops at the boat house and more great conversation.

September 21, 2011

After another great morning spent chatting and eating, we headed off to tour through old town Lunenberg.  Thanks to our special guided tour we saw more of it than usual--including the Bluenose under reconstruction and the beautifully reconstructed "St John's" church.  Whilst eating lunch at the Lunenberg gold course, we had time to take many photos of downtown from across the water and hope to create a photomontage someday.  Tony checked out the golf course rates and was pretty tempted!  We worked off lunch with a beautiful hike along Hurtle Beach.  Tiko (their dog) especially enjoyed the swimming.  Again, a fond goodbye and big thanks to Heiner and Alison for their fabulous hospitality.  We hope one day to return this in BC!  (Oh yes--and we forgot our coats in the closet, so would be meeting with Alison in Chester next day for coffee to pick them up.)  Off we went to Graves Island Provincial Park to spend the evening watching the sunset and listen to the apple trees drop apples onto the tent tarp.

September 22, 2011

Although Thursday looked very promising as we sat in the bright sunshine drinking coffee with Alison, it soon started to look less so by afternoon.  We used up the sunshine to explore Chester and then wandered around Peggy's Cove in the fog.  After checking for new runners for Tony, we decided to grab a motel room and get some blogging done while the rain poured down.  Yes, apparently it is going to be a rainy weekend, but we will happily spend the time indoors, chatting and visiting with Judy, Cliff and family.