Hey everyone,
we have survived our first week of camping. Air beds that self-deflate, toilet trips at 2am in freezing rain and windy nights in a walmart cheapy summer tent pretty much sums it up. Not really. The scenery has been fantastic, and the nova scotians have been really friendly(especially when we say we are from Australia- "You're from where?") Apparently they don't get heaps of Aussies visiting over here- must be too far or something like that.
We have spent the last week camping in various provincial parks around nova scotia. They have been pretty quiet campgrounds, with hardly anyone camping. It is the third day of summer here(by canadian standards) and we had to get our winter gear out again the other night. It is very wet and cold and you can feel it in your bones.
We have spent the last couple of days around the bay of fundy, which is in the north of nova scotia. It has the worlds largest tides,up to 16 metres or so in height and we have been checking out the sandflats. The cliffs are very red and apparently full of fossils and amethyst but we haven't found any yet.
We are following a series of tourist drives around the province, and we occasionally get off the track a bit and have to back track when the signs are missing.
We are sitting in a library at Parrsboro at the moment doing some free surfing and will return to our campsite a bit later for some canned food and copious amounts of toast.Yum!
We have been fending off the aggressive squirrels trying to steal our food and enjoying the scenery.
Bye for now
Geoff and El
Friday, June 24, 2005
Monday, June 13, 2005
Nova Scotia
We are now in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We arrived here a couple of days ago after taking a 19hr train ride from Quebec City. The weather has been a little miserable (which can be normal for here) but not too bad. Yesterday we went for a walk around the waterfront checking out all the ships. We went to look around a WWII corvette which was pretty cool. We also went to the city's cittadel and checked out lots of old cannons, and a very extensive military museum.
We are in Halifax until Wednesday morning where we are hiring a car and planning to explore Nova Scotia. We are also going to buy a tent and try and see it on the cheap.
So that's about it for now.
Love Geoff and El.
We are in Halifax until Wednesday morning where we are hiring a car and planning to explore Nova Scotia. We are also going to buy a tent and try and see it on the cheap.
So that's about it for now.
Love Geoff and El.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
French Canada
Bonjour,
Zhe ne parl pas francais. I can't speak French as we have discovered. We have spent the last few days in the province of Quebec, first in Montreal and more recently in Quebec City. Montreal was cool, it is a vibrant mix of english and french speaking people. All the street and building signs are in french so we did a lot of guesswork. We stayed in a mixed dorm in Montreal for 1 night and met a nice couple from Ottawa. They took us around old montreal and showed us a cool lebanese bakery in the middle of the suburbs. Yum! We spent the next two nights in a private room. We walked to the top of Mont-Royal (where Montreal gets its name) and had a good view of the city. The buildings in Old Montreal were really interesting.
We caught a bus from montreal to Quebec City on Monday and have been looking around the city. We are staying at a hostel within the walled city of Quebec, built in the 1600s sometime. It is really cool to walk around looking at all the old structures and the interesting buildings. French is by far the dominant language here. We haven't had to use it too much- though we had trouble ordering subway in montreal- we think they ripped us off a bit but oh well shit happens.
We are catching a train to Halifax, Novia Scotia on Friday night. We are planning on camping for a few weeks around there, possibly Newfoundland as well but it depends on how much things cost.
Hope everyone is well.
All the best
Geoff and El
Zhe ne parl pas francais. I can't speak French as we have discovered. We have spent the last few days in the province of Quebec, first in Montreal and more recently in Quebec City. Montreal was cool, it is a vibrant mix of english and french speaking people. All the street and building signs are in french so we did a lot of guesswork. We stayed in a mixed dorm in Montreal for 1 night and met a nice couple from Ottawa. They took us around old montreal and showed us a cool lebanese bakery in the middle of the suburbs. Yum! We spent the next two nights in a private room. We walked to the top of Mont-Royal (where Montreal gets its name) and had a good view of the city. The buildings in Old Montreal were really interesting.
We caught a bus from montreal to Quebec City on Monday and have been looking around the city. We are staying at a hostel within the walled city of Quebec, built in the 1600s sometime. It is really cool to walk around looking at all the old structures and the interesting buildings. French is by far the dominant language here. We haven't had to use it too much- though we had trouble ordering subway in montreal- we think they ripped us off a bit but oh well shit happens.
We are catching a train to Halifax, Novia Scotia on Friday night. We are planning on camping for a few weeks around there, possibly Newfoundland as well but it depends on how much things cost.
Hope everyone is well.
All the best
Geoff and El
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Toronto
Hi everyone,
Well, we made it over to this side of Canada. Our flight on Monday morning was pretty good, only took about 4 hours or so. The in-flight movie was pretty lame--> "winndixie". Must have been cheap. :(
We had two nights in a really friendly hostel (much better than the one in Vancouver). Yesterday we went with a small tour group to Niagara Falls. The falls were really spectacular. There is, however, a really tacky, Las Vegas-style strip that kinda ruins it though, with lots of sky scrapers, house of wax style museums, etc. Our tour guide drove us out to a lardy-dar winery where we tried some ice wine. Ice wine is made from grapes that are harvested at temperatures of minus 10 degrees and the resulting drink is VERY sweet. At prices of $55 for the skinnest half-bottle, it is a little out of our price range!
We also checked out a monument overlooking the Niagara river, where the British/Canadians defeated the Americans in the war of 1812. This park also contained the biggest squirrels we have ever seen in our lives! In the evening, the falls were lit up with lots of multi-coloured spotlights and it looked pretty cool.
Today we have checked out of our hostel and we have two more nights in Toronto (at another hostel) before we head off to Montreal on Friday morning. Today we are just wandering around having a look. We hope to go up the CN tower tomorrow. Toronto is very much a city, not as leafy or pretty as Vancouver (at least not what we have seen so far).
So that's it for now.
Bye,
El and Geoff.
Well, we made it over to this side of Canada. Our flight on Monday morning was pretty good, only took about 4 hours or so. The in-flight movie was pretty lame--> "winndixie". Must have been cheap. :(
We had two nights in a really friendly hostel (much better than the one in Vancouver). Yesterday we went with a small tour group to Niagara Falls. The falls were really spectacular. There is, however, a really tacky, Las Vegas-style strip that kinda ruins it though, with lots of sky scrapers, house of wax style museums, etc. Our tour guide drove us out to a lardy-dar winery where we tried some ice wine. Ice wine is made from grapes that are harvested at temperatures of minus 10 degrees and the resulting drink is VERY sweet. At prices of $55 for the skinnest half-bottle, it is a little out of our price range!
We also checked out a monument overlooking the Niagara river, where the British/Canadians defeated the Americans in the war of 1812. This park also contained the biggest squirrels we have ever seen in our lives! In the evening, the falls were lit up with lots of multi-coloured spotlights and it looked pretty cool.
Today we have checked out of our hostel and we have two more nights in Toronto (at another hostel) before we head off to Montreal on Friday morning. Today we are just wandering around having a look. We hope to go up the CN tower tomorrow. Toronto is very much a city, not as leafy or pretty as Vancouver (at least not what we have seen so far).
So that's it for now.
Bye,
El and Geoff.
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