Quebec - and our last days in Canada

As we entered the Province of Quebec the weather was becoming cooler with grey skies and rain showers. The odd few leaves on the deciduous trees were changing colour and some trees were almost covered in their autumn (fall) finery of red, yellow, orange, burgundy and lime green. If only we had another two weeks to experience the full onslaught – I'm sure it would be absolutely stunning.

We had several days of road travel eventually linking up again on the previously travelled Route des Navigateurs to travel westward this time along the St Lawrence River towards the Province’s capitol, Quebec. Accommodation in the old city area of Quebec was hard to find, so we found a hotel about 20 minutes away for our final few days in Canada. We decided on a small guided tour and were picked up from our hotel at 9am for a very good tour with commentary of the very beautiful old city in the morning with a tour around the picturesque area just outside the city in the afternoon. The old city centre is truly very European looking with the cobbled roads and French style of architecture. Musicians busking outside small bistros and coffee shops add to the sense of being in Europe and far away from the North American continent.

For our final day in Canada with drove to the nearby traditional Huron settlement (Onhoua Chetek8e [sic] Native). A young native woman guided around explaining her ancestors lived in the past. Being mainly settled (non migratory) in one place, they erected quite substantial communal huts and tended theland growing their food as well as hunting. The settlement welcomes visitors and has a restaurant where we had a substantial lunch of sunflower soup with Indian bread, followed with deer sconoton (for me) and bison sausages for Peter then by a dessert of maple cake. Very interesting (different!) and delicious food. There was also a herbal hot drink provided.

This was, to me, just the perfect way to end our Canadian trip – a reminder of how the first nation people lived in that part of the world and how their descendants have both integrated into white society, but also managed to keep alive their traditions. Although the Huron people don’t own their land (the Government does), they have the advantage of living  in the settlement without paying any taxes. Education is encouraged and their artisans are happy to pass on their skills to younger people. With a steady stream of interested tourists/travellers, and a settlement well run by their elders, this particular branch of the native north American people seem to have found their niche and worked hard to promote themselves and their traditional way of life in modern society.

On our departure day, we packed up, drove to the airport, surrendered our hire car, congratulated ourselves on arriving early, checked in our luggage and then had our lunch. On fronting up to security, though, I had completely forgotten the miniscule amount of liquid you are allowed in your carry-on luggage and confessed to 3 containers of maple syrup. Oh dear, we had quite a ‘Monty Pythonesque’ time re-organising. I was sent downstairs to the check-in counter to see if I could send it separately and pay the departure tax. The very helpful lady decided that would be far too expensive and suggested putting the three containers in one of our suitcases (already checked). “What is your luggage check number and I’ll go and fetch your case” said she helpfully. Umm – those luggage slips and the suitcase keys were with Peter who had already gone successfully through security.  Upstairs I went but Peter had already disappeared and the friendly staff had been replaced with a new shift of people. I was sent downstairs again to arrange a P.A. announcement, and this had to be done in both French and English. Eventually Peter heard his name and came downstairs (through Domestic Arrivals!) and we fronted up once more to our friendly check-in lady who had in the meantime, looked up our details on the computer, noted the luggage number and had retrieved my suitcase. So there we were squatting on the terminal floor opening my suitcase and packing in three plastic bottles of maple syrup – with a prayer that they wouldn’t leak. Thankfully the suitcase was still under the allowable weight, so we breathed a sigh of relief and thanked profusely the very helpful check-in lady who had thought it so lovely that we wanted to take home some genuine Quebecois maple syrup. What  a drama!

Our flights home (Quebec to Toronto, change to the ‘big’ plane, next  to Vancouver, a stop for re-fuelling and then the long flight across the Pacific to Sydney, thence to Melbourne) was quite uneventful but it was extremely lovely to be back in Australia and to be picked up by our son, Rohan, for the drive home.

Our Alaskan and Canada trip over almost three months was a great experience. We loved the amazing Rockies with their spectacular views of glaciers in BC with all the various climate zones, also  the short break in the USA when we drove to the huge Boeing factory and the lovely coastal scenery as we island-hopped our way back to Canada was an unexpected delight.  The prairie lands in the centre part of Canada  were a complete contrast with hundreds of miles of perfectly flat land and the seemingly endless crops of canola and flax. The train travel via VIArail’s The Canadian was most enjoyable but sadly, NOT the long delays at train stations. In the east the Maritime provinces were just lovely and we especially liked the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec Province with its coastal views and silver churches. Prince Edward Island was just about the most picture perfect island – beautiful scenery with hills and trees and lovely little villages – it surely must be the place where all those white snowy  scenes are photographed for  Christmas cards. Nova Scotia was also interesting to us – loved the Maritime Museum in Halifax and also its amazing Citadel and again there were great coastal roads with wonderful views and everywhere all the lighthouses throughout the Maritimes. 

Newfoundland was a place which had been a long time on the bucket list, but the long distances and the short time we had left to us meant we were rather limited in what we experience. It would have been lovely to travel way up north to Gander once the first stopping off place for flights across the Atlantic and also to L'Anse aux Meadows the Viking Settlement dating from around 1,000 AD, but we did very much enjoy our day at the Avalon Settlement archaeological dig, the Whale & Puffin boat trip, our day in the capital, St Johns, the views from Signal Point and the day trip to the small historic village of Trinity.

The distances we covered on our travels across Canada were quite vast - by car it totalled around 10,000 kilometres with train travel accounting for another 3,500.

Finally, I must say in all our travels we have never seen so many trees – the world will never be short of trees as long as there is Canada. We have so many good memories of our trip – thank you Canada and your friendly, welcoming people.  This will be a hard trip to top. Until next time ....

Back to Nova Scotia

Again, another very smooth crossing and we drove off the ferry around 9.30am and whilst still in the North Sydney area, found two more cemeteries and photographed some missing war graves. Next we found our way to our B&B and enjoyed a very nice overnight stay, with the hostess, Cheryl, telling us next morning of an attempted murder which took place at her home two years prior. A newly married widow (in her 70s) chose the B&B to finish off her fourth husband – rather ineptly if you ask me as she had already served several years for ‘accidentally driving over her second husband TWICE!  If you’re a murder mystery fan, just google ‘Black Widow and Chambers B&B’ for the full story. Cheryl had us in fits of laughter though and made this stop one of our favourites.

Leaving Nova Scotia, we travelled by a coastal route along the southern coast eventually arriving at Dartmouth where we had accommodation for a few days. This is ‘just up the road’ from Halifax and so not far to go for the essential site-seeing of this part of Nova Scotia.

 

First day was a day of discovery in Halifax. We found our way to the Fairview Cemetery to view the graves of the Titanic victims – there is such a lot of them and they are all arranged on a gentle curved slope. Of course there are is a steady stream of coaches continually bringing sightseers so at times there are quite a lot of people moving amongst the memorial stones.

Next we found our way to the harbour right down the hillside and through the narrow one-way streets that are such an irritation when you’re not sure about finding your way in a strange city. The popular harbourside is along the boardwalk with the inevitable fast-food booths, and it is there that the excellent Maritime Museum is sited. It is well worth a visit, as much of the history of this region is sea based, and so very important to the lives of people who live here. A short feature film told the dreadful story of the Halifax disaster – when a French cargo ship fully loaded with wartime explosives, was involved in a collision with a Norwegian vessel in December 1917. The result was a cataclysmic explosion that devastated Halifax. Over 2,000 people died, 9,000 were injured and a tsunami created by the blast wiped out the physical community of Mi'kmaq First Nations people that had lived nearby. The museum has a separate exhibition on the ill-fated Titanic – as you would imagine. Halifax was the nearest port to the disaster and it is where the both the survivors and the recovered victims were brought.

At lunchtime we decided it was now or never to try the popular ‘poutine’. It consists of a dish of fries, topped off with cheese curds and then gravy over the lot. We not very bravely decided that we’d order a small dish of this delicacy (!) to share and with some iced tea, took our meal to the picnic tables by the waterside. Perhaps it was a good thing that we met a holidaying English couple to chat with while we ate.  Must say poutine is not really to our taste – but it certainly is to a vast majority of Canadians.

We took a day trip out of Halifax along the coast to Peggy’s Cove which is touted in the brochures as picture perfect with a wonderful lighthouse. Well, we've certainly seen our share of lighthouses on this trip – especially so in the Maritimes (those provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland) nevertheless we found Peggy’s Cove quite picturesque despite (once again) coachloads of tourists. It has a vast rocky area right by the sea with a white lighthouse beautifully positioned to warn ships. These lighthouses nowadays are not so essential given the widespread use of the GPS, but the structures remain and are very picturesque and a reminder of the days when expert navigation was a talent at which a lot of seafarers were not very proficient.

We couldn't leave Halifax without visiting the amazing Halifax Citadel (Fort George) perched solidly high up on a hilltop in the heart of the city. We arrived on the day that 75 years ago Canada entered into the fray of WW2 and many of those ‘manning’ the citadel were dressed in period wartime uniforms instead of the usual full Scottish dress of the 78^th Highlanders. Peter got talking to one ‘soldier’ and found out that he was a re-enactor – and of all things, his forte was as an Australian Light horseman! He was most interested to learn that my grandfather was in the 13^th Light Horse.

We also visited the Canadian Immigration Museum sited in the very building that so many immigrants passed through on their way to a new life in this country. It is Canada's version of Ellis Island, and is well worth a visit.

Leaving Halifax we drove across Nova Scotia to the north coast and checked into a B&B in Digby for two nights. During our stay here we drove along the coast to Annapolis Royal, a pretty coastal town first settled by the French in 1605 and in nearby Port Royal there is a beautiful (1939/40) reconstruction (by retired shipbuilders) of the original French fort. 

Before leaving, we visited the Moose River Rug Hooking Centre. I have been intrigued by the popularity of this unknown craft (to me) especially in the Maritimes which had originated in pioneer days when burlap (hessian) sacks were reused as the base of floor rugs and strips of old clothing or fabrics were hooked through to easily make quite beautiful - but cheap - floor coverings. The centre we visited certainly opened my eyes to this craft and it seems to be almost as popular here as quilting.

In this area there is also a tidal powered generating station taking advantage of the incredibly high tides in the Bay of Fundy. In fact you can literally see the rise of the incoming tide - it is so rapid.

This small town is from where we boarded another ferry to travel in grey, rainy weather back to New Brunswick. We drove across the province finally coming back to Quebec Province – our final  stop.

Newfoundland

The much delayed (6 hours!) finally left port at 11.30pm by which time all passengers seemed to be settled for the night either in private cabins or (as we were) in very comfortable recliner air seats in one of several seating areas. With plenty of leg room and in a carpeted and quiet room, it was not difficult to drift off to sleep with the hum of the engines as the ship made its way out into the Atlantic Ocean. The feared rough seas due to bad weather did not eventuate and our progress all the way to Argentia, Newfoundland was one of the smoothest sea journeys we've ever taken.

We arrived, surprisingly refreshed after our shipboard sleep, and finally drove off the Atlantic Vision at about 2pm in absolutely beautiful weather.

We had booked into Armstrong’s Suites in Witless Bay which is about an hour and a half from Argentia, and renowned for its Ecological and Marine park. Our ‘room’ turned out to be two bedrooms and a large living area with quite a good kitchen area. We were able to self-cater and so enjoyed some home cooking each evening – making quite a change from the usual range of food available from cafes and restaurants.

Unlike Nova Scotia with its strong Scottish roots, Newfoundlanders have an Irish background and their speech has a very Irish lilt to their Canadian English.

Our first Newfoundland adventure was a Whale & Puffin tour on board the ‘Molly Bawn’. The weather had turned cool and windy overnight and the sea was considerably choppy, but together with another couple, the guide and captain took us out through the waves into the harbour amongst the islands. It was the last day for these types of tours, as the puffins usually head out to sea for the winter by the first of September and the whales, too, move off to more wintry quarters. Nevertheless we spotted several Minke whales, and masses of different types of seabirds including the quite cute puffins so arrived back quite satisfied.

The next day we packed a picnic lunch and drove about an hour an a half around the coast to Ferry land where the Colony of Avalon is situated. The area had been first settled by Europeans around 1621 and after centuries of settlement lay abandoned until re-discovered in the 1930s. Small scale archaeology began but it was not until 1992 that the Avalon Foundation received sufficient funding to carry out the massive work that the site warranted. 

The original cobbled roadway uncovered.

Now at Ferryland there is a fully equipped conservation laboratory, a collection storage area, an absolutely wonderful interpretation centre with guided outside tours (we had our own personal guide on the day we visited), a reproduction of a (working) seventeenth-century kitchen and three heritage gardens. Digs continue with much, much more to uncover. It is a wonderful place set in stunning scenery especially when viewed in summer but I imagine life there would have been extremely hard in the long winter months.

Day three was spent in the Capital of Newfoundland, St Johns, and it is such a small but pretty city situated on the sloping shore of an almost landlocked harbour. It would have been (and still is, I suppose) a wonderful shelter for ships braving the North Atlantic Ocean in the days of sail. 

Stunning view of St Johns from Summit Hill.

At St Johns we once again searched for, found and photographed a War grave for the Commonwealth War Graves Photographic Project. Then, after some lunch at the very impressive “The Rooms” (the archives, museum and art gallery of Newfoundland), we visited their World War 1 exhibition, also the displays featuring early fishing life together with its icy tragedies early last century. Such a hard life for the islanders during those long ago times. 

Cape Spear Lighthouse.

Before leaving this area around St Johns, we drove to Cape Spear which really is the most easterly point of land – from here there is just the vast ocean. The old lighthouse, near to which Marconi proved that his invention of wireless communication actually worked, is a favourite spot for tourists especially on such a beautiful blue sky day being high on the Cape with spectacular views back over St Johns and also out over the vast Atlantic.

Trinity.

Our final day was another long three hour drive north-east to Trinity another early settlement with people mainly associated with the fishing (cod) trade from Poole in Dorset, England. This lucrative trade continued for many decades before finally going into a decline. The village still retains many of its gorgeous old buildings and some have been sensitively restored. There were Mercantile Premises, a Forge, various churches, a parish hall, a mortuary chapel, a museum (where there was an interesting demonstration of rug hooking which is quite a popular craft in the Maritimes) and Hiscock House where a widow, Emma Hiscock, became quite the entrepreneur during her lifetime. Trinity is not a museum, though, as quite a number of people live there. 

The town is a stunning place and we enjoyed visiting the various buildings where guides told the story of ‘their’ particular building. We spent some time in the Cooperage talking to a craftsman who explained the making of casks and tubs for the transportation and storage of fish in the early years.  His family of English origin had lived in the area for several generations but we were still able to pick the English West Country lilt to his speech. We really enjoyed our visit to Trinity, even though we faced another three hour drive back to our ‘home away from home’.

Finally, it was time to pack up and slowly make our way to Argentia to catch the ferry back to Nova Scotia. Along the way we stopped off at Placentia (from the French ‘Plaisance’ meaning ‘pleasant place’) to see the old Castle Hill National Historic site of the fort built by the French in the early 16^th century. Next stop was the ferry for another long but smooth crossing back to Nova Scotia.