Coddiwomple Stardate 180730
We arrived in Nova Scotia at 9.15pm. We added an hour going through another time zone. When, we disembarked our bags were being unloaded from the van outside customs. The customs officer we saw wasn’t worried about our bags he was grilling us more on where our money came from to do all our travelling, what our jobs were and if we had employment to go back to in Australia. It was the most Sharon & I have ever been interrogated with a customs officer. We have since found out that when Trump became president more US citizens have been over staying their visas. Hence the increase in scrutiny with customs.
When he was eventually happy with our answers we walked through the exit right in front of Enterprise where we picked up our car rental for eight days. It is a down grade from the Ford Explorer. It’s a Chevrolet Sonic. Sort of like a Barina Sedan. It’s very flimsy but does have room for our packs. Also, it is the most efficient vehicle we have had. It has a range of nearly 800km from a 41-litre tank. Then onto Rudd Grand Hotel less than 1km away. When we picked up the car I asked the girl if Canada was metric which it is. I replied by saying it is nice to be in an advanced country again. I will not have to add conversions into my blog while we are in Canada. Also, the dollar is pretty much 1 for 1.
Monday we just followed trunk highway 1 in a North direction. Our first stop was Port Maitland Beach. Already loving Canada. There were 11 people on the beach including 2 x lifesavers. One lifesaver was tanning himself the other was working his body. The lifesavers were Sharon’s observation. Nova Scotia is meant to have the highest tides in the world and the tide was moving out when we arrived.
Next stop was Cape Saint Mary’s. Another quiet beach but a heavy fog had come in. Then drove up to the lighthouse. We discovered in Summer and Spring the area is usually covered in fog and meant to be the foggiest area in the world. The lighthouse every 20 sec sounded a fog horn as warning to passing sea traffic also to give you a fright. We then stopped in Meteghan and Smugglers Cove Provincial Park. A nice picnic area with a set of stairs going down to a rocky beach covered in smaller rounded stones. There was a cave there that was used in prohibition times to store rum. It is meant to have graffiti dating back to that era. Unfortunately, the tide was to high and we could not get to the cave.
When we were waiting for the ferry in Portland Maine I picked up a booklet Called “Nova Scotia 2018 Doers & Dreamers Travel Guide” It is a great reference book. It’s full of places to see and accommodation. I went through the list of the cheapest hotels in the general direction we were heading. One caught my attention it was priced between $60-$80 a night in the town of Weymouth North. I had visions of some run down dumpy place and was prepared just to drive by and find a camping spot. When we arrived, it was this beautiful old home built in the 1830’s. The owner had owned it for 48 years and is run by herself and two of her sons. It was only about 2.45pm but it was such a beautiful building with many antique pieces we decided to stay the night. We also dinned in their restaurant that night. Our total cost for the night including dinner was $103.
Tuesday we are heading for the Neck and Digby. We had only travelled 77km from Yarmouth the previous day and was hoping to get further today. The Neck is a finger of land on the North of Nova Scotia. It also has two islands that extend past the finger. The first island is called Long Island and the second Brier Island. On the first part of the neck we stopped at Lake Midway as the name implies it is half way along the first section of the neck. Then to East Ferry to catch a car ferry across to long island. The ferry cost $7 and included your return passage. It was only a 10min crossing. When you drive off the ferry you are in the town of Tiverton.
Our first stop on Long Island was Balancing Rock. The walk to Balancing Rock was 1.5km. There were boardwalks over the wetland areas and 235 stairs down to the very foggy coast. The rock has been well known to fisherman for many years. Some tool years ago tried to pull it down fortunately he failed. It has only been recently accessible by walking there. Then the town of Freeport next and Beautiful Cove. The fog was still heavy and reduced our visibility. On our way back to Digby we stopped at Gulliver’s Cove. This was a pirate’s hideout in the 1700’s. They hid in this cove until a ship would sail near them and they would attack. It is named after the pirate Gulliver. He was killed in that bay by his wife and buried there. Legend says his buried treasure is still there.
Then our first National Park for Canada. It is called Kejimkujik and the lake has the same name. We camped here for the night. It cost us $11.50 entrance and the camp fees were $25.60. They have Ice-cream, takeaways, hot showers and WiFi.
Wednesday after another very warm night in Nova Scotia. We were not expecting it to be so warm up here. The temperature has reached 30C and the humidity has been up to 97%. It is not normal. We packed camp before going for a walk along the lake and then drove to a few places in the park.
Nova Scotia is a very pretty place. Most houses are immaculate and the places we have been visiting are just so quiet compared to the US. We have been to areas and there has been no one. It doesn’t have that jaw dropping vistas like we saw in the US but would be a very laid back place to live.
We spent most of today just driving. We needed to get to Halifax to meet up with Claire. We are going to house sit for her. Halifax is a large city and did not expect the size of it. When we come back here on the 31st of July there should be plenty of things for me to do for the 21 days while we stay here. We have decided to do a house sit here because we are both tired of all the travelling. It has now been over 14 months since we left our home. It’s quite ironic. We are going to take a vacation from our vacation.
Thursday morning after leaving our first hostel since New Zealand called Halifax Backpacker. It’s a very wet day. We have decided to go to Prince Edward Island (PEI) and spent a few days there. This is the only place Sharon really wants to see in Canada. It is all to do with her favourite mini series Anne of Green Gables. It’s only a 2.5 hr drive from Halifax. Prince Edward Island is accessible by a bridge on the west side or a ferry on the east side. They don’t charge you to enter the island, but they will charge when you leave. The toll on the bridge which is 12km long costs $47 and the ferry is $76. Apparently, it is PEI’s humour to charge you to leave.
The island is separated into five sections. North Cape Coastal Drive, Green Gables Shore, Red Sands Shore, Charlottetown & Points East Coastal Drive. After visiting the tourist centre we drove to the North Cape Coastal Drive. The rain is just getting heavier and driving is about all we can do. We stopped at Cap-Egmont for lunch and just sat in the car. Between the heavy down pours, we did get out to have a look at the red cliffs. The soil on PEI is a deep brownie red. All the ocean going out a good 100m is all a muddy red also.
When we met up with Claire yesterday she mentioned going to the potato museum. Sounded like something unusual and we headed to the town of O’Leary to check it out. I have already mentioned the red soil on PEI which makes perfect land to grow potatoes. The museum was a popular destination. As you can probably guess it is all to do with the history of the potato. Where it originated from which was South America to the importance of feeding the world. There were many pieces of farm equipment on display and it was worth a visit. Also, PEI grows 2/3 of Canadas potatoes. They also have a restaurant there based on potatoes and nice potato-based fudge.
The rain hasn’t stopped all day. We didn’t want to stay in a tent that night and pack up everything wet. Sharon asked for recommendations at the Potato Museum and we were given directions to Briarwood Inn about a 15 min drive away. It was a nice place on a lake with gazebos and lots of open grassed areas.
Friday and a hot humid day ahead. At least the rain had passed. We drove along Route 12 to get us to the Green Gables Shore. Today is all about Sharon & Anne of Green Gables. Our first stop was Cabot Beach Provincial Park in the Green Gables Shore. It is a swimming Beach with three Life Guards on Duty but no one in the water or on the beach. There were more red cliffs along this shore.
Next was the district of Park Corner and Anne of Green Gables Museum. The museum is still home to the Campbell Family and are Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Relatives. Lucy Maud Montgomery was the author of Anne of Green Gables. She was married in this house on the 5th July 1911. The home and surrounding area gave her inspiration for her novel. The first thing we did was to go on Mathew’s Carriage Ride around the property. It is meant to be a re-creation of Mathew, Anne’s adopted father’s carriage. The driver was called Mathew but only for the day. After 4.00pm he reverts to Casey. The Clydesdale horse was called Molly. After our trip around we went through the museum which has many original pieces of furniture from the time Lucy stayed there and lots of memorabilia of hers.
Next stop was Lucy Maud Montgomery’s birth home then onto the re-created Avonlea townsite. The town is just a commercial centre for tourism, but they did have two original buildings moved to the site. One was the schoolhouse which sells soap and gifts that Montgomery taught in and a church she use to attend is now a burger bar.
Then it was on to another re-creation the Green Gables House. I didn’t want to pay to go into another tourist trap, Sharon went in by herself.
The day was coming to an end. It was time to find accommodation. We were near Prince Edward Island NP and there was a campground in the NP. Unfortunately, it was full. We drove onto a town called Cymbria. The sign at the turn off said Cymbria campground and golf resort. Sounded flash. As we turned into the campground it was a mini golf course. More PEI humour. They had plenty of camp areas and the host placed us right at the end of the grounds. Nice quiet spot even had Wi-Fi. It was a very warm day. Sharon and I took advantage of the pool. Swimming was something I never expected to do in Canada. Thought it would be to cold. It was a very warm night and we went topless with our tent. The temperature didn’t drop below 21 C.
Saturday it was more random driving in the morning until we reached Charlottetown. The capital of PEI. Sharon booked that night to see Anne of Green Gables the Musical. The show has been running in Charlottetown continuously since 1965. The island has a population of 153,000 people. The show holds the world Guinness book of records for the longest continual running show in history.
We wasted a lot of time trying to find accommodation near Charlottetown. We drove to campsites, we rang hotels tried to book a hostel everything was full. It was only 1.00pm but we were starting to get concerned. If we hadn’t book the show tickets, we would have looked at Charlottetown and then left for somewhere else. We stopped at the HI Charlottetown Backpackers Inn. We tried to book on their website, but it was all full. I asked anyway. They had one room left only for that night in their Premium Suite. That’s were we stayed for the night. It was 350m from a great pub and 500m from our show that night.
When we finished at the pub and went back to the hostel we were informed they had a cancellation for the next night in their Airbnb next door. We grabbed that room.
Sunday was wet again. We just drove around Charlottetown admiring all the homes and spent time at Battery Point. We both love PEI and could live in Charlottetown. We were asked if we wanted to buy the accommodation we are staying in. It would be a great opportunity but the -10 C days in winter would very quickly get too me.
Monday was our last day on PEI. We must love islands. We are both sad to be leaving this wonderful place. Our first stop was at Port-La-Joye - Fort Amherst historical site. This site is important both to the French and British settlers. First settled in 1720 by the French military and named Port-La-Joye. After winning the seven year war against the French in 1745 the British forcably removed 3000 French settlers from Port-La-Joye sending them back to France. Only 1100 made it back alive. Some settlers managed to escape in the woods and survived. The British then renamed it Fort Amherst.
We followed the coast along to Argyle Shore Provincial Park. It was a nice warm day and I had to swim in the red sea. As I have mentioned before PEI has a very rich red soil and the ocean is stained red permantly. The water was mild and my clothes did not get stained. There was a small fresh water waterfall flowing down the red cliffs and I decided to wash off the red salty water under the falls. The water must of been close to 0 degrees and I very briefly washed myself.
We stopped at a very small pictureque town called Victoria and had lunch on the end of the wharf. Then it was on to our accommodation for the night caled Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp - Resort. I just had to stay here. As you can imagine the office has plenty of Yogi Bear souveniers.
When he was eventually happy with our answers we walked through the exit right in front of Enterprise where we picked up our car rental for eight days. It is a down grade from the Ford Explorer. It’s a Chevrolet Sonic. Sort of like a Barina Sedan. It’s very flimsy but does have room for our packs. Also, it is the most efficient vehicle we have had. It has a range of nearly 800km from a 41-litre tank. Then onto Rudd Grand Hotel less than 1km away. When we picked up the car I asked the girl if Canada was metric which it is. I replied by saying it is nice to be in an advanced country again. I will not have to add conversions into my blog while we are in Canada. Also, the dollar is pretty much 1 for 1.
Monday we just followed trunk highway 1 in a North direction. Our first stop was Port Maitland Beach. Already loving Canada. There were 11 people on the beach including 2 x lifesavers. One lifesaver was tanning himself the other was working his body. The lifesavers were Sharon’s observation. Nova Scotia is meant to have the highest tides in the world and the tide was moving out when we arrived.
Next stop was Cape Saint Mary’s. Another quiet beach but a heavy fog had come in. Then drove up to the lighthouse. We discovered in Summer and Spring the area is usually covered in fog and meant to be the foggiest area in the world. The lighthouse every 20 sec sounded a fog horn as warning to passing sea traffic also to give you a fright. We then stopped in Meteghan and Smugglers Cove Provincial Park. A nice picnic area with a set of stairs going down to a rocky beach covered in smaller rounded stones. There was a cave there that was used in prohibition times to store rum. It is meant to have graffiti dating back to that era. Unfortunately, the tide was to high and we could not get to the cave.
When we were waiting for the ferry in Portland Maine I picked up a booklet Called “Nova Scotia 2018 Doers & Dreamers Travel Guide” It is a great reference book. It’s full of places to see and accommodation. I went through the list of the cheapest hotels in the general direction we were heading. One caught my attention it was priced between $60-$80 a night in the town of Weymouth North. I had visions of some run down dumpy place and was prepared just to drive by and find a camping spot. When we arrived, it was this beautiful old home built in the 1830’s. The owner had owned it for 48 years and is run by herself and two of her sons. It was only about 2.45pm but it was such a beautiful building with many antique pieces we decided to stay the night. We also dinned in their restaurant that night. Our total cost for the night including dinner was $103.
Tuesday we are heading for the Neck and Digby. We had only travelled 77km from Yarmouth the previous day and was hoping to get further today. The Neck is a finger of land on the North of Nova Scotia. It also has two islands that extend past the finger. The first island is called Long Island and the second Brier Island. On the first part of the neck we stopped at Lake Midway as the name implies it is half way along the first section of the neck. Then to East Ferry to catch a car ferry across to long island. The ferry cost $7 and included your return passage. It was only a 10min crossing. When you drive off the ferry you are in the town of Tiverton.
Our first stop on Long Island was Balancing Rock. The walk to Balancing Rock was 1.5km. There were boardwalks over the wetland areas and 235 stairs down to the very foggy coast. The rock has been well known to fisherman for many years. Some tool years ago tried to pull it down fortunately he failed. It has only been recently accessible by walking there. Then the town of Freeport next and Beautiful Cove. The fog was still heavy and reduced our visibility. On our way back to Digby we stopped at Gulliver’s Cove. This was a pirate’s hideout in the 1700’s. They hid in this cove until a ship would sail near them and they would attack. It is named after the pirate Gulliver. He was killed in that bay by his wife and buried there. Legend says his buried treasure is still there.
Then our first National Park for Canada. It is called Kejimkujik and the lake has the same name. We camped here for the night. It cost us $11.50 entrance and the camp fees were $25.60. They have Ice-cream, takeaways, hot showers and WiFi.
Wednesday after another very warm night in Nova Scotia. We were not expecting it to be so warm up here. The temperature has reached 30C and the humidity has been up to 97%. It is not normal. We packed camp before going for a walk along the lake and then drove to a few places in the park.
Nova Scotia is a very pretty place. Most houses are immaculate and the places we have been visiting are just so quiet compared to the US. We have been to areas and there has been no one. It doesn’t have that jaw dropping vistas like we saw in the US but would be a very laid back place to live.
We spent most of today just driving. We needed to get to Halifax to meet up with Claire. We are going to house sit for her. Halifax is a large city and did not expect the size of it. When we come back here on the 31st of July there should be plenty of things for me to do for the 21 days while we stay here. We have decided to do a house sit here because we are both tired of all the travelling. It has now been over 14 months since we left our home. It’s quite ironic. We are going to take a vacation from our vacation.
Thursday morning after leaving our first hostel since New Zealand called Halifax Backpacker. It’s a very wet day. We have decided to go to Prince Edward Island (PEI) and spent a few days there. This is the only place Sharon really wants to see in Canada. It is all to do with her favourite mini series Anne of Green Gables. It’s only a 2.5 hr drive from Halifax. Prince Edward Island is accessible by a bridge on the west side or a ferry on the east side. They don’t charge you to enter the island, but they will charge when you leave. The toll on the bridge which is 12km long costs $47 and the ferry is $76. Apparently, it is PEI’s humour to charge you to leave.
The island is separated into five sections. North Cape Coastal Drive, Green Gables Shore, Red Sands Shore, Charlottetown & Points East Coastal Drive. After visiting the tourist centre we drove to the North Cape Coastal Drive. The rain is just getting heavier and driving is about all we can do. We stopped at Cap-Egmont for lunch and just sat in the car. Between the heavy down pours, we did get out to have a look at the red cliffs. The soil on PEI is a deep brownie red. All the ocean going out a good 100m is all a muddy red also.
When we met up with Claire yesterday she mentioned going to the potato museum. Sounded like something unusual and we headed to the town of O’Leary to check it out. I have already mentioned the red soil on PEI which makes perfect land to grow potatoes. The museum was a popular destination. As you can probably guess it is all to do with the history of the potato. Where it originated from which was South America to the importance of feeding the world. There were many pieces of farm equipment on display and it was worth a visit. Also, PEI grows 2/3 of Canadas potatoes. They also have a restaurant there based on potatoes and nice potato-based fudge.
The rain hasn’t stopped all day. We didn’t want to stay in a tent that night and pack up everything wet. Sharon asked for recommendations at the Potato Museum and we were given directions to Briarwood Inn about a 15 min drive away. It was a nice place on a lake with gazebos and lots of open grassed areas.
Friday and a hot humid day ahead. At least the rain had passed. We drove along Route 12 to get us to the Green Gables Shore. Today is all about Sharon & Anne of Green Gables. Our first stop was Cabot Beach Provincial Park in the Green Gables Shore. It is a swimming Beach with three Life Guards on Duty but no one in the water or on the beach. There were more red cliffs along this shore.
Next was the district of Park Corner and Anne of Green Gables Museum. The museum is still home to the Campbell Family and are Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Relatives. Lucy Maud Montgomery was the author of Anne of Green Gables. She was married in this house on the 5th July 1911. The home and surrounding area gave her inspiration for her novel. The first thing we did was to go on Mathew’s Carriage Ride around the property. It is meant to be a re-creation of Mathew, Anne’s adopted father’s carriage. The driver was called Mathew but only for the day. After 4.00pm he reverts to Casey. The Clydesdale horse was called Molly. After our trip around we went through the museum which has many original pieces of furniture from the time Lucy stayed there and lots of memorabilia of hers.
Next stop was Lucy Maud Montgomery’s birth home then onto the re-created Avonlea townsite. The town is just a commercial centre for tourism, but they did have two original buildings moved to the site. One was the schoolhouse which sells soap and gifts that Montgomery taught in and a church she use to attend is now a burger bar.
Then it was on to another re-creation the Green Gables House. I didn’t want to pay to go into another tourist trap, Sharon went in by herself.
The day was coming to an end. It was time to find accommodation. We were near Prince Edward Island NP and there was a campground in the NP. Unfortunately, it was full. We drove onto a town called Cymbria. The sign at the turn off said Cymbria campground and golf resort. Sounded flash. As we turned into the campground it was a mini golf course. More PEI humour. They had plenty of camp areas and the host placed us right at the end of the grounds. Nice quiet spot even had Wi-Fi. It was a very warm day. Sharon and I took advantage of the pool. Swimming was something I never expected to do in Canada. Thought it would be to cold. It was a very warm night and we went topless with our tent. The temperature didn’t drop below 21 C.
Saturday it was more random driving in the morning until we reached Charlottetown. The capital of PEI. Sharon booked that night to see Anne of Green Gables the Musical. The show has been running in Charlottetown continuously since 1965. The island has a population of 153,000 people. The show holds the world Guinness book of records for the longest continual running show in history.
We wasted a lot of time trying to find accommodation near Charlottetown. We drove to campsites, we rang hotels tried to book a hostel everything was full. It was only 1.00pm but we were starting to get concerned. If we hadn’t book the show tickets, we would have looked at Charlottetown and then left for somewhere else. We stopped at the HI Charlottetown Backpackers Inn. We tried to book on their website, but it was all full. I asked anyway. They had one room left only for that night in their Premium Suite. That’s were we stayed for the night. It was 350m from a great pub and 500m from our show that night.
When we finished at the pub and went back to the hostel we were informed they had a cancellation for the next night in their Airbnb next door. We grabbed that room.
Sunday was wet again. We just drove around Charlottetown admiring all the homes and spent time at Battery Point. We both love PEI and could live in Charlottetown. We were asked if we wanted to buy the accommodation we are staying in. It would be a great opportunity but the -10 C days in winter would very quickly get too me.
Monday was our last day on PEI. We must love islands. We are both sad to be leaving this wonderful place. Our first stop was at Port-La-Joye - Fort Amherst historical site. This site is important both to the French and British settlers. First settled in 1720 by the French military and named Port-La-Joye. After winning the seven year war against the French in 1745 the British forcably removed 3000 French settlers from Port-La-Joye sending them back to France. Only 1100 made it back alive. Some settlers managed to escape in the woods and survived. The British then renamed it Fort Amherst.
We followed the coast along to Argyle Shore Provincial Park. It was a nice warm day and I had to swim in the red sea. As I have mentioned before PEI has a very rich red soil and the ocean is stained red permantly. The water was mild and my clothes did not get stained. There was a small fresh water waterfall flowing down the red cliffs and I decided to wash off the red salty water under the falls. The water must of been close to 0 degrees and I very briefly washed myself.
We stopped at a very small pictureque town called Victoria and had lunch on the end of the wharf. Then it was on to our accommodation for the night caled Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park Camp - Resort. I just had to stay here. As you can imagine the office has plenty of Yogi Bear souveniers.
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