Summary of time:
• Driving lots of kilometres
• Confederation Bridge across to PEI
• Red soil
• Cavendish – Anne of Green Gables
• Greenwich Park – Red Fox, Mink, Floating Boardwalk, Sand dunes
• Charlottetown – birth of confederation
• Sleeping in a Light house
• Cirque du soleil and Fireworks Competition
Handy hints –
Buy Lobster pre cooked, then you only have to reheat it, also make sure you are not wearing best clothes and not starving hungry. Getting into and eating the lobster is a slow process.
The Confederation Bridge joins the eastern Canadian provinces of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, making travel throughout the Maritimes easy and convenient. The curved, 12.9 kilometre (8 mile) long bridge is the longest in the world crossing ice-covered water, and a decade after its construction, it endures as one of Canada’s top engineering achievements of the 20th century.
Unless you want to fly, or take a ferry, then this is the way to get to Prince Edward Island (PEI). There is not much of a view from the bridge as there are large concrete blocks along the edge that you cannot see through. Having cloudy weather doesn’t help either, but it was still slightly warm. Having obtained a map of the island, it was off for a drive round the coast on the Red Sands Shores and to find a beach.
PEI INFO:
The island is 280km (175miles) from tip to tip, and total land size of 5,656 sq km (2,184 sq m). It has a few nicknames “Spud Island” “Cradle of Confederation”…both are true. “Cradle of Confederation” relates to the conference held in September 1864, when the people of importance of the Maritime provinces decided to meet to discuss about uniting to be one State/Country. Canada (Upper – Ontario and Lower – Quebec) heard about this set sail on a boat to discuss becoming 1 country. The talks and parties lasted for a week. This was the first of 3 stages, and there are no records of these discussions, because no notes were taken. The second meeting was in Quebec province, and the final one in London, England. When Britain agreed to hand over the running of the country to Canada. PEI did not join Canada at that time as it was felt that it was fully self financing, self governing and didn’t need the rest of them. It did join later on though.
The soil in PEI is red because it contains a lot of iron in the soil, which rusts when it meets air!!! Although the beaches on the North Coast are white
PEI is a great farming / agricultural place and it’s greatest export is potatoes!! The common old spud. They sell a large proportion of their produce to McCains.
Another great export of PEI is Anne of Green Gables. This was written by LM Montgomery who was born on the island, and although the place does not actually exist, it is believed that the story was set in the home of her uncles farm. This property has been converted into the house in the book, and it is in Cavendish on the North Coast. A great tourist attraction has built up in the area, with many shops, and a theme park is near by. There is a musical that has now been running for 45 years called Anne and Gilbert. It runs during the summer season which starts mid june.
The summer season on PEI had just started so some things are not quite open yet, and there are not as many tourists as there would be in a few weeks. Although I was surprised how many Japanese visitors there were.
I found the beach at Argyle Shore, and stopped for a break. For this part of PEI, one of the top 5 tips was to go paddling in the pool at Argyle Shore…so I did. There is a bit of sludge on the beach, and the tide was only just going out, but it was fun to be a big kid to go puddling!!!! Made sure I washed my feet before setting off in the car though.
Then it was off round the coast, following the route signs around the windy rounds, very different to NB and Quebec. I eventually found the only round Lighthouse on PEI, all the others are square, which would be open in the summer season for visitors (but not yet). After going for an adventure driving I found Belfast (less than a dozen houses) and Iona (which had a few more houses than Belfast – even had a church), and headed to Charlottetown and the Hostel. Having settled in, being a smaller place, the staff and other guests more chatty, a few of us settled down to watch Da Vinci Code on DVD. One of the people was Chinese, so myself and one of the staff kept having to explain some of the religious stuff/beliefs/church, to help explain some of what was going on.
Saturday was another dull day, and one of my roommates (co-ed rooms), who had intended to take the shuttle to Cavendish realised he didn’t have his wallet, so i invited him to join me on my excursion. We took the scenic route to Cavendish. But eventually found the Anne of Green Gables house. We did the little tour, including walking through 2 woods (1 contained “Lovers Lane” and the other was “Haunted Woods” per the book). After lunch it was off following the coastal roads again, and into some of the National Parks. We decided we didn’t fancy doing all of the Green Gables experience (Avonlea, Anne Museum.....).
There are several road works in PEI (on some of the main roads), and some of them mean that there is no tarmac on the road, at one point it was almost like being on the roads in Uganda!
Sunday – Fathers Day (i had remember to leave a card for my dad) and i found a church to go to, my first in Canada. It was great to be singing some songs i recognised, and familiar.
Following lunch it was head towards the East Coast, and then north to Greenwich – there is a national park that had been recommended to me for the dunes and boardwalks. Despite the threat of rain, i packed my bag and decided that i would combine all the routes, and find a place to sit and read / chill out. It was interesting reading all the info boards, giving details of the history and also about the eco system of the area. This area had been partly farmland, but now given over to the park for conservation. So I walked through the fields to the woods, seeing the estuary.
The highest point on PEI is only 500m so there is no way of generating any natural rivers, therefore all rivers and estuaries are fed from the Gulf of St Lawrence!
Walking into the woods, i was immediately surrounded by little flying things – midges. Oh no, keep walking....i then arrived on the boardwalks and saw Christmas Trees growing on the Dunes (confusing). Whilst reading one of the info boards, i heard a noise, and turned to see a red fox walking towards me. He stopped, hesitated, i tried to slowly move my camera up to take a picture, but he turned and ran off. The boardwalk went back into the woods so onto a normal path.
I then took the other route, through a different part of the woods, but every time i stopped to read the notice board, i was being attacked by mosquitos!!! Aaarrgghh! So no stopping (that didn’t stop me getting bitten! Several times, and through my jacket and shirt!)
The woods came out to a “pond” – more like a small lake – and there was a way across, the boardwalk, but it was a floating boardwalk. Amazing. I loved going on this walk as it brought many changes, different landscapes. Having just read an info board half way across the lake about seeing, the red winged blackbird, mink and frogs that could be found in the lake, i noticed one of the birds (i had actually seen several of them in Ottawa). I then noticed something swimming into the rushes – it was a mink, i’m certain, but it was in the rushes before i could get the camera on.
Over the other side of the lake, it was onto the dunes, and the beach. The sand was lovely soft white sand. The rain hadn’t started, but it was windy. Sandals off and be a kid, losing my feet in the soft sand. A short distance down the beach you could go back over the dune to see a unique type of ecosystem, with grasses, and marsh areas that only exist on dunes and under certain conditions, which you were found here. You couldn’t walk through it but it was amazing to see.
Having been blown away, and feeling a few spots, it was time to head back, you couldn’t really stop here to relax....back over the lake, through the woods (quickly), by the time i got back to the car, it started to rain!
Monday was a time to wander around Charlottetown one of 2 “cities” on the island, and the capital. I visited the provincial house, which is 1 of 2 original buildings in Canada (and 2nd oldest after Halifax) still used for governmental purposes. Each Province has it’s own government as well as Federal Government that is in Ottawa. I learnt about the History of Canada, and then got to see not only the room that was used at that time (and they’ve restored to 1864ish) but also the current room used for Provincial Government matters, and despite the size of the province, there was still 20+ seats in the Legislator Room!
I decided as the City was only small i would go for a wander around the sights, but the heavens opened, so i took the Red London Bus tour! Actually it was a great way to find out some of the unusual stories, but also where the sights really were. One of the stipulations when the City was being formed was that in the area around the Provincial House, a lot of the surrounding area was to be used for church purposes, within half a mile there were 9 churches.
By the time the tour was over, it had stopped raining so i went for a walk and to take some pictures. I also had an ice-ream – the cone was covered in chocolate and nuts, and i had mango mellow and chocolate mud ice-cream. Chocolate mud had bits of chocolate, chocolate syrup and also small maltesers. Amazing. Chocolate overload
Alisha and i decided that we would pool our food resources, and also get lobster and wine (i had pasta and she had veg). So for 11 dollars (about £6) we got two lobsters (they were cooked but we need to heat them up). We also found some wine from PEI (just blanc du blanc) but it came in a bottle shaped like a fish! It went great with the Lobster. One of the hostel staff, helped us in getting the Lobster cut, and advised on the best bits to eat. A great meal, thanks Alisha.
Tuesday was moving day. Back through New Brunswick, to Campbellton, which is on the edge of NB across the river from Quebec. This time i decided to just take the short/quick route. I had a fellow traveller, he was going to be hitch hiking to Quebec, but as he was leaving the hostel at a similar time to me, i gave him a lift...it was a good job, it pretty much rained the whole time we were driving! Arriving at Campbellton the hostel was the old Lighthouse, the dorms were in the house attached to the lighthouse, and unfortunately you couldn’t actually get in. After a long drive, it was an evening chilling out on the computer, and games on facebook. So antisocial, but there was only 2 other guests. I just needed to be alone.
The next couple of days were spent in planning, visiting a couple of beaches / park areas/ driving and relaxing. My last night was spent back at Riviere du Loop, and catching up with the staff again there. That was the night we found out about Michael Jackson, and many a discussion was had, about whether it would be his life style or his music that would be remembered more, we agreed that it would his music, the rest would fade away.
Next morning was up early has i had an almost 500km drive back to Montreal, to find Lan’s apartment, and get the car back before 3pm. Getting back to Montreal by 1pm was easy, but it was getting across town, and finding a parking space near Lan’s that took the time. Having unloaded my stuff at Lan’s it was time to get the car back, and pop into June’s to say hi. It was hot in Montreal, they had been having great weather since i left, and the rain was now due as i arrived back (a person could a complex!). Saying Hi, was hanging out for a while. Friday night was youth club night at Snowdon Baptist Church, and the last of the term, it was “graduation” night and a time for pizza’s chill out and chat.
Saturday arrived with rain, and rain, so time for a little house work, and a time to read and chill out. There were plans for the evening....Cirque du Soleil and Fireworks Competition Last night. June and I had tickets to see the new show OVO, which was based on the theme of the insect world, we were amazed, blown away by the skill. Even all the stage management of getting into place for various things was all part of the routine of the show. Acrobats, gymnasts, dancers, Trapeze, High Wire, Trampoline.
It was an early show, so plenty of time for dinner before the Fireworks display. Every year, Montreal holds a Firework competition, for a couple of weeks on Wed and Sat, different countries do their display. Having met up with a couple of the others, we got to the east of the bridge and just across the river from the fireworks. We got some of the best “seats” on the pavement/road (if you had been west of the bridge, the smoke from the fireworks, blocked off 50% of the display. And the team that was doing the display? Team GB, go boys (and girls)....it was amazing. Afterwards we met up with the rest of the gang (they had been rest of the bridge) and i had to try “Poutine”. This is a dish of Montreal...Chips, with Cheese curds and gravy. I didn’t dislike it but then didn’t like it either (apparently this was not a good version of it), but i was also still full from a great dinner. Fortunately Ben was with us so he finished up (he had been one of the large eaters from the Sushi buffet).
Sunday was church, Sunday dinner, emails and chat to the family, church, saying farewells, and back to the apartment to pack. Tomorrow is moving day, time to leave Canada...and off to America, will i get into the USA?!?!?!?
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