14 July 2010

All right, so I know I’ve been bad, very bad. It has been over a week since I last wrote but I will blame that on the fact that I have had little to o access to the comforts of modern living, you know, running water, electricity, internet – the basics. This trip, although a huge privilege, is quite hard work. I’m serious.
Anyway, we are now back in Quebec this time not just flying through but actually taking our time to see things. Quebec is beautiful – much more so than I ever thought. Presently we are in Northern Quebec along the river Madeleine; tonight we sleep in a roadside rest stop, one of many dotted along the coastline here. We are here because we splurged on a beautiful National park campsite last night and more to the point, Bertha (our motor home) is really struggling getting up these massive hills! Poor old girl.
We spent the afternoon fishing at a splendidly beautiful river that we saw driving along route 135. We also blew up Amy’s dingy but soon discovered that it had a leak, when by the look of Amy’s pants and face, we were taking on water - so we fished from shore but had a really great time catching absolutely nothing.
The last time I left off we were in Newfoundland. I will say to anyone that asks: that Newfoundland is definitely a place worth seeing – possibly not in the winter months, but summer for sure! After driving from west coast to east coast, we hit spot after spot of the most breath taking landscape: towering cliffs over-looking the ice cold Atlantic, lush forests with a moose or three every km2 , bustling little fishing villages and not to leave out its inhabitant who are gracious and friendly hosts.
Another highlight of Newfoundland was its capital city St John. Its funky, quaint beautiful and has such a great vibe; from George street which Amy and I heard has over 200 bars – some dating back to the 1700’s – to Water Street with its unique boutiques and funky coffee shops (it was a little bit f bohemia on the Eastcoast), all meeting at the foot of Signal Hill which rolls up high above the city, meeting cliffs that tower above the Atlantic and out into ocean that stretches for eons. I only wish we could have spent more time in St. John before having to catch our ferry back to the mainland.
Yes our 16-hour ferry that made me start to feel a tad homicidal. I will leave it at that.
After arriving back to Sydney, NS – with bags the size of the Ottoman Empire under my eyes – we hit the Trans Canada again. We ended up at a nightmarish family RV Park which made me question a great deal of things in my life, not the least of which is the absolute necessity of spawning – perhaps I could wait another 50 years or so before considering it more closely.
The following night we made it to New Brunswick where we spent a good few nights camping at some wonderful parks along the way; one in particular where we had our first black bear encounter – thankfully Bertha was in between us and the bear so we felt pretty brave.
The last three nights we have spent in Quebec as mentioned at the top. The plan is to head to Old Quebec, Montreal and then drive through until we hit the west coast. Wish us luck though; we still have a few mountains to climb before we hit the prairies – literally.