Farewell To Canada - Nova Scotia & Quebec

Halifax Harbour

We are now back in Dubai and back at work which means that our little blog has been left hanging, waiting for the final chapter of our Canadian adventures to be told. I am going to try and condense the last 11 days of our trip into one post...go and grab a cup of coffee (or big glass of red depending on your preference) before buckling in for this one...

It was a VERY early start when we headed for New York airport at 4am for our flight to Halifax. Would they let us out of the US and back into Canada? The kind people of Halifax didn't object to us knocking on the Canadian door again and welcomed us with smiles at the airport (i know!! smiles are not allowed in airports apparently but these Canadians never got that memo). The torrential rain showed up on queue as we exited the airport so we jumped on the bus and headed for Halifax where we would explore for the next couple of days. Halifax is a really attractive little harbour town with a tonne of history, particularly maritime related and some great seafood.

We only had three days here so we spent plenty of time down by the water and half a day at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic which has a fantastic Titanic exhibition. I have been to various Titanic exhibitions in Ireland and Southampton which have predominantly focused on the lives of passengers aboard the ship. Halifax's role in this sad story, as has been the case innumerable times throughout history, was that of rescue/recovery and the museum did a very good job of telling the titantic story from this perspective.

Our upgraded Chrysler...woohoo

We enjoyed the laid back, british pub atmosphere that Halifax offered but with our exit date from Canada quickly approaching, we were eager to jump in our hire car and hit the road to explore the Maritimes. Thanks to our little detour to the US (which we don't regret for a second) we were short on time so our plans to explore Nova Scotia and New Brunswick had to be significantly adjusted and we decided to explore Cape Breton Island for a couple of days and then head to the Bay of Fundy. 1500 km in 6 days, no sweat (particularly as we scored a free upgrade to a spanking new Chrysler 300S which liked zooming around those coastal roads).

Cape Breton was fantastic and a real mix of Irish, Scottish, French and Canadian culture mashed together and served with some stunning scenery and lots of wildlife. From the idyllic big old red barn in a field of daisies, to the moose crossing the road in front of our car, we saw it all along the 300km Cabbot trail that loops you around the island. Highlights for me included the 7.5km Skyline Trail trek which took us right past a moose munching away in a field before the trail opened up and took us right to the edge of dramatic cliffs. We also went up to the infamous Meat Cove, a tiny dot on the northern tip of the island that has a very 'end of the world' feeling to it. We managed to grab a cabin at the fantastic camp ground and had a prime position to watch the night slowly roll in over the ocean.

View at the end of the Skyline Trek...worth the 7km walk.

Zooming back onto the mainland we headed to the Bay of Fundy, famed for having the highest vertical tidal range in the world. We had to see what everyone was raving about. The bay is huge, touching two different provinces of Canada and the US State of Maine, so there is significant debate over the best viewing place to see the tidal change. We headed for the Old Shipyard Beach Campground on Spencer's Island and set up camp for 2 days and we weren't disappointed. This place was quintessential Maritimes - a small time coastal town with people so friendly that you catch yourself wondering what they are up to underneath their welcoming nature. It was a great place to watch the tidal change over the course of the day with several high and low tides that would expose the ocean floor for a couple of hours before the water rolled back in. Was such a strange natural phenomena - i almost expected there to be fish flapping about on the exposed sand, but i guess they had it all figured out and knew when to head for deeper waters. Check out the photos below which show the same location but at the high and low tide. Pretty crazy.

Pier at high tide

Pier at low tide....where did all the water go?

We had a great time at the campground and hung out by our camp fire with a great bunch of ladies from Nova Scotia who were there on a mother, daughter and aunt long weekend. They were a hilarious bunch and knew how to make a mean cocktail so the laughs were aplenty and the camp fire kept us warm well into the night.

Duck Flambé table side...old school french

It was time to leave Nova Scotia and we flew early the next morning to Quebec City for our last 3 days in Canada. Time to dust off the french phrase book as this place was more french than Paris! By this time the weight gained during the trip seemed irrelevant - Dubai was so close and we knew the diet would start there - so we made Quebec about the food, glorious glorious french food. Not more than an hour after landing, Brendan had us booked in at some of the best restaurants in town - ranging from the old school specialising in Duck Flambé to a more modern bistro in the old part of town. The food was great and we certainly destroyed our budget dining at places like Le Continental and Le Sanit-Amour but it was definitely worth it. Hopefully we will get some reviews up on The Travel Bites this decade!

We really enjoyed the days we spent strolling around the streets of Quebec City - it certainly charmed us more than Montreal. Even with the bus loads of tourists, the city had a great feel with plenty of back streets to explore without heading further afield. It was nice for a couple of days to suspend the need to tick of major attractions and just walk aimlessly around a pretty city. A good note to end one hell of an adventure! 3 months in Canada and we feel like we really only scratched the surface. But it was an incredible 3 months - we met some amazing people, caught up with some great friends, saw scenery and wildlife that you thought only existed in national geographic and really made the most out of every minute we had.

Beautiful streets of old Quebec City

A taxi ride, 3 planes, a boat, a tram, a train, a bus and a tube ride later we made it from Quebec City to London. A quick stop in the UK and we were back on the plane and landing in Dubai. Home sweet home for the time being. I'm sure the adventures will continue, but for the time being we will be sitting back in Dubai and waiting for the adventures to come to us - you are always welcome!

 //Kate