The NV Northern Explorer, run by BC ferries from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert is a comfortable way to travel through the Inner Passage on Canada's west coast over 15 hours. The trip is mostly through protected waters, sheltered by dozens of islands. We saw two humpback whales from a distance, and heard Captain alerts for orcas and porpoises but no success in spotting these. The weather was fine and the vistas terrific, but we would have liked more marine life. The ferry was quiet with only 200 or so passengers: about one third full. It was fun to visit the [View Full Entry]

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Port Hardy is the take-off point for the day ferry up the Inner Passage to Prince Rupert. The drive here was very scenic, with many snow capped mountains along the way. It was tempting to stop and take photos though I suspect even better is to come in the Rockies. We stopped at Campbell River to check out the local museum, which had an excellent display on indian history, arguably even better than the Royal BC Museum we saw two days ago. The coast is littered with small communities that have floating timber in their wharves, but there's also plenty of [View Full Entry]

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After saying farewell to Dave and Helen in Victoria, we headed to Chemainus, about an hour north. Chemainus is famous for its 40 murals dotted around the town. The local historical society was handing out flags, cake, pins and the words to 'O Canada' for its national celebrations, and promised a choral rendition at 12 noon. Alas 12.20pm came without a note so we headed to Coombs. Coombs has a folksy shopping complex with goats living on its thatched roof. It seems the goats were out for the public holiday but the ice cream store was doing a roaring trade. Then [View Full Entry]

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Our friends Dave and Helen took extremely good care of us in their hometown. Victoria is a very lovely city. It's Parliament Building and the Empress Hotel take pride of place downtown, but its suburbia impresses me even more. The vegetation on the West Coast is noticeably different to the East. In Vic at least, the oaks take precedence over the firs. The variety of arts and crafts and tudor style homes is infinite. We enjoyed the Royal BC gardens, the crazy colours of the Buchart Gardens, some shopping and a bike ride in Darren's case. We all had a good [View Full Entry]

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We were very pleased to spend some time with Larry, Jan and Sarah at their Ottawa home. Larry worked with Darren at the ACCC on exchange from the Canada equivalent, eight years ago. Larry cooked us a wonderful BBQ, replete with Melbourne placemats and Jacob's Creek wine, so we were made feel much at home, though the Canadian ribeye was probably better than your average Aussie cut. During the day we spent an afternoon at the National Gallery that was well worth seeing. Today we travelled to Brockville, On, at the St Lawrence River to do a short cruise around the [View Full Entry]

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Kingston is a lovely town about 3 hours south east of Toronto. We enjoyed a delicious german meal there, and the next morning Darren visited the former home of Canada's first prime minister, Sir John MacDonald, known as Belluvue House. This home is a very impressive Italianate abode. Then we left for Toronto airport, driving in heavy rain for much of the trip. [View Full Entry]

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Montreal is around the size of Melbourne and just as busy, but much more humid. It was 30c but the humidity took it to 38c. In the relative cool of the morning we enjoyed walking around the Old Port District, but then Anna really came into her own in the afternoon walking part of the 30km of underground shopping arcades. In the evening we took pleasure in an inexpensive french meal in Rue St Denis. On the way to Montreal we toured the eastern townships region. We bought some wine at a winery there, though Larry our host in Ottawa tells [View Full Entry]

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In 1990 the Canadians narrowly turned down a proposal for an independent Quebec. However a good level of nationalistic fervour is present among the Quebecois. I witnessed this when I joined a crowd of 100,000 or more, most waving the blue and white 'Fleur de Lys' (Quebec) flags on the eve of Quebec's own 'national' holiday. In fact in Quebec City they celebrate this day in place of Canada Day! The Canadian flag was at half mast at the fort, which is the home of the only french speaking legion in the Canadian Army. I queried why this was so. Supposedly [View Full Entry]

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The french culture in Quebec is very evident in Riviere where english is little spoken. We had a most enjoyable stay with Carl et Lorraine who recommended a lovely french restaurant to us, overlooking the river which is 23km wide at this point. The next day we visited a Christmas museum that included nativity scenes from 24 countries and the biggest Xmas store in Canada. Then we drove along the river, enjoying several small villages including the town of Saint Jean Paul Joli, where there was a red roofed church dating back to 1779 and the Musee de Ancien Canadians, a [View Full Entry]

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We left Prince Edward Island via Confederation Bridge, then enjoyed two days of driving through New Brunswick. After some non-descript highways we took quiet country roads and two river ferries through the pretty lower St John River valley, arriving in Fredericton where it was Saturday night mayhem at the restaurants and cinemas. The next day we drove the upper St John River valley, calling on the longest covered bridge (182m) in the world at Hartland, then the Potato World Museum, where a lovely young lady Jane took us on a surprisingly interesting tour. The Museum is at Florenceville, wor [View Full Entry]

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