Niagara Falls and the Canadian Health System

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We're up bright and early for breakfast then it’s just a short walk across the road to catch our train to Niagara Falls. Even though our train doesn’t leave until 8:30am we need to be there early because there are no assigned seats and we’ve been warned that the train can get very full. It doesn’t just service Niagara Falls, there are a few stops before Niagara and then it continues over the border into the USA and onto New York.

It’s before 8am and there is already a long queue waiting for our train.

It’s a nice scenic 2 hour train trip to Niagara Falls and before we know it we’re there!

We opt to catch a taxi to the Welcome Centre instead of waiting for the shuttle bus which is not due for another half hour or so. We figure there will be enough waiting for things as the day goes on - plus we are dead excited to see the Falls! Our cabbie is super friendly and speaks ENGLISH - big yay!!!!!!

We get a quick peek at the Falls before going inside and they are absolutely breathtaking! They are enormous, quite different from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, in that Niagara Falls is so wide from the Canadian side to the US side they seem a long way away, but it also means they can run the Maid of the Mist boat which takes you right up to the falls. And with this huge cloud constantly forming overhead, there are little spontaneous sun showers with absolutely no warning which is pretty cool…

Where-as because the gap is so much narrower in Zimbabwe you are lot closer to the Falls without having to do anything special (that’s why we wore our sexy raincoats in Zim). But the downside of the narrow space is that all the mist has nowhere to go so it can be hard to see the falls themselves. So plus and minus’ for both!

I think the Canadian’s are the winners when it comes to the ‘who has the better view of the falls’ question. The bulk of the falls are on the US side so because their nature gods have done all the work, the Canadians really scored! There is a huge Horseshoe Falls that starts on the US side and extends all the way round to the Canadian side. This is where the illuminations are at night, this is also where all the mist is, rising high above the falls, but not enough to cover the view. You can see the water pounding over the side from the river and it flows FAST, I don’t know how anyone would have the guts to jump in a barrel over the edge, C-R-A-Z-Y!!!

On the US side are the ‘main’ falls about 50-80mtrs wide and another one next to it about 10mtrs wide called Bridal falls as it comes down over rocks which gives it that trickle effect, looks great. Although more of a pounding than a trickle, but you get the idea!

The water below is so churned up, calling it a washing machine would be an understatement, we can see the Maid of the Mist boats in there and as they get closer you can tell it’s a struggle to move forward, then they turn around and it looks like they are shot from a rubber band they are pushed away so quickly. The boat looks tiny compared to the mammoth falls above it.

There’s a lot of tourists here but there are so many vantage points along the way it’s not too bad. Although, because everyone is excited when they first arrive lots of people all try to squeeze in to the same spot to see instead of spreading out. Human nature can be funny.

The Welcome Centre is where tickets are collected and they will help you plan your day so that you get to see all that there is, and there is a lot. Because I’m an organizational freak I have already done a bit of a plan, and the lovely lady helping us likes it so much she keeps a copy! I feel like I’ve just been made teacher’s pet!!

NIAGARA’S FURY

This is located in the same building as the Welcome Centre so it’s a good place to start.

It shows a basic history of how the falls were created in 3D and how it was formed over time.

The next room is the 4D experience. We all stand on a grate type floor and wear ponchos. The screen is 360 degrees all around us. The floor shakes and moves, we have snow, wind and rain and it even gets cold in there. It’s all pretty cool - literally.

JOURNEY BEHIND THE FALLS

We have a 12pm reservation to go behind the falls. It’s not a guided tour as such and we discover once we arrive that just because you have a time slot that it does in no way mean you will be going through then, but I guess they give times to try and spread out the crowd, so it still means a bit of waiting, lucky I have good company hey! Gives us time to put on our next poncho!

We catch an elevator 150 feet down and then there are different tunnels to go down to see behind the falls. We went down both but to be honest they are both the same and you will have to queue to get to the opening. But once there, wow! The water is just thundering past in front of you, although we are still a fair distance from the water and are wondering what the ponchos were all about.

So, we keep on walking…

And we get to the observation decks, and oh - my - god!!!!

We find ourselves standing right next to the waterfall and it is loud, fast and very, very wet - it is absolutely incredible. It is here that we realised the power that goes into these falls, and makes us wonder again how anyone gets the courage, bravery or stupidity to go over the edge!

Be prepared for a bit of a wait to get the elevator back up though, but it all happens in good time.

MAID OF THE MIST

We have been told by everyone who has been to Niagara Falls that doing the Maid of the Mist boat ride is an absolute must. Now that we are here I would have to agree. Even if you had no intention of doing it before you arrive, once you are here and see the falls from a distance and see the boats underneath so very close, you would immediately change your mind. Watching these big boats filled to the brim with tourists in their blue ponchos, tossed about in the white water at the bottom of this enormous wall of water makes you soooo excited and prepared to take on the equally enormous queue you know will have to be ahead of you!

Surprisingly, we don’t have to wait at all. We manage to get on the very next boat and so before we know it we are on our way!

The boat is jam packed and Tim and I end up separated, he is up the front with the waterproof camera and I am on the side. We go alongside the American falls and got a nice close up look at the Bridal Falls. There are a lot of people who have walked the many, many stairs down to stand alongside the falls. Will have to give the Americans big ticks for the view they get here, and since there are an awful lot of stairs they have to trek down (and of course back up) they deserve the reward!

You can feel the boat straining against the power of the water to get closer and closer the falls, but finally we are there - maybe 30 metres away from the mammoth wall of water! And we all get soaked, thank goodness for the ponchos! It’s funny seeing the people who were ‘too cool’ to put there’s on and were now completely soaked in very clean, but freezing cold water, real cool, hahaha!

Once the boat turns around to head back, it feels like we have been put in Bart Simpson’s sling shot and, bang, we are shot forward. Again the power behind all that water is incredible!

You have to ride these very cool little boats if you come here!!!!!

WHIRLPOOL AERO-CAR

After having lunch at the café upstairs from the Maid of the Mist we head off in the shuttle bus to the Aero-car. We were given a 4:30pm timeslot and are lucky enough to be able to get on early. Unlike the Behind the Falls tour, timings for this are a little more important as only about 20 or so can go in the car at a time.

It is a 1916 cable car that runs on cables about 75 metres above the water and stretches 1km across the Niagara River over a section of the river where the water changes direction causing an amazing whirlpool.

Looks quite incredible, but I guess you can take it or leave it, I enjoyed it, Tim maybe not so much. When we have made it to the other side, which only takes 5-10 minutes (really lost track of time looking at the water going round and round!), everyone switches sides of the cable car so we all get good views. Looking further up the river on the American side there is a jet boat full of people doing laps.

The driver of the cable car is a young kid, maybe 16 at the most, probably not even old enough to drive a car and here he is driving this car packed full of tourists, high over a raging whirlpool. He was so funny and had the best personality; I think he will go far in life.

WHITEWATER WALK

So it’s back on the shuttle bus to the Whitewater Walk.

It’s a footbridge that runs alongside the river for about 400 metres. Apparently this is the closest in the world you can get to grade 6 rapids. The water is flowing so fast and some of the waves look big enough to surf on - if only they didn’t crash so quick! On the walk to the footbridge there are pictures of people who have attempted to go through here in boats and some have even attempted swimming it. Some surviving it better than others.

Looking at these rapids makes where we went rafting near Banff look really tame…

The really bizarre/cool/disgusting/unusual thing to see here as well is the chewing gum wall. There are literally thousands of blobs of gum all over the wall here - incredible!

SKYLON TOWER

So it’s back on the shuttle bus (big tick for the shuttle bus service, really easy to use and it’s way too far to walk to get to everything) and then a short walk to the tower.

There’s a glass elevator going up and it’s nice and quiet inside. We get a full 360 degree view of the town of Niagara Falls. It’s a lot bigger than expected with a population of 75,000. Nobody considers that there is more to visiting here than just the waterfall.

INDOOR SKYDIVING

We have a bit of time to kill before the night illumination of the falls start and then the fireworks.

Tim can’t think of anything else that he wants to do so I suggest Indoor Skydiving as it’s something I’ve wanted to do since seeing it on tv and my Aunty Julie wants to go skydiving for her birthday. Tim isn’t keen to do it, besides it just not interesting him, he doesn’t think the $75 is worth it. So he is now the official photographer.

There is 6 in our group and after watching a group already trying it we then watch a training video, sign the waiver (of course), get dressed in what can only be described as a clown suit without the big shoes and red nose, if I stand with my arms outstretched to the side I looked like a giant flying squirrel! We are also given helmet, goggles and earplugs.

Finally it’s time to go in!

The room looks like a giant padded round chimney stack with a big fan in the middle of the floor with trampoline type mesh over the top of it. We are lined up in weight order (I’m third after 2 kids which makes me happy after having being trying to lose weight, haha!). this is because the fan strength is calculated due to weight.

The instructor stands in the middle and holds us as we float. First up we learn how to land when we come away from the fan, we have to cross our arms across our chest and tuck our knees up, after a couple of practice goes it’s time to start.

First up are the kids, the lighter you are the easier it is and they have a great time. Next up is me, first I stand on the edge of the fan with my arms up in the stop position and just jump in, and now I’m flying!!! It is an amazing sensation and I can’t stop smiling! The instructor holds on the entire time and when I get a little wobbly he moves me away from the fan and I land nice and gently on the padded mats.

We all have our go and the last guy is a pretty big heavy guy. The instructor appears to have a hard time holding him up due to the weight difference between the two of them, so when his go is finished the instructor swaps out with the guy in the fan control room.

Straight away the difference in operating between the 2 instructors is obvious. The new instructor doesn’t move you away from the fan and land you as gently. He seems to spend a bit more time playing to the camera filming us, only holding on with one hand and not catching us as early when we start to lose control.

This is felt the first time I have my go with him, I didn’t feel as stable or as well looked after. Then the worst happened. I started to go us higher and was spinning around, not fast, just no longer hovering in the one spot. I started to go off to the side and because the instructor wasn’t holding on, I went higher and higher until I was too high for him to grab hold of my suit. All he could do was push me away from the fan. I hit the wall and landed with a crack and a thud on the ground on my right side, there was instant pain on my left side and I couldn’t move.

The instructor kept asking if I was ok and I kept telling him I wasn’t. Then both instructors and Tim was in there (I was so glad Tim came in, although I was waiting for him to say ‘I told you so!’), the instructors kept saying I was just winded, I kept saying I wasn’t. Eventually I was able to get out of the room and sit down outside.

I felt really bad for everyone waiting to continue their go, but I just couldn’t move any quicker.

The grandma of the 2 kids comes over, she is an emergency room nurse and says that she thinks I have broken my ribs and need to get medical treatment.

The instructors phone for a cab and then from this point aren’t too helpful. They tell us to go to a walk in medical clinic, but can’t tell us the address or opening times and tell us the cabbie should know.

So I go downstairs and wait for the cab and I get Tim to make sure he gets my copy of the video that was taken - just in case.

CANADIAN HEALTHCARE

The cabbie takes us to a medical clinic and it is closed, so he takes us to the hospital emergency room. The cabbie was lovely, always saying how far we had to go and apologizing every time he went over a bump or turned a corner.

At the hospital I have to see the triage nurse first. She is so nice. We explain that we needed to be on the 10:45pm bus back to Toronto that night (if we didn’t get back tonight, we would miss our flight to New York tomorrow and everything would be completely messed up), which gives us under 2 hours - everyone else there had already been there 4-6 hours. Luckily we didn’t get an ambulance, because we find out that we wouldn’t be able to leave until all the proper formalities are done and that usually takes about 6-8 hours. She says if I don’t mind sitting in the waiting room instead of a bed in between the x-ray and the doctor she would get us through as quick as possible, it meant not telling any of the other patients waiting and it also meant not getting anything for the pain.

So, true to her word, I got in for the x-ray and then when it was time to see the doctor I got taken into a room. The doctor said it was most likely cracked. He gave me a painkiller to get me through the bus ride back a and a script to fill before we fly to New York tomorrow.

The doctor was really great, he had wanted to come to Australia for a job exchange but it didn’t work out, so he had a soft spot for Australians. Because of this, he did my consult pro-bono and also the x-ray, that saved us around $2,000 so all we had to pay was the $500 for the emergency room fee.

THE BUS BACK TO TORONTO

We make it to the bus station at 10:35pm. The office closed 5 minutes before we got there and the cleaner refused to open the door so I could just use the bathroom - can this day end any worse! The bus cleaning station is right next door and after explaining to the women working there what we have just been through, they also refuse to let me use their bathroom.

So after all the rushing, the bus is late, really, really late. Another bus comes that is terminating there and tells us that all the buses are held up at the border. There is the Carbana festival (a Caribbean themed festival) in Toronto this weekend and a lot of people trying to coming from America do not have passports or there are issues with them coming into Canada which is making the border crossing a mess. The bus driver is nice enough to let me use the bathroom on his bus, phew!

Eventually around midnight, our bus arrives - with more bad news! His bus is already full and he can only take 4 passengers, there about 20 people waiting to get on! There is another bus coming but he doesn’t know how far away that is.

Tim explains what has happened to me and the so I’m on (so glad I have him!), the driver says if anyone is prepared to stand they can come on too. I get a seat near the back of the bus and Tim, the poor love, sits on the back area where luggage normally goes, right next to the stinkiest toilet ever! Tim, me and another guy who got on at Niagara falls are the only white people on the bus, everyone is heading to the festival. Pity it is so late and everyone is sleeping or it would’ve been a really fun group, apart from the whole pain thing that is…

Finally, about 2am, we make it back to Toronto. The bus driver forgot to stop at out stop and after everyone gets off at the main station he drives us back to the hotel, which was super nice of him!

Finally we are back, pack ready for tomorrow and collapse into bed. What a day!
 

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