New Brunswick

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August 31/Sept 1/2/3/4 - New Brunswick

....the only province that is completely bilingual. All signs - government and businesses etc. are in both languages. It seems most of the people speak both languages. We met some nice young boys on a golf course and Larry asked the one little fellow (about 9 years old) who spoke English with a French accent if he was French or English and his answer was "both". Now wouldn't it be wonderful if the whole world thought like that!! It would be a much more peaceful place.

We entered the province at Campbellton and took the fast highway #11 south through Bathurst and Miramichi. We set up camp at a little town called Saint Louis de Kent (see an English and French name for a town). On our itinerary for the next day was scheduled at stop at Eco-Centre Irving La Dune de Bouctouche. There you can walk along a dune that is about 12 km long with a boardwalk above the dune that is 2 km long. It was a cool and windy day on the water so we didn't hike very far. It is an environmentally protected area and is sponsored by the famous KC Irving. He was born in Bouctouche and from modest beginnings built the huge Irving group empire which included oil refining, shipyards, media, pulp and paper and convenience stores.

From there we had a short drive to Shediac - the lobster capital of the world. It was early in the day so we found a campground with a golf course beside it and Larry finally got his golf fix. We had a seafood supper at Captain Dan's on the Wharf. Also sent emails from the library in Shediac.

On Saturday, we left Shediac destined for Hopewell Cape. We stopped in Moncton to stock up on groceries and gas. We spent two days at the Ponderosa Pines Campground about 10 minutes from the Hopewell Rocks which is New Brunswick's most famous geological feature. Here are the world's highest tides. At low tide we walked on the ocean floor where there are large rock formations with caves and tunnels formed by erosion. There are 2 high tides and 2 low tides in a 24 hour period. We stayed for 6 hours to view the high tide as it came in and the water level rose by about 6 feet an hour. We lucked out with the weather - a perfect day of 22C with no wind at all. But, we were told it's the calm before the storm as eastern Canada is expected to get the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto by Monday. We took advantage of our 2 day stopover to do laundry.

The second day at Hopewell we had another great day for golf. We didn't golf great but it was a pretty hilly course with lots of trees - ok ok - no excuses. Tomorrow we head down the road olny about 50 km to the Fundy National Park and then into Saint John. If the hurricane does arrive we'll go straight through to Saint John. From there we'll back track to the Confederation Bridge and head for PEI.

It's Monday morning, the 4th and it is indeed raining. We will take advantage of our campground find with the wireless internet to upload this report just as we leave for Fundy Nat'l Park (drive through) and Saint John. So - you are right up to the mile with us for now. By the way we have put on over 5,500 kms.

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Photos

High Tide coming in
No we are not under the water - ha

Golfing
No - it didn't go in the water!