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 trucks carrying timber along the way. We stopped for lunch at the Cable House Cafe at Sayward. The cafe is made out of 2" steel cables. ... read more

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 time at Camille's, a restaurant that specialises in local cuisine.... read more

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 lovely part of the river that has roughly 1000 islands over 70 kilometres. The scenery was wonderful but the commentary was unfortunately, inaudible.... read more

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 it was to honour the war dead. Anyway the evening was a fun one, with a huge concert and thousands still streaming into the city as I took a return ferry at 10.30pm to Levis, ... read more

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, world HQ of McCains and therefore french fry capital of the world. Then on to Quebec to stay the night in the town of Riviere du Loup. We saw no moose on our travels but were constantly warned ... read more