Back to Halifax, a week in Mahone Bay and two days in Saint John!

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After we dropped the car off we headed back to the HI Hostel in Halifax to stay for another two nights. It is nice going back to a hostel you have stayed at before as it feels a bit like home when you return! (or as close to home as we can get). This is Beth again by the way!

We chilled out at the hostel all afternoon, then as it was Saturday night we headed out for a drink at the Halifax Ale House (good name) and then met up with Noam and Jeremy; two cool canadian guys who were staying in Bear on the Lake hostel with us last week, and went to for a few more drinks and then a loud, hot and busy club for a final drink and headed home around 2am. We only had 2 drinks each but it felt nice to have an actual night out! We then said goodbye to Noam and Jeremy who were awesome guys and it was a shame our plans didn't collide as they were heading down to Boston the next day and offered us a lift but sadly our America plans didn't start for a few weeks.

By this point we didn't have anything planned for the next week and we were thinking of maybe heading back to Mahone Bay to stay at the Kip and Kaboodle hostel for the week. It was cheaper than hostels in Halifax, it was a beautiful place and we figured we could do with a week of sun, cycling and relaxation before we start city hopping around America. So we gave Greg (Kip and Kaboodle owner) a call and he happened to be heading into Halifax the next day for a tour so said he would give us a free lift back to Mahone Bay in the evening which is about an hour away. We said yes please! and booked five nights there for the next week. We spent the rest of Sunday visiting the Citadel and watching a 21 gun salute that was part of something to do with the anniversary of Parks Canada. The weather was still ridiculously hot and after a few free tours around the Citadel we headed down to the Waterfront where there was a big farmers market/acoustic music thing so sat down, got a couple of free samples and listened to some good music for a few hours!

On Monday morning we checked out of the Halifax HI and put our bags in the storage room. We thought we'd visit a pizza place recommended by our guide book and Beth (daughter of Rod and Ann who we stayed with in Ottawa). It was a little while outside downtown and even though it was still really hot we opted for the 45 minute walk only to find out it was closed on Mondays! Typical. We took the bus back, got some lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out at the hostel (even though we had checked out!) waiting for Greg to pick us up. He picked us up about 7.30pm and even stopped at the grocery store on the way back so we could pick up a few things. We were the only ones in the hostel and after checking in and talking to Greg for a while about things we could do in and around the area and with no car, we went to bed.

On Tuesday morning, we walked into the nearby village of Mahone Bay. It was only a 40 minute walk and along a pretty coastal road in the sun so wasn't too bad at all. Mahone Bay is a full of little independent shops and boutiques and we spent a few hours wandering around those. The coast around this area is really beautiful and looks a lot like Cornwall. We bought some sandwhiches for lunch and then headed back to the hostel. The next few days were spent cycling back and forth to Mahone Bay a few times to get food and drink, cycling to the nearby town of Lunenburg (10km and lots of hills - not the most fun when it is really hot), cycling to a nearby small beach for a swim, trying to fish (unsuccessfully!) with a borrowed fishing rod from Greg, and relaxing in the hostel. Whilst we were fishing I cleverly placed my bag behind us on lower rocks and the tide came in without me realising soaking my bag in water for a good 10 minutes or so leading to a very dead camera. Much effort was done to try and revive it but sadly nothing helped! It was a sad day! Luckily, my memory card was fine so all the photos were not lost.
After having the hostel to ourselves for a few nights some more people checked in. Two of these people were English - one guy called Sam from Norfolk and another guy called Ben from Manchester. Both were really friendly and the four of us plus a Swiss girl called Iris stayed up to 1am chatting, mostly about English things, Sam's hitckhiking adventures and how much we English hate the obligatory custom of tipping!

We spent our last day trying to fish again, only to come back empty handed and for Ben to try and catch a mackerel in the first 10 minutes - Aled felt pretty de-masculinated (that may not be a word). We also walked into Mahone Bay to buy a couple of lobsters from the supermarket and then returned to the hostel to cook them! The hostel had its own lobster pot and after much instruction from Greg (and Google) they were ready! We then had to consult Google again and Sam for eating instructions and lots of mess later, they were finished. It was a true Nova Scotian experience! We then sat around the bonfire chatting and drinking some beers.

On Saturday we had planned to get a bus back to Halifax then a 7 hour bus to Saint John, but Greg said he would drive us around for the day and give us a tour of the area ending with taking us to Digby on the north coast to get the ferry to Saint John and for the same price, so we agreed! It was much nicer to be in a car and only have half the travel time expected. It was also great to see some places we hadn't planned on seeing. Nova Scotia exploration is definitely much better if you have a car! We visited Blue Rocks, Hirtle's Beach, Bridgewater, Annapolis Royal, Bear River and finally Digby. We then boarded the Digby ferry to Saint John at 4pm for our 3 hour trip to Saint John. Whales are often spotted on this trip apparently but none were seen this time due to the intense fog which seemed to linger around the whole journey. We then got a taxi to the hostel and on our way he took us down to the coast to see the famous reversing falls at no extra charge which was nice! We then got to our Saint John hostel later that evening - a little guesthouse hostel owned by a lovely lady called Sharon.

The next day we headed into Saint John to have a look around but found it to be very deserted, quiet with nearly everything closed - Sundays are apparently the quiet day in Saint John! We walked around a bit, grabbed some lunch and headed back. We then did a bit of research about the following week and found out that the bus we intended to get to the American border on Thursday only ran on Mondays. We changed our plans around a bit and sadly this meant we couldn't couchsurf with a couple we had intended to on Monday and Tuesday night. It also meant we were heading into the USA the next day which was exciting and a bit worrying due to all the horror stories we kept hearing about the American border. It was also a shame as we didn't really get to see Saint John, and it is supposed to be a really cool city and has the biggest tide difference in the world which forms most of its tourist attractions (the difference between high and low tide is about 30ft).

The next day we got on our bus to Saint Stephen, which dropped us off about 5 miles outside - not really seeing the point of why it says it goes to Saint Stephen when in reality it doesn't. We were a bit in the middle of nowhere so called a taxi and got it right up to the border. There used to be public transport going through this border (a bus from Saint John all the way to Boston) but they cancelled it a few years ago and therefore going through the border and getting to any kind of big city in Maine is a bit of a trek!

We looked across the very short bridge to America, took a deep breath and walked across!

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