Day 43-48. Our last journey East.

Day 43 - Québec City to Bathurst. Today was a six-and-a-half-hour driving day, which was just what we wanted after a rubbish sleep. We left the province of Québec and made our way into New Brunswick, losing an hour again.

We stopped for lunch at a place called Trois Pistoles, the kind of quiet seaside town you see in movies, where a busy summer day was five extra cars.

The boats in the marina were lying on the seabed, as it was low tide when we arrived (they have 4.5m tides). Alex and Abi enjoyed finding lots of legs and other carcass parts from cooked crabs in amongst the shells...

"DON'T WIPE YOUR HANDS ON YOUR CLOTHES!!!"

The kids were quiet in the car after lunch, as we'd let them watch their Chromebooks again. After three hours of listening to French radio, Dan got the giggles:

"The road is much quieter now, everyone must already be at their destination"

(This weekend is a long weekend for Canada, and we'd seen loads of cars packed even more than ours).

"They're all probably at a restaurant, eating their expensive dinners they had to wait ages for. Shame they don't have microwave meals that have been slowly defrosting for two days, the fools!"

"Yeah!" I agreed. "They'll probably even get meals that are too big for them to finish, and they also have to tip!"

"Not unless they went to that yummy Manchu Wok place at a mall, then they don't have to tip AND they'll be saving some for their lunch the next day."

"They might share?"

"Nah, it's too yummy - not enough for you!"

We both wiped the tears from our eyes.

It had been a loooong day.

Day 44 - Bathurst to Fundy. Back on the road today, but only for a couple of hours. There had been long sections of road with wire fences both sides, and the fences periodically had one-way gates. This was for the moose that somehow manage to get onto the road. It is apparently a massive problem, and could understandably cause a lot of damage to all concerned. We'd even heard on the radio someone saying they'd rather meet a bear than a moose!

We got to Hopewell Rocks in Fundy just in time to see high tide, which of course looked no more interesting than rocks sticking out of water. The world's highest tides are in the Bay of Fundy, so we bought a two-day pass to allow us to come back again tomorrow to see the low tide difference.

Our accommodation for the next two nights was at Fundy National Park in an O-TENT-ik, a combination between a cabin and a tent. It was a huge campground, every site came with a picnic table and firepit, and each site was also a private one (you couldn't see your neighbour, 15m away, through the trees). You also weren't allowed to cook or store food inside any of the accommodations, to avoid attracting any wildlife.

The kids ran off to explore while we made a cold dinner; after an hour, I started getting a bit agitated at them not returning.

"It's a massive park, they took our only map, and we don't even know where to begin to look for them!"

"Don't worry," Dan replied, "anyone that takes them away will drop them back off pretty quickly!"

Just after I'd convinced Dan to come look for them (I'd written a note saying to 'stay there' and stuck it on the door), they came round the corner. Phew!

Day 44 - Hopewell Rocks. We had a lovely lazy start to the day, after a sleep that was better than expected. No air conditioner to contend with, and in the middle of nature, it was silent all night. Even the 200m walk to the toilet at 3am was pleasant, looking at all the stars!

We drove back to Hopewell Rocks, and oh wow, what a difference; the carpark was full and there were queues of people everywhere! In fact, by the time we left (an hour after the tide was at its lowest) there were queues of cars waiting to get into the carpark.

The tide had changed from 44' yesterday to 3' today, and everyone was walking around on the seabed by the time we got there. Dan did think some kind of measured marker would have been good, as it was difficult to comprehend how high up the water comes.

Once we'd climbed the stairs back up to 'dry land', Alex had to wait in a half-hour queue to wash his feet. One poor wee boy was literally covered in mud all the way up to his ears, and stood shivering while waiting his turn.

Back at the campground, Alex and Abi ran off to the playground for a bit while we got a repeat of last night's dinner ready. We had an early dinner so we could all have s'mores again with our limited leftover supplies from before. Dan got most upset at one point, when a perfectly toasted marshmallow (puffed up and equally golden brown all around) fell off his stick into the fire! We all sympathised, but also laughed...

We sat at the outside table near the fire pit and played Monopoly Deal and Rummikub, while watching an incredibly tame squirrel sniff out the marshmallow in the fire before finding biscuit and crisp crumbs on the ground. There was even a chipmunk that came up on to the table while we were sitting there!

Day 45 - Fundy to Moncton. Luckily the rain held off overnight, as the two trips to the toilet block (once for myself at 3am, and then again at 5am for Abi) would have been rather unpleasant! We even saw some people drive to the toilets - now there's an idea!

As part of our car rental agreement, because we have the car for so long, we have to take it for a service every 11,000km (we've driven about 9,000km of that, good lord, that's lots of driving!). Dan found a garage in Moncton that was able to do it, and after an hour and a half watching news on repeat in their waiting area, we were able to get our car back.

"It only cost $80," Dan exclaimed.

"Is that all? For a full service?"

"Actually, the full service was $90!"

Again, the prices of some things here in Canada are just astounding. New Zealand, sharpen your pencil!

We had been invited to dinner at the house of a work colleague of Dan's, in nearby Shediac. We arrived late afternoon, and after meeting Don and his wife Sandi, we went for a walk on the local beach. The area they live in is filled with wonderful wee cottages, all painted in bright colours, and was the kind of place where everyone knew everyone else and would wave or say hello.

We were treated to a fabulous dining experience of lobster, ONE EACH! Sandi patiently showed us all how to separate and crack each part open, starting with the legs, then the claws, then finally the tail. Salty water was squirting and pouring everywhere! I passed my legs on to Don, as I was put off by the jet of salt water in my mouth every time I chewed a bit of the shell, however, I happily prepared and ate the rest of the lobster, cracking and twisting and cutting, then dipping each chunk of flesh into the bowl of melted butter. Dan even told me how proud he was of me, having only ever tasted crayfish at Christmas last year.

The rest of dinner was just as delicious, with marinated steak, shrimp, and the most divine potato salad we've ever had! Thank you Don and Sandi, for a fabulous evening; we were thoroughly spoiled and truly enjoyed ourselves.

Day 46 - Prince Edward Island. We crossed the 12.9km Confederation Bridge onto PEI, the world's longest bridge that spans ice-bound waters. It's free to get onto the island, but you have to either pay the $50CAD bridge toll or $90CAD ferry fare to leave!

We drove through Cavendish (the birthplace and home of L.M. Montgomery, author of the Anne of Green Gables series of books) to North Rustico, a fishing village on the northern coast, then stopped at a playground in Victoria Park in Charlottetown (the provincial capital), before heading further east to our motel for the night.

Everywhere on PEI is red; red sandstone rocks by the water's edge, red puddles, red sand, and red soil in every garden and every field, as far as the eye could see. It is coloured by a high level of iron oxide (rust) and is the ideal growing medium for potatoes, with 2.5 billion pounds of spuds produced each year; PEI is also the home of the famous McCain's!

We loved all the colourful houses and cottages dotted around the countryside and in the towns, painted in a range of blues, purples, reds, and yellows, all with white trim. So beautiful! Unfortunately, the weather was overcast and rainy, so not as pretty as it could be.

Day 47 - PEI to Nova Scotia. Overcast and rainy again today as we boarded the MV Confederation to Nova Scotia. It was only an hour-and-a-quarter trip, and luckily not too choppy.

We headed up to the Cabot Trail, a world-famous stretch of road on Cape Breton Island. It is a hilly, winding, coastal road, and reminded us of both the bottom of the South Island and heading along the east coast of the North Island. We had been told to expect beautiful scenery and views; well, that's what we would be seeing if it wasn't rainy and/or cloudy. That being said, sometimes moody shots are just as pretty.

We made another critical microwave dinner error for when we got to our motel for the night, but luckily they had a restaurant attached, and our dinners went back in our chilly bin. There was an excellent fiddle/piano/guitar group playing, and we were also entertained by a couple of hummingbirds feeding outside our window!

Day 48 - Cabot Trail to North Sydney. We were lucky with the weather this morning, and managed to drive the rest of the Cabot Trail in relative sunshine.

This section of the road reminded us of the Coromandel, when the road took us through a fault line surrounded by trees.

We stopped at a lovely wee fishing village at Neil's Harbour, where, according to the sign, we saw the most photographed lighthouse (in Neil's Harbour) ha ha ha ha!

We carried on, and a bit further round the coast came across a rugged outcrop of striated red rocks, that the kids enjoyed clambering over. I got a tad concerned when I saw the warning sign about dangerous rogue waves, but Dan pointed out the incredibly still sea - no wind, no chop, flat as a pancake.

It was too early to get to our motel, so we went to the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck. Of telephone-inventing fame, he also worked on kites, hydrofoils, and planes, wrote books, and was interested in genetics and heredity! He also taught deaf people to speak (including Helen Keller and Mabel Hubbard, his future wife), his original training was in elocution, and he worked alongside his father, who had created a visible language of sounds and gave demonstrations of it in use.

It was awesome to see a full-scale replica of the plane he and his aeronautic association built and flew - the first flight in Canada.

Tomorrow we begin heading back west; we've gone as fast east as we planned, and our time in Canada is almost up. We had hoped to go to spend a few more days in Nova Scotia and head down to Halifax, but time and finances and weather don't allow it. A few weeks ago, Nova Scotia had three months' worth of rain in one day, and was severely affected by floods (six bridges were destroyed, 19 damaged, and numerous roads washed out). All the cheap accommodation was therefore booked, and with more bad weather forecast for this area, it's time we moved on.

Abi did amuse us today:

"Where was that shitty camp?"

"EXCUSE ME???"

"Oh! Oops," followed by a giggle behind her fingers.

"I don't think she meant to say that," said Dan.

She meant Chéticamp...