31 Days to Acadia

[OZDUCK]

Annapolis Royal

A fat, bald Aussie tourist wondering how comfortable those chairs are. Note that the white flag is the Royal standard of pre-revolutionary France - and is the flag French troops fought under when making their decisive intervention in the American War of Independence.



Annapolis Royal waterfront from across the basin.



Their is a very nice Historic Garden near the fort.

A reconstructed Acadian house of style from about 1671



The Rose garden



One of the nice old wooden houses in town. The oldest house in town dates from around 1708.

 

[OZDUCK]

Final of Annapolis Royal

There were quite a few of these old wooden buildings in the old town area.



For some reason it seems to be a local custom to to stack these rocks on the waterfront.



Our B & B was across the water from the town. We occupied the slightly lower structure on the left. It had once been the "Granny Flat" and was very nicely appointed.



The grounds of the B & B



The husband of the B & B operator dropped by with a can of beer for a chat. It turned out that he was a retired seaman who had ended up as a harbour pilot in Sydney NS
and had piloted some of the big passenger ships like the Queen Mary 2. I started talking about the "Astoria" , which had been based in Fremantle for the summer cruises for
a few years recently This ship was once the "Stockholm" ,launched 1946, which had hit and sunk the Italian Liner the 'Andrea Doria' in 1951 and had become known as "The Ship of Death".
For some reason this fact was not mentioned in the travel ads in the local papers. He had actually piloted this vessel.

Afterwards they dropped by with a large punnet of fresh blueberries from their garden for us.

 

[OZDUCK]

Lunenburg

We left Annapolis Royal and cut across Nova Scotia to Lunenburg established in 1753 and now an UNESCO World heritage Site.

Waterfront



Some of the colourful buildings



This house has the "Lunenburg Bump" which to quote -"

Lunenburg's unique architecture features the Lunenburg Bump. It is believed to have evolved from the five-sided Scottish dormer."​

Lunch at Lunenburg - Chips and lobster roll for my wife and scallops and chips for me - once again a huge Canadian meal.




The colourful waterfront of Lunenburg from across the harbour.

 

[OZDUCK]

Lunenburg to Halifax

From Lunenburg we drove up to our final destination of Halifax, which is only a couple of hours from Lunenburg. We did part of this coast on one day and drove back down the next to see the area around Peggy's Cove. The coast along here is littered with the most beautiful bays and headlands

Final photo of Lunenburg from across the harbour



Next bay - Mahone Bay







Another bay - there are so many of them that at one stage we just laughed at the fact that around every corner was another beautiful vista. So much so that we would say 'eh just another beautiful bay".

 

[OZDUCK]

Peggy's Cove

Just another couple beautiful stretches of water on the way to Peggy's Cove





Peggys Cove - the lighthouse that launched a million post cards. This is a beautiful spot but one of the few places in Canada where the tourist levels were starting to impinge on your enjoyment of the sites.
We were there fairly early and by 10.30 it was getting so busy that we we moved on.



It is however an absurdly photogenic spot - these two are of the fishing boat harbour.

 

[OZDUCK]

Swissair Flight 111 Memorial

A more sombre part of our trip.

It is a very simple but quite poignant memorial.



Peggy's Cove Lighthouse from "The Whalesback" Memorial Site. The plane crashed about 8Km offshore of this site. At one stage they had got within 17 NM of Halifax airport but were losing flight control

 

[OZDUCK]

Halifax

The last stop on our Canada trip was Halifax. Our B & B was actually in Dartmouth which is just across the water from Halifax - and saved us about a $100 a night with free parking.

Our first introduction to Halifax was a bit disconcerting. We were naturally using our Garmin GPS and it directed us to the most convenient of the two bridges across the basin. Unfortunately that bridge is currently being resurfaced and is closed to traffic on weekends and at night. With no warning signs until you get onto the access roads and no detour signs to the other bridge. My wife was having an ongoing feud with our GPS and couldn't get it to recalculate the route. In the end i found the way to the other side by following the heaviest traffic flow.

The Halifax waterfront from the ferry. It is the oldest saltwater ferry service in the Americas and the second oldest in the world - after the Mersey ferry. It costs C$3 and takes about 15 minutes.



One of the ferries - which are "double ended'



The bridge that was closed. Underneath it is the RCN's Maritime Forces Atlantic base.



A closer view of the waterfront. The blue and white "dazzle" painted vessel is HMCS Sackville a WW2 veteran and the last "Flower" class corvette in the world - of 267 built.
We had a nice "private" guided tour of her.



I would not have like to cross the North Atlantic in winter on her.

 

[Franky]

(We flew CX in J – some of you will remember my questions about this choice last year. The flights were pretty much as others had said – very good seats (my wife & I both thought that they could be both a little softer and wider)but with average food and FA’s who while polite and efficient made little attempt to engage with the passengers and had absolutely no intention of offering anything that wasn’t asked for.Still 1,000% better than Y and I don’t regret my choice.)
Just flew PER-HKG return last week, same result as you have described on the forward leg, however much better on the return flight home.

 

[Franky]

Major & Roo Flyer - there had been a few showers earlier in the morning and that may have cleared away a bit of the haze - perhaps?

Was there last week, very hazy, the locals claim it is coming from northern China which is now well into winter, where they use coal for their home heating.

 

[OZDUCK]

(We flew CX in J – some of you will remember my questions about this choice last year. The flights were pretty much as others had said – very good seats (my wife & I both thought that they could be both a little softer and wider)but with average food and FA’s who while polite and efficient made little attempt to engage with the passengers and had absolutely no intention of offering anything that wasn’t asked for.Still 1,000% better than Y and I don’t regret my choice.)
Just flew PER-HKG return last week, same result as you have described on the forward leg, however much better on the return flight home.

The crew on our flight HK/PER were the best of the four flights. However, I ordered some coke twice - and both times they poured me a glass and took the rest of the can away with them. I was more amused than anything else. But not automatically giving you a full can of soft drink in Business!

I was on Air Canada earlier in the same trip and even they served people a full can - and this in Domestic Y which basically provides an LCC service except for one drinks run..

 

[OZDUCK]

Halifax - The Citadel

Dominating the hill above central Halifax is a Citadel - Fort George - that was rebuilt in its current shape - another classic star shaped Vaubin style fortress - after the War of 1812 to deter those nasty 'Mericans from trying again to seize territory.

Even though it is on a high hill overlooking the harbour it was built to deter land attacks not seaborne ones. There were several large fortresses in an around the harbour for that purpose.
Like many of these National Sites in Canada there are numerous "re-enactors" dressed up in uniforms or clothes of the day and very well instructed in their roles. They often do this job for a number of years.
Our guide was a drama student who was just finishing his 4th summer as a guide.

As a side note if you can speak French you would have been in luck as there were about 50 people on the English language tour compared with 2 on on the French one. All the staff at these various sites greet you with the phrase "Bonjour/Good Morning (or afternoon) and you decide which language to use.

Looking at the "dry ditch' between the the inner and outer ramparts. The outer ones are earth fronted.




Overlooking the inner parade ground and barracks block. The top floor of the barracks were originally built with collapsible walls and guns to be used as a final defence point if the outer walls were breached.

The tent on the left of the photo is part of a WW1 display, which included a Western Front style trench system. It was dug into the "dry ditch" through the sally port.




Gun crew who have just fired a demonstration blast.



One of the "32 pound" guns still on the parapet



Looking up at the outside of the Citadel from downtown. It is quite a walk up the hill.

 

[OZDUCK]

Around Halifax

There is a lovely Victorian style botanic garden in Halifax

Ornate gates



Bandstand erected in 1887 for queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee on the throne.



Victoria Jubilee Fountain commemorating Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee - 1897



In an nice touch, on one of the lakes there are models of HMCS Sackville



And the Titanic - (The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on the waterfront has artifacts from the sinking that were bought ashore on the search boats -including a deck chair and an unknown child's' shoes.
The museum is passes a pleasant hour or two - the only problem we had was the proverbial bus load of Chinese tourists with no understanding of museum etiquette.)

This Titanic was lucky to only have a duck on its bow rather than an iceberg.

 

[OZDUCK]

Around Halifax

Rainbow Haven Beach just north of Halifax. The sand was soft and the waves were about calf high- leg not bovine.



These signs on most of the "popular" beaches we visited are useful - especially the water temp.



The water on the beach nice - not so much in the change rooms.



This was just north of the beach. A Sunday market was on and seemed amazingly popular, cars parked on the sides of the road for about 5km.



These Toll Gates were my nemesis. I twice managed to throw the fee on the ground instead of into the chute. Perth has no Toll Roads and the last time I used this type was on the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1986.

 

[OZDUCK]

Halifax

This converted tug is based on a popular Canadian Children's TV Series (Theodore Tugboat)- and does tours around Halifax Harbour.



This just a small part of the Halifax Waterfront Boardwalk which stretches for 3.8km along the historic waterfront district.
The orange things on the boardwalk are free hammocks - hard to get one unoccupied.



Self-use crosswalk flags. These ones were on a crosswalk just near our B&B in Dartmouth. Canadian drivers - at least where we visited - are incredibly good at stopping to let pedestrians cross the road.
In fact they were so conscientious that when we would stop to get our bearings, often someone would stop for you and make you so embarrassed that you would cross the road even if it was not necessary





One last photo of a Canadian food delicacy. I badgered my wife to try one - but she wouldn't do it unless I had a "Big Mac" in sympathy. Needless to say the McLobster remained untasted.

 

[OZDUCK]

Back to Oz

After spending all of August in Canada it became time to return to Perth. This became a bit of a trek as we spent something like 46 hours travelling home. This included a 2 1/2 hour flight Halifax to Toronto, 7 hours at Toronto Airport, a 51/2 hour flight Toronto to Hong Kong, 9 hours at Hong Kong Airport and then 8 1/2 hours from Hong Long to Perth, plus waiting & travelling time at Halifax.

We flew Air Canada on the first leg. They and WestJet were pretty line-ball for costs but the Air Canada schedule gave me a bit of a safety margin as this ticket was separate from our Cathy one, so I erred on the side of caution with timings. This flight was not cheap - A$222 plus C$25 for a checked bag plus C$30 for seat selection. So about $280 with no food but with a cup of coffee or an orange juice for a 2 1/2 hour flight. This was a "on special" fare with no frills whatsoever.

When I booked our seats the flight was to be on a B767-300 but we actually flew on an A321. This had much better leg and shoulder room in Y than I expected - far better than a NZ 787, SQ 777 or a QF 737-800 for example. I chose window seats for both of us (we did not sit together for any of the flights home) as it is unlikely that we will ever fly this route again and it seemed it would be a scenic one over the Bay of Fundy, Maine and the Great lakes. Naturally we flew into clouds about 5 minutes after takeoff and had only glimpses of the scenery for the rest of the trip.

Halifax has a much bigger and nicer airport than I thought it would have.


Just after takeoff from Halifax - gives an idea of the number of lakes and bays in Nova Scotia.





A large interchange in Toronto - the city with the worlds busiest freeway.



On the Toronto to Hong Kong leg we flew basically due north from Toronto the over the Arctic , Russia and China. We left at about 02:00 and, as seems to be their wont the CX cabin crew immediately had all windows shuttered. I assumed that the flight would be in darkness all the way but my wife noticed some light creeping in and got some good shots the icy scene below.

 

[OZDUCK]

Hong Kong Airport

We had about a 9 hour stopover and using the Pier Business Class Lounge made up for the relative deficiencies in the in-flight experience. My only other experiences of Business Class lounges had been in QF ( and thus CX) ones at Perth Airport 2004 & 2016 and also QF Changi - 2004. This was a massive step up from them. I had a wonderful shower after about 30 hours of travelling but as I think someone else had previously reported the razors they hand out are awful - more blood than an episode of Bones.

The "Quiet Area" - my wife had a very nice couple of hours sleep here - we arrived in HK at about 05:50. By late morning it was pretty crowded.



Me showing great sartorial elegance in the lounge.



The main passageway of the lounge, after about 6 hours I became a bit stir-crazy and paced out its length - about 200 steps for a 6ft 3in 1.91m person



The noodle bar in the lounge



The airport was shut for about an hour because of a nasty storm - we spent an hour sitting on the plane after boarding as they tried to clear the backlog.
The pilot said, after boarding,that AirportControl wouldn't allocate a departure slot until the doors were closed. So we all trooped on - undergoing a secondary security screening in the boarding arm - to then sit with no a/c for that extra hour.

 

[OZDUCK]

My final thoughts on this trip :-

Cathay Pacific - flights went smoothly and with only small delays. 1 Hour delay in Hong Kong - outside their control due to weather. 1 Hour delay in Toronto - reason unknown but the time was picked up in the air. The business class experience went as most on here had predicted - excellent hard product, adequate food, polite but distant cabin staff. OK lounge in Toronto ( a Plaza Premium one) fantastic one on the return trip in HK (Pier) and good one on the outward trip (Wing). The inwards lounge in HK was a waste of time. I don't regret paying for J class.

Air Canada - not cheap but did their job professionally in the air and on the ground. Their domestic Y seems only a little step up from a LCC. But my flight was on time, comfortable and baggage arrived so can't complain too much.

Hong Kong - only there for 24 hours so am on weak ground but I admit it didn't really grab me and certainly doesn't seem a particularly cheap place to visit - compared to say KL.

Canada - loved it.

Toronto lively big city but with money needing to be spent on infrastructure. Perhaps the previous Mayor spent more money on his addictions than the city.

Montreal - again only spent 2 nights so am probably being unfair but another place that didn't grab me. The CBD area seemed a bit soulless and the "Old Town"was in a bit of a mess with major work going on. Probably need to spend more time in the outer areas - but I doubt I ever will.

Quebec City - very interesting place and would happily go back again - perhaps in winter to see the various attractions then.

New Brunswick - I wouldn't do the drive from Quebec City to the coast again. It was a easy and pleasant drive but not interesting enough to warrant the 10 or 11 hours on that road again. Fredericton is a nice little city but not enough to draw you there.

Prince Edward Island - would go back in a heartbeat. Lovely views and towns. Superb food and nice people.

Cape Breton Island - if I went again I would spend more tine in the "Highlands" area and do more of the Cabot Trail. Sydney didn't seem to have much to offer and while Louisbourg was great but we have basically "done it".

Nova Scotia - I would spend more time in the Annapolis Valley as there were lots of little towns we passed through and they looked like they would repay another visit. Would also go to the southern tip - which we missed - and work our way more slowly along the coast to Halifax. Halifax next time would only rate a day or so - nice place but relatively small.

Driving - I found it much easier to drive in Canada than Europe. The roads were a lot wider and traffic a lot less - outside of Toronto. The main Trans-Canada Highway is mostly excellent - but there are still patches of 2 lane road. Once you are off that highway the roads are dramatically worse. In many cases, worse than Western Australian minor roads. Road markings are often very faded or missing, rumble strips are almost non-existent, cats eye markers are rarely used and reflector poles are not used on the verge - not even to show corners. The surfaces are usually worse than here - but of course the winter conditions have some bearing on that.

Accommodation - seems similarly priced to Qz. With the prices dropping the further out of the main cities you get. The B & B 's we stayed in were uniformly good.

Food - was pretty good and again priced about the same as here - once the local taxes and a tip was included. Serves are usually big and chips seem to accompany almost any meal. Poutine is not a favourite and I would not bother with it again. Milk is 3 time the price that it is here and apparently the Government pays a large subsidy to dairy farmers. My wife assures me that the coffee was mostly dreadful - similar to the USA?

The locals - very friendly and helpfull just lime all the Canadian jokes say - but my wife did meet an unpleasant local on the last day and thus restored my faith in human nature. We had not the slightest problem with the French speaking ones. We always used our bonjours & merci's etc and they seemed to appreciate it.We however did not get into the real "bush" so it may be different there The only trouble my wife had was that a couple of times her bonjour was apparently too good as she was then greeted with a volley of French and she was forced to admit her lack of true ability in that language. The funny thing to us was that, unless they had a boyfriend etc who was Australian, the locals always thought that we were English. I can assure you that I have a broad 'Strine accent so I found this a bit bemusing.

All round a great holiday and would happily return.

 

[drron]

Thanks for the TR.I will be referring to it again when we go to PEI.alas that is not until 2019.We do plan in advance.
Already have decided to fly rather than drive from Quebec.

 

[OZDUCK]

Thanks for the TR.I will be referring to it again when we go to PEI.alas that is not until 2019.We do plan in advance.
Already have decided to fly rather than drive from Quebec.

Thanks for reading my TR.

We had also thought about flying but as far as I could see there are very limited flights to Halifax or Charlottetown from Quebec City and for almost all of them you have to backtrack via Montreal or Toronto adding time and expense.

 

[drron]

We are arriving on a cruise ship.Idea is train to Montreal and AC have direct flights from there to Halifax.Currently quoting $C322 return.
Then AA flies from Montreal to DFW.
Hopefully an award will come up to get us home.