Goodbye to the Maritimes

Monday morning we woke up to steady, solid rain. It was a bit of a challenge to dismantle the bedding and tent under the tarp to keep it from getting wet, but managed - then breakfast in a camp shelter. By 0815 we were driving out of the Park, heading for Hopewell Rocks. On cue, the rain started, and we continued to this geologic wonder under cloudy skies. Reddish-coloured sandstone cliffs with caves, and pillars carved by the tides, which are quite high, are the attraction here. We walked to the site of Flowerpot Island, walking on the seabed, and continued along the trails, viewing the caves and arches etched out of the shoreline. Our timing was good, as we'd managed to arrive at low tide, when all was uncovered for a few hours.





Hopewell Rocks





By 1100 we were heading back to our car, and managed to find a phone where we could phone back to Victoria to chat with our friend and financial advisor, Keith - all seems well on that side of things. From Hopewell, we continued north to Moncton, where we were able to find some groceries, and a new regulator for our BBQ. Then south and west, through Petitcodiac. We had to phone our friend Ambi from there to get directions, and determined the best way to find him was to meet him someplace. He suggested we wait for him in Elgin, which we did.....and yes, it IS that small that we needed no further directions as to where in Elgin. Ambi drove up a couple of minutes after our arrival, with his three dogs in the car, looking just like we always remember him.





Ambi with his 3 dogs








His post office is in Elgin, so we dropped in there to get our address book which had arrived there, thanks to Gord in Sydney forwarding it for us. Then we followed Ambi along some winding country roads back to his home. After getting settled, we took the dogs for a run, and then repaired our barbecue with the replacement regulator - thankfully, Ambi had all the correct size tools for the job. We were then able to use the barbecue to make dinner and visit.







2 old buddies visiting











Tuesday morning was another cloudy day, but considering it had rained most of the night, that was fine with us. We packed up our things, and bade farewell to Ambi, and his dogs Dulcie, Jethro, and Shadow, and his friend Gary who'd dropped in for a coffee. It would be quite possible to spend many more days in New Brunswick, but time now dictates a drive to get to Ontario in time for our friends' wedding, and to complete some genealogy, and visit friends and family. So today we forgo the back roads and take to the main highways, west and northbound, past Fredericton. We took a short detour about 30 KM northwest of Fredericton to view another of the world's "est" things - in this case, the world's largest Axe. It stands over 49 feet above the St. John River, and is built from several tons of stainless steel. Having done that, we continued enroute, stopping for a short lunch at Tim Horton's, and passing the World's longest Covered Bridge (yup....still in New Brunswick!) in Hartland. The goal here is to continue out of New Brunswick, and a short way into Quebec, which will make a fairly long day of over 500 KM (long for us, at least). Then another long day for Wednesday through Quebec, to get closer to our scheduled timing for Southern Ontario. By 1700 we had crossed over the border from NB to Quebec, via Edmunston, and picked up some food for dinner, then continued on to Riviere du Loup, on the St. Lawrence River. We turned west again along the south shore of the river, and found a campground about 25 KM west of Riviere du Loup. By crossing into Quebec, we'd moved from Atlantic to Eastern time zone, so gained an hour, and were cooking our supper by 1800. The site has wifi, so with any luck we can upload this Blog and stay current for yet another day. Being a Tuesday, we have yet another day of reckoning, and again we will be over our budget, mainly because of the ferry to St. John (I know I've been maligning the cost of ferries lately, but it can sure wreak havoc on a tight budget!). We also treated ourselves to a couple of meals out, and bought a regulator for the barbecue. So for this, week 12 of our trip, the totals are as follows:
Distance driven: 1608.3 KM Gas: $ 187.18 Food: $ 350.67 Accommodation: $ 174.06 Other: $ 269.04 Total: $980.95 This week we were over budget by almost $281.00!