We entered New Brunswick in mid-afternoon on Sunday July 28, and immediately stopped at a tourist information centre for information about this province that none of us had been to before. We continued south on the Trans-Canada highway to Edmunston where we stopped for gas, then continued to Grand Falls (not very grand at this time of the year, with most of the water being held back by a dam), on to Hartland to see the world’s longest covered bridge, took a scenic drive to Woodstock (searching unsuccessfully for a grocery store open on a Sunday evening), and finally got to Fredericton. The only available campground wanted $50 for the night, so instead we went to a Wal-Mart parking lot and, couldn’t find grocery store open or affordable campsite, ended up at Wal-Mart and getting pizza from Panago for half that amount.
Once again breakfast came from the McDonalds inside the Wal-Mart, but this time I didn’t have to order it in French! We found a place to park downtown, and walked to the legislature where Rhonda and the girls had a tour while Salty and I waited outside, then walked along the riverfront back to the RV and drove south to St. John. Our first stop there was the famous Reversing Falls on the St. John River – the tide was low, so the river was flowing in the expected direction, i.e. downstream. We then toured a Martello tower (we had noticed several in Kingston), which is a type of fort that the British copied from the Spaniards and was very resistant to cannon fire. We then walked to an indoor farmers market where we bought some fresh food and had some lunch. We walked up the street a couple of blocks to any early loyalist house that Rhonda and the girls had a tour of, while I walked back to the RV to bring it closer to the area. It was at that point that things started to go wrong. I turned to sharply to get out of a parking spot on the roadside, and hit a telephone pole with the back of the vehicle, breaking the back support to the canopy on the RV. I got it secured as the others left the loyalist house, and we returned to the Reversing Falls. The tide was now rising rapidly, and was surging through a narrow gap between two rock faces, such that the “waterfall” had actually reversed, with the river appearing to flow upstream. We then headed east towards the Bay of Fundy, but before we got too far we blew an inside tire, completely ripping it to shreds and leaving scraps all over the highway. Rhonda called our insurance company, who arranged for a tow truck guy to come out and assess the situation. He figured the tire could be replaced on-site, but the local tire shop in St. John didn’t have the right one in stock. Still, he came out and put the spare on for us, and gave us directions to a shop in Moncton that should be able to help us. After 2-3 hours on the side of the road (during which time we made dinner), we were on the road again but got to Fundy National Park very late.
New Brunswick Legislature - Fredericton
Martello Tower - St. John
Reversing Falls - flowing downstream (top) and upstream (above)
St. John Public Market
Tire Remnants
The campground in the national park was in the highlands. We left about noon on Tuesday July 30, and drove down to the coast, where we bought some freshly cooked lobster at Alma. From there we continued along the coast to the Hopewell Rocks, which is reputed to have some of the greatest difference between low and high tide of anywhere in the world. It was just past low tide, so we were able to walk on the rocks and mud of the ocean bottom, and look up to the high tide mark a few flights of stairs above us. After returning to the RV and having lunch we drove to Moncton, heading straight for the tire store that the guys from St. John had recommended. They didn’t have the tire that we needed in the shop but said that they could get it for us first thing in the morning. About then the skies opened up and there was a heavy downpour as well as lightning, and it didn’t look like much fun for camping, even in an RV. The tire store guy’s wife was the manager of one of the two local Quality Inn locations (which was full) but he got us a great price at the other one, so we decided to stay there. We then went to a local RV store to see if they could fix our step or canopy (they couldn’t for two weeks!), but we did get some other supplies we needed. We had a good tour of Moncton looking for gas, propane, and a Costco for food, but eventually got to the hotel, by which time the rain had long since stopped and the sun was out. I walked a few blocks to get some wine before dinner in our room.
Low tide along the Bay of Fundy
Hopewell Rocks - Bay of Fundy
Rhonda and I were up by 7:00 on Wednesday July 31 so we went down for our free continental breakfast, but the room was quite small as the hotel was under renovation and there was nowhere to sit, so we just brought the food back up to our room. I then took the RV back to the tire shop, and by 10:00 they had finished replacing and swapping some of the tires as well as doing an oil change and replacing a broken clamp on our generator exhaust pipe. I returned to the hotel, where the others were waiting in the parking lot, and we drove east to Nova Scotia, stopping briefly at a tourist info. centre just across the border. We were on a timeline to get to the Newfoundland ferry from North Sydney by 5:00 PM for our scheduled 7:00 PM sailing to Port aux Basques (on the west side of Newfoundland), so we just kept driving without making any stops. Just after we got onto Cape Breton Island I got a phone call saying that our sailing had been cancelled because one of the ferries had run aground! They had no idea when it would be rescheduled for, but said if we hurried they could get us onto the 5:00 PM sailing to Argentia, near St. John’s. This was not great as it was a 17 hour trip and Salty would have to stay in the RV the whole time and we couldn’t even come and give her a walk, but we didn’t seem to have much choice so we got to the ferry and were the last vehicle that they let on before closing the doors! It was a nice ferry, and we had drinks in a lounge while listening to live music, then went for a buffet dinner. The kids and I went to a games room to play cards for a while, and we all slept in a quite lounge that had airline-style reclining seats but weren’t very comfortable (all of the staterooms with proper beds being sold out). We also had breakfast at the buffet just before arriving at Argentia.
On the Ferry
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