Day 10: Mactaquac, NB to Fundy National Park, NB
Day 10: Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Mactaquac, NB to Fundy National Park, NB
We slept relatively well last night as the campsite was really quiet and there was no one around us. We woke up at 9:00 and were on the road by 10. We stopped at the Mactaquac Dam which was pretty cool before we left the river valley. We headed into Fredericton and did a self-guided walking tour of the downtown core and the historic buildings. It was really cool! We got a private tour of Christ Church Cathedral which had some amazing arcitecture. The girl who did the tour was only about 17 and you could totally tell she had memorized all the information cause she said it with absolutely no feeling but I guess that's understandable because she probably has to say the same thing about 20 times each day. We were the first people that day to sign the guest book - score for us! After we wrapped up our tour, we headed to Oromocto, a Canadian Forces Base town. We drove around looking for Subway and managed to find 3 schools and every other fast food restaurant chain in Canada but no Subway. We finally used our TomTom (the GPS thingy) and it told us where to go. Probably not the way the designers intended it to be used but hey,whatcha gonna go? When we finally got there, Subway was full of fat soldiers....hmmm....not a whole lot of faith in them to protect our country. We then drove down to Saint John because we thought it would be more scenic. Instead, it was just a boring, old city. We did see a giant cruise ship though, so I guess that makes it kinda cool. We took the Fundy Coastal route, thinking it would run along the coast, providing us with numerous opportunities to see the Bay of Fundy. No such luck. The road was bumpy and really twisty, with great views of many trees. We finally got to Fundy National Park and were shocked to learn that we had to pay over $15 for the two of us just to BE in the park! We weren't impressed but we'd planned on camping there tonight so we had to pay it if we wanted to stop in the park. When we got to the campground, we learned that it was going to cost us $25.50 to camp for the night! And the sites aren't even that great. They are crammed super close together with absolutely no privacy...imagine camping in a big field with your whole neighbourhood, everyone on a 25 square meter slot of land. Nice, eh? We sighed and picked what we THOUGHT was a nice site, set up our tent and headed towards Alma and Cape Enrage, which we had been told was pretty cool. It was another twisting road but it wasn't too far away. When we got there, we were informed that they ask for a $4 donation per person! Seriously? We were pretty mad with all these blatent rip offs so we just took our pictures and left. They can take some of our national park fee to even it out! We decided not to go to Hopewell Rocks because low tide had already passed and we'd wait until tomorrow. We headed back to Alma and had a delicious dinner at a place called Tides. Daryl couldn't bring himself to eat lobster so he had fish and chips instead and felt quite proud that he was at least eating some sort of seafood! We walked around the town and found a neat pirate shop which had these cool shirts that changed colour in the sun. We went back to our site and found that 2 large, loud French families had taken over the two sites right next to us, even though there were plenty of other (and better) sites available. I was enraged (haha) but took a deep breath and we went for a walk down to Wolfe Point and saw how low the tide was even though high tide had only been an hour or so before. It was really cool to walk on the ocean floor and see how the inlet just drained down to nothing. We also walked down to the river and saw the remnants of the old saw mill from the late 1800's. We came back to our site and there were about 15 loud French people yammering away to each other and their horribly badly behaved children running around, right next to our tent. We figured it wouldn't hurt to ask if we could move and sure enough, it was no problem. We lifted up our tent (it seems like this is becoming a tradition to do at least once on a trip across Canada) and walked it down the road to a new site which another family promptly moved in next to. However, they are English and not nearly as loud so it is ok. The mosquitos are horrid here but I managed to light a mosquito coil which kept them at bay as I wrote my journal before it got too dark to see. We both had long, hot showers (we had to get our $25 worth somehow) then played DS ad went to bed by 10:30.
The Mactaquac Dam is behind us.
Daryl in front of the Fredericton City Hall.
Daryl and I on a bridge in Fredericton over the river that runs next to the city.
They did a changing of the guard...can you tell I'm not impressed? They had a really crazy girl shouting out the directions and the men were all really freaky looking.
Daryl got his head stuck in a cannon.
Christ Church Cathedral. It was cold. I don't look bitchy.
A lake in Fundy National Park...we figured we'd have to take lots of pictures and stop many times to get our $15 worth!
It was really windy!
View of the Bay of Fundy.
At Cape Enrage, overlooking the Bay of Fundy to Nova Scotia on the other side.
The lighthouse at Cape Enrage - I think it was the oldest in New Brunswick....it has some special significance, I just can't remember right now.
Cape Enrage was a beautiful spot! Some man asked if I was from England because of my jacket!
Daryl and the Atlantic ocean. High tide was maybe 15 minutes ago and you can see how much it's already gone out.
I'm touching the Atlantic Ocean! And it was quite cold! The rocks were really cool there though - super flat and perfect for skipping.
Daryl and a pirate friend.
Wolfe Point at dusk.
Wolfe Point from above.
Daryl and the remains of the dock from the sawmill. They had to cut half of it away so that salmon could spawn in the river.
Me on the riverbank.
Mactaquac, NB to Fundy National Park, NB
We slept relatively well last night as the campsite was really quiet and there was no one around us. We woke up at 9:00 and were on the road by 10. We stopped at the Mactaquac Dam which was pretty cool before we left the river valley. We headed into Fredericton and did a self-guided walking tour of the downtown core and the historic buildings. It was really cool! We got a private tour of Christ Church Cathedral which had some amazing arcitecture. The girl who did the tour was only about 17 and you could totally tell she had memorized all the information cause she said it with absolutely no feeling but I guess that's understandable because she probably has to say the same thing about 20 times each day. We were the first people that day to sign the guest book - score for us! After we wrapped up our tour, we headed to Oromocto, a Canadian Forces Base town. We drove around looking for Subway and managed to find 3 schools and every other fast food restaurant chain in Canada but no Subway. We finally used our TomTom (the GPS thingy) and it told us where to go. Probably not the way the designers intended it to be used but hey,whatcha gonna go? When we finally got there, Subway was full of fat soldiers....hmmm....not a whole lot of faith in them to protect our country. We then drove down to Saint John because we thought it would be more scenic. Instead, it was just a boring, old city. We did see a giant cruise ship though, so I guess that makes it kinda cool. We took the Fundy Coastal route, thinking it would run along the coast, providing us with numerous opportunities to see the Bay of Fundy. No such luck. The road was bumpy and really twisty, with great views of many trees. We finally got to Fundy National Park and were shocked to learn that we had to pay over $15 for the two of us just to BE in the park! We weren't impressed but we'd planned on camping there tonight so we had to pay it if we wanted to stop in the park. When we got to the campground, we learned that it was going to cost us $25.50 to camp for the night! And the sites aren't even that great. They are crammed super close together with absolutely no privacy...imagine camping in a big field with your whole neighbourhood, everyone on a 25 square meter slot of land. Nice, eh? We sighed and picked what we THOUGHT was a nice site, set up our tent and headed towards Alma and Cape Enrage, which we had been told was pretty cool. It was another twisting road but it wasn't too far away. When we got there, we were informed that they ask for a $4 donation per person! Seriously? We were pretty mad with all these blatent rip offs so we just took our pictures and left. They can take some of our national park fee to even it out! We decided not to go to Hopewell Rocks because low tide had already passed and we'd wait until tomorrow. We headed back to Alma and had a delicious dinner at a place called Tides. Daryl couldn't bring himself to eat lobster so he had fish and chips instead and felt quite proud that he was at least eating some sort of seafood! We walked around the town and found a neat pirate shop which had these cool shirts that changed colour in the sun. We went back to our site and found that 2 large, loud French families had taken over the two sites right next to us, even though there were plenty of other (and better) sites available. I was enraged (haha) but took a deep breath and we went for a walk down to Wolfe Point and saw how low the tide was even though high tide had only been an hour or so before. It was really cool to walk on the ocean floor and see how the inlet just drained down to nothing. We also walked down to the river and saw the remnants of the old saw mill from the late 1800's. We came back to our site and there were about 15 loud French people yammering away to each other and their horribly badly behaved children running around, right next to our tent. We figured it wouldn't hurt to ask if we could move and sure enough, it was no problem. We lifted up our tent (it seems like this is becoming a tradition to do at least once on a trip across Canada) and walked it down the road to a new site which another family promptly moved in next to. However, they are English and not nearly as loud so it is ok. The mosquitos are horrid here but I managed to light a mosquito coil which kept them at bay as I wrote my journal before it got too dark to see. We both had long, hot showers (we had to get our $25 worth somehow) then played DS ad went to bed by 10:30.
The Mactaquac Dam is behind us.
Daryl in front of the Fredericton City Hall.
Daryl and I on a bridge in Fredericton over the river that runs next to the city.
They did a changing of the guard...can you tell I'm not impressed? They had a really crazy girl shouting out the directions and the men were all really freaky looking.
Daryl got his head stuck in a cannon.
Christ Church Cathedral. It was cold. I don't look bitchy.
A lake in Fundy National Park...we figured we'd have to take lots of pictures and stop many times to get our $15 worth!
It was really windy!
View of the Bay of Fundy.
At Cape Enrage, overlooking the Bay of Fundy to Nova Scotia on the other side.
The lighthouse at Cape Enrage - I think it was the oldest in New Brunswick....it has some special significance, I just can't remember right now.
Cape Enrage was a beautiful spot! Some man asked if I was from England because of my jacket!
Daryl and the Atlantic ocean. High tide was maybe 15 minutes ago and you can see how much it's already gone out.
I'm touching the Atlantic Ocean! And it was quite cold! The rocks were really cool there though - super flat and perfect for skipping.
Daryl and a pirate friend.
Wolfe Point at dusk.
Wolfe Point from above.
Daryl and the remains of the dock from the sawmill. They had to cut half of it away so that salmon could spawn in the river.
Me on the riverbank.