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PAGE 2 OF HOLIDAY DIARY
PAGE INDEX OF TOUR IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
Click Page 1 for our
journey to Vancouver, Victoria, Campbell River, Port Hardy, Inland Passage, Prince
Rupert, Telkwa and Prince George in British Columbia
MONDAY 31ST MAY (Prince George to Jasper)
We really enjoyed our very spacious quarters in the Fairhaven B&B and would have liked
to stay longer. But our schedule beckons and it's back on the road again straight after a
delicious hot breakfast.
The day started overcast
and rainy. We were delighted to see signs of the wildlife mentioned in our guidebooks (one
never knows whether the guide books can be believed about such things or whether you have
a better chance of winning the lottery). Anyhow we saw a wolf and a coyote, then we saw
a beaver dam but no signs of beaver.
Approaching Jasper we were thrilled when the cloud lifted and the sun came out. Suddenly
we were aware of extremely high snow capped mountains on all sides, rising
majestically into the heavens. Mount Robson towered around 13,000 feet above us and many
other mountains in the 6,000 to 9,000 foot class were all around. We couldn't believe the
sheer awe inspiring magnificence of it all. We said to each other, "this alone makes
our Canadian trip worthwhile even if we see nothing else"!
Entering the Jasper National Park we were held up for a $50 fee but that covered two
people for five days so we suppose its not so much after all.
We found our lodgings. Tekarra Lodge looked ok on their web site (rustic log cabins
sheltering amid pine trees, logs burning in fireplace etc etc). Well let us now admit that
the cabins are not so pretty when you get inside. In a word they were brown, brown, dark
and brown. Lynn said she felt like a bear in a dark brown cave! The floor, walls and
ceilings were all varnished brown. To help things along we had the benefit of two 15 watt
light globes! Frankly the whole insides looked old and tired and not worth the money.
Check it out yourself by visiting their web site at:- http://www.visit-jasper.com/TekarraLodge.html
TUESDAY 1ST JUNE (in and around Jasper)
Slept very soundly (or should we say "hibernated" in our cave) and didn't
awake until 8.30 am. After a good hearty breakfast we began to re-assess.
The bed was fine, we had all the basic ammenities we needed and even if the
place was too rustic and very jerry built, afterall.... it was comfortable
enough and when you got down to it we were just acting like spoiled brats.
Then we drove down the road to nearby Pyramid Lake and Patricia Lake. We saw another
operation comprising log cabins (much nicer looking than ours). They were also situated
beside a lake (much nicer than ours). We went into the Office to get a rate (much lower
than ours.... almost half the cost). We asked to inspect a cabin (it was
better than ours) and we said "#!!%&*<!!@". Serves us right for even going in to check it out. If you
want to see the place we should have stayed at, here's their web site.
http://www.triple1.com/ca/ab/patricia.htm
Putting all that behind us (or trying to) we drove into Jasper itself to
find a pretty town surrounded by 10,000 motor homes.... really. Then we
tried to use some special bear proof rubbish receptacles only to find they
were virtually Aussie proof also.
Driving into the mountains Brian remarked that this whole area must have
been the result of collaboration between Walt Disney and Mr Kodak. So
beautiful and a photograph to be had at every turn.
Driving to Maligne Lake we saw lots of wildlife including elk, bighorn sheep, mule deer
(long ears), squirrels, chipmunks and the most interesting one of all.... a human being
going up a steep hill on roller blades propelled by ski stocks vigorously wielded in both
hands! Was he fit or was he FIT?
However, the highlight of this day was when we went down a quieter road and ran head long into a large black bear and her three baby cubs. Huge excitement and
fumbling with cameras and windows. This is a real stroke of luck. Not many people get to see any of the estimated 80 black bears which
live in this huge National Park and to see three cubs at the same time is really like
winning the lottery. And we're not talking 50 metres away.... no, we're talking like 6
metres, then 5 metres then 3 metres then "shit close the window!".
WEDNESDAY 2ND JUNE 233 kms from Jasper
to Moraine Lake
Leaving Jasper for our trip to Lake Louise we pass lots more elk along the road. We can't
count how many elk shots we've taken. At least some of them ought to be good.
As you drive through these National Parks it is customary to stop whenever you find another car stopped by the highway. It invariably means wildlife beside the road
or a great bit of scenery to be photographed. However it can get a little hilarious. If
you just stop to pour a little coffee out of your thermos you suddenly find that six other
cars have stopped behind you and people are craning their necks out of the windows with
cameras cocked and ready. We have enjoyed some good laughs as a result of this herd
mentality.
However the best laugh was against us.
We saw a car stopped so we crept in behind, pulled on the brake and began scanning the bushes with Lynn's binoculars. At first
we couldn't see a thing but suddenly a man rose from behind a shrub giving us a broad view
of very white skin as he hauled up his britches.... poor guy!
As we rose higher and higher into the mountains we began to be surrounded by thick snow
and frozen lakes. Amazingly we encounter lots of people riding the Icefield Parkway on bicycles despite the cold and the very steep mountains.
The scenery around here is beyond telling. You just have to come yourself.
We haven't mentioned that the Spring thaw has been very late in coming to Western Canada this year. As a result we are seeing a whole lot more snow on the mountains
and sometimes around our feet. Daytime temperatures have been around zero to 15 degrees
celsius with 8 to 10 being the most common. This sounds very cold to we Aussies but
there's been almost no wind and we've found conditions quite comfortable overall.
Arriving finally at our lodgings at Moraine Lake we are disappointed to discover that the
lake is almost fully frozen and half empty due to the late thaw. This lake has the
reputation of being more brilliantly blue than the famous Lake Louise and we really
splurged to come here figuring "just this once...etc". So now we can't help
feeling let down, especially as the dirtied snow and slush around the place looks
depressing in the late afternoon.
To see how it should look go to
http://www.morainelake.com
THURSDAY 3RD JUNE at Moraine Lake
Awoke to fabulous sunshine. What a difference it makes. The mountains around us are
crystal clear against a pale blue sky and even the frozen white lake looks great.
We pop into Lake Louise to check it out. We find their lake is only partway frozen.... a mixture of white slush on milky geen water. It's very beautiful
but chock-a-block with tourists. Many are staying in the huge hotel but thousands more have driven in to rubber-neck. Just checking the size of the
five parking lots gives you an idea of what things are like in mid summer. We don't want to know about it. Incidentally Peter, your $40 days are long
gone. The best rate we could get at Chateau Lake Louise for a room facing the lake was $388 plus GST and + bed tax and + Alberta Provincial tax! See
what a good deal you got in 1977?
We drove on to Banff and were surprised to find this pretty little town very
tolerable. We had been expecting waves of tourists and nowhere to park but on this day the parking was easy and tourists were reasonably thin on the
ground.... a great mercy.
Had a wonderful Chinese lunch; quite the best meal we've had in Canada thus far. Generally
speaking (and from an Aussie point of view) we have found the plates far too large
(gigantic) but usually lacking imagination and variety. On the other hand, value for money
in restaurants here in Canada is
excellent.
Coming into this cyber cafe in Banff we were delighted to receive so much mail from home
and relieved to hear that Anna and Anton had safely arrived in Madras India. But really
Anna, are things really THAT bad? You're starting to make us feel very uncomfortable
living the life of riley here in beautiful Canada. Treat it as a beneficial cultural
experience and then move out of your two dollar hotel into something more up-market. How
about the luxury of a $5 joint, even if only for a few days (well, we suppose
that's the joys of backpacking)!
Well folks, that's all from us for the time being. We've decided to cut our
time by a day in this area (our hotel is too expensive). Tomorrow we start to move down
south into the Kootenay Lakes region for a few days before heading back to Vancouver.
4TH JUNE
(Moraine Lake to Kimberly)
Drove 350 kms through Banff National Park and then into Kootenay National Park which was almost as nice. Folks, we have been driving through snow
capped mountains, lakes and pine forest for about 1000 kms so far and it still
continues. This amount of superb scenery vastly exceeded our expectations for Canada.
We decided to stay overnight in
Kimberly, an ex mining town of about
7,000 people which has been gradually turning itself into a Bavarian village
(eh?) and ski resort town since the mine gave out some years ago.
Looking for suitable lodgings we came upon a motel which has just been
renovated in preparation for joining the Howard Johnson chain. ''We haven't
quite re-opened yet but I could let you have a nice room for $59 including a
continental breakfast'', said the Motel Manager (and pseudo construction
supervisor). Brian took a look at the offered room and said ''it's a deal''. A very nice
spacious freshly renovated room at a bargain price and the only time we've ever been the
sole occupants of a multi storey motel.
One little problem later manifested
itself however. Being the only occupants meant that it took at least 10 minutes for warm
water to come all the way through the hotel pipes to our shower next morning!
We went to a ''Bavarian'' restaurant for dinner that evening. Brian had been
itching to try some Canadian prime rib beef since arriving in Canada and
there it was on the menu so this was his chance (come to think of it, how
come prime rib is on the menu in a Bavarian restaurant?). He ordered the
''small'' size but turned pale when it hit the table.... an inch thick and
covering a 14 inch oval plate! And, in the manner of North American
restaurants (even Bavarian ones), there was a formula. The waitress announced, ''our prime rib
comes with soup, salad bar and your choice of baked potato, pilaff rice or fries''.
Anyhow, after a valiant effort Brian was able to make a bit of a clearing at
one end of the plate hoping it was enough to avoid any admonishments from our waitress. Huge meals have been a problem here in western Canada and we
have often had to say ''no thanks'' to offers of doggy bags, then assure the waitress that the food was ok but we had no means of making use of leftovers
(fridges in rooms seem to be a rarity in Canada).
5TH JUNE (Kimberly to Kaslo)
We set off for Fort Steele, a fort and village complex built in the mid 1800's, and since
carefully restored and preserved. Very impressive setup, situated beside a river and
surrounded by acres of grassy fields. Some 60 buildings including hotels, quartermasters,
blacksmiths, barracks, general stores, doctor, dentist, churches and you name it. The
preservation was superb and each building was filled with furniture, provisions, inventory
and everything, just as if the clock had stopped in 1860. Very authentic and interesting.
By far the best example of a preserved or re-created town that we've ever visited anywhere
in the world and a real treat for nostalgia freaks like us. There was incredible attention
to even the finest details.
Dragging ourselves away we drove ourselves deeper into Kootenay County, often dodging deer crossing the road, finally reaching Kootenay Lake which
is about 160 km long, five kms wide in parts and up to 400 metres deep!
We followed this beautiful lake for an hour or so before taking a gratis 50 minute ferry trip
to the town of Balfour on the other side. Another 30 kms brought us to our B&B near
the pretty little lakeside village of Kaslo. ''On the Cliff B&B'' was true to its
name, being almost suspended over this beautiful lake with vistas across the lake to snow
capped mountains on the opposite shore.
Our hosts are Fred and Mila, Czech restauranteurs until starting up this B&B. They
welcomed us with a full sized Aussie flag on the verandah and Aussie folk songs playing on
the stereo. Magpies and kookaburras could be heard in the background.... nostalgic but
also quite eerie for your incredulous correspondents!
We spent two days at On the Cliff B&B. We would have loved to spend longer but we would have burst our britches. One breakfast was enough to serve a
platoon of soldiers for a week. Fruit salad, huge glasses of orange juice, half a kilo of
bacon, sausages, a bucket of crouton sized sauted potatoes, muffins, croissants, jams
etc. Just as you're pushing your plate away with relief, along comes a plate of sugar and
cinnamon dusted crepes with syrup (maple, what else?). Next day the breakfast piece de
resistance was a giant cake with chocolate sauce, just to finish off, so to speak!
Another three or four weeks of this kind of culinary hospitality and we
won't fit into economy seats on our flight home. On the other hand, if we
hit our Visa Card limit we may find ourselves thinning down quite rapidly.
Fred and Mila said they'd love to hear from some of our Australian friends
so first take a look at On the Cliff B&B at
http://www.bbcanada.com/2109.html
then send them a brief e-mail by clicking the e-mail link from that page. We promised they'd receive some messages from Australia and perhaps New
Zealand, so don't let us down. Fred and Mila are lovely, warm, and generous people offering an outrageous level of generous hospitality to visiting guests.
Tomorrow we may take a dip in the nearby Ainsworth Hot Springs. In the
meantime perhaps you could check the water temperature for us at:-
http://hotnaturally.com/
6TH JUNE (in and around Kaslo)
We went to church in nearby Nelson. We arrived at the death-knock and just managed to squeeze into the last seat in the last row. It was freezing cold and we
couldn't see anything. A visiting Priest with an eastern European accent was officiating
and we barely managed to hear and understand him from where we sat. All and all we didn't
feel that we'd had a particularly Canadian experience but we still feel justified in
notching up another name on our list of different countries where we have had the
privilege of attending a Mass.
Australian Catholic readers of this
newsletter may be surprised to learn that there almost zero kneeling throughout the
service.... just as well really because it was so cold inside the church that if we'd
kneeled for more than a minute we would have been unable to rise again! Oh, and unlike
Australia, they only took up one collection.... it's probably why they can't afford
heating in the
church!!!
In recent months Brian has had a number of e-mail communications with a
Canadian called Mike Bradley. Mike is the webmaster for the internet site
run by Nelson's local amateur theatre. The theatrical group owns a large theatre in town
which is listed as being a heritage building. When it turned out that no play would be
running during our visit, Mike invited us to have a personally conducted tour through the
heritage theatre on our Sunday afternoon.
We arrived at the appointed time and
place and there was 13 year old Mike accompanied by his mother (a Director of the theatrical company). We hid our
surprise at Mike's age and we certainly enjoyed the tour. Most amateur theatrical groups
would give their right arm for a place like this. Incidentally, Mike was one smart kid who
is bound to make his mark in the world.
Mike's mother suggested that if we could make time we ought to visit an
interesting town called..... "Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump, Alberta"!!!
No kidding.... that's the town's real name! We couldn't fit in a visit but a
name like that is enough to get us planning our second trip to Canada.
7TH JUNE (Kaslo to Vernon)
We enjoyed another lovely drive during which time we spied lots of wild life
including some close encounters. At one time we had to stop whilst a group of mule deer crossed the road. They seemed just as interested in us as we
were in them. They stopped right beside us and had a good stare.
The Cadillac just purrs along on these highways.... what an armchair ride it provides. Just recently however the complicated console readout has been
warning that the air bag has a problem, namely ''airbag error code 83''. When we call up
the Cadillac 1800 HelpLine in Detroit USA. A guy says it's nothing serious but the airbag
may not deploy in an accident. ''Probably a glitch with a relay switch by the look of it''
he drawled. 'Just take it to the nearest Caddie dealer, there's one in Calgary (that's 400
kms away); are you going that way?'' We are not. So best we avoid any serious accidents,
huh?
Lots of e-mail interest in our Cadillac coming back from you folks in Australia so you may
care to look at our big white tank at:-
http://www.cadillac.com/
From there just follow the links which take you to Cadillac de Ville and the
d' Elegance model. You'll see a photo of a white one exactly like ours. You know, we're
really getting to like this bus (especially the heated seats) and luckilly the 180 metre
turning circle (seems at least that) has not troubled us too often in the thinly populated
areas we have been visiting.
We finally reached the city of Vernon in the late afternoon where we have a fine B&B called ''Castle on the Mountain B&B'' at 3000 feet overlooking the
city. We find we are booked into a huge and luxurious room called the
Stargazers Suite which has every possible facility but is somewhat over the top with lavish use of purples, emeralds and golds. Rather like a bordello in some
ways..... mmmmm, we mean what one imagines they look like..... if one ever thought about such things..... which one
doesn't..... oh, just let it rest! Anyhow we were most comfortable and our host
and hostess were warmly welcoming.
You can find your way to the Stargazers Suite yourself if you're in need of a room (or a
bordello for that matter). Here's the address:-
http://www.monday.com/homepage/3070_1.htm
TIME TO PAUSE
We're writing this message on 10th June so you can see we're still rather behind in
our correspondence. However we'll now send you this instalment and hope to get ourselves completely up to date by tomorrow.
TUESDAY
8TH JUNE (439 kms from Vernon to Vancouver)
We have a fairly long drive today which will take us back through the high
Rockies and onto Vancouver to complete our three week period in Western Canada.
We find ourselves travelling most of the way on multi-lane highways which
follow huge lakes during the first few hours of our journey. It's hard to prevent the
driver doing some serious rubber-necking as we drive along and whilst this earns a few
sharp remarks from the navigator, other drivers seem entirely forgiving when we
occasionally drift into the next lane.
After driving extensively in a lot of different countries over the years
we've come to the following conclusions:-
Firstly, people who drive on the left side of the road are more impatient,
aggressive and lawless than those in countries which use the right side of
the road.
Secondly, taken as a group, drivers in Australia are definitely the most
aggressive, discourteous, fastest driving and lawless drivers you'll find
almost anywhere. Why is it so? We have no idea.
Returning to our journey, the afternoon saw us gaining considerable altitude where we found ourselves well above the snow line and driving through high
and spectacular mountains with snow to the right and left.
Many signs drew our attention to ''Chain Up'' pullovers which are presumably where one drives off the freeway into an area where you pull your snow chains out of the trunk and attach them to your tyres. We're sure glad that the temperature outside is a ''mild'' 5 degrees" and ice on the roads is not an issue. Incidentally, we've really had a lot of benefit from the fact that the Cadillac has an excellent temperature system which gives us a constant digital readout of both internal and external temperatures.
It's been really interesting
to observe that during the last seventeen days hardly a day has passed when we have not
experienced a period of our day in four and five degree temperatures.... as well as a
period in 14 to 16 degree temperatures. Most days have been free of wind and the five
degree periods have been entirely tolerable (even for someone from sunny Nambucca Heads).
Finally leaving the Rockies behind we face up to a bit of dense traffic as
we drive into Vancouver. We experience little trouble finding the "Stay N'
Save Hotel" at Vancouver Airport where we've got a pretty good rate of $104
plus taxes (try and match that price in Sydney for an Airport Hotel).
Have we already mentioned the tendency for Canadian Hotels to have rooms containing two queen sized beds or two king sized beds? Well, once again we
get such a room. We really like it even though it seems like a waste of resources. It
results in a very spacious room but best of all it means that one doesn't have to put up with inadequate luggage racks. We love the luxury
of being able to use the spare bed to manage all our bags and other paraphenalia.
Feel free to drop by our room for a drink and a few nuts (in fact we have a
whole bag of interesting snacks we'd be happy to share). Here's our room
number:-
http://www.staynsave.com/vanair.html
Québec City overlooks the mighty Saint Lawrence River and nearby green farmlands. Our B&B is La Maison Robert which is situated in the old town.... on the hill within the walled city. Our hosts are Marie and Robert Robert. Yes, his name is Robert Robert. When talking between ourselves Lynn and I have taken to referring to him as Monsieur Robert R. Robert (it's a reasonable assumption that his middle name must also be "Robert", wouldn't you say?).
Anyhow, La Maison Robert is charming
and comfortable. Monsieur Robert is currently absent in Montreal but Madame Marie Robert
has been really sweet and incredibly hospitable (we wish her first name was Roberta as it
would have improved our story). To top it off, Marie makes soft scrambled eggs exactly the
way we like them. In short, if you come to Québec City, stay here.
Check out our dandy bedroom which comes complete with a ''sleigh bed''. It's sort of a queen sized snow sled with the ''matress option''. Rheindeer seem
to be optional extras however as the floor in our room seems quite pristine and clear of
dung! We haven't spotted Santa Claus either. Here's the link:-
http://www.bestinns.net/canada/qu/lmr.html
Our bedroom is on the second floor but after winter snow you can apparently step into our
room through the window, brrrrr!
An evening stroll around the old city reveals that we have beaten the main
(and apparently quite horrific) tourist season. We have the whole place to
ourselves barring about 100 other adult tourists and 500,000 loud and
excited teenagers. Yes, we're just in time for those end of year high school excursions and groups of 30 or so American or Canadian teenagers abound.
At first we find it irritating but they
are in such high spirits that it soon becomes infectious to be frequently surrounded by
these jostling, giggling and excitable mini armies. It's fun to exchange jokes and
repartee with the kids as we struggle out to the perimeter of each new cohort of students.
Then its quiet and peaceful again until you hit the next battle group of shock troops!
We had a wonderful buffet meal in the "Cafe Terrace" which is part of the
absolutely amazing Chateau Frontenac. It's an incredible hotel which dominates the
entire city (we've taken dozens of photos of this beautiful
monstrosity). Our dinner buffet was very much like the kind of cosmopolitan fare you'd get
at a similar buffet in a good class of hotel in Australia. We are very pleased to get a
rest from mountains of western Canadian food which is so often deep fried and frequently
smothered in highly spiced tomato and chilli sauces and usually accompanied by pickled
vegetables and fries. Unfortunately a significant stream of Australian cuisine is
increasingly going down this same fast food influenced track, wouldn't you say?
Talking of food (again), Brian reckons
that half the world's population nowadays lives on just tomato, beef and onions served up
on about 20 different shapes of wheat based carbohydrate (ie. buns, pastry or
pasta. If you think about it you'll no
doubt come to the same conclusion
THURSDAY 10TH JUNE (in Québec
City)
Slowly up and onto a delicious breakfast at the hands of Marie Robert.... we seem to be
slipping into holiday mode now that we are staying a few nights in one spot.
We experienced a lovely sunny day and enjoyed ourselves immensely as we explored the old city. In the evening we treated ourselves to a great meal at the Marie
Clarisse Restaurant, a seafood job recommended by a friend's father (Peter, please tell
your Dad we were extremely pleased with his tip). The dishes sounded so wonderful that we
told the Head Waiter to take control of our meal and just bring us his choice of dishes.
He concentrated on the appetizers in particular and brought different ones for each of us
at each course. By sharing each of these we were able to sample eight or so dishes during
the meal. It was great! Visit them at http://www.marieclarisse.qc.ca
FRIDAY 11TH JUNE (in Québec City)
We have fallen in love with this city. It is so beautiful and romantic with friendly and
relaxed residents. Being slightly francophile since our tour of France a few years back
has also influenced our outlook. Our visit has evoked lots of fond memories of that
idyllic month of driving around the French countryside. And the good thing here is that if
you're really up against it in trying to get something over in pigeon French you
will almost always find that the other guy has some reasonably fair (or very good)
English. What we mean is that usually their three pigeon Anglais will be much better than
our one pigeon Francaise.
We'll finish this off now. It's noon on our last day in Québec City and we want to make
the most of our day. Tomorrow we pick up a new rental car and head off into the wilds of
Québec Province. Based on our last Avis experience here in Canada, we're expecting
Monsier Avees will greet us with some news, such as, ''Pardon Monsieur, zee Ford Taurus it
eez unfortunate, zoe please accept ziz Rolls Royce at no extra cost"
PREAMBLE
We're writing the next portion of message from Charlettown, the capitol of Prince
Edward Island, Canada's smallest Province, located off the Atlantic coast of the Canadian
mainland. Sorry we're still still somewhat behind the calendar in getting our news out to
you all.
Thank you for the messages we just received from the Elliott Family and from our daughter Anna who was last heard of in the thick of the Monsoon Season
in India but is now now high-tailing it up to Northern India to escape themonsoonal heat and humidity.
Probably the words "high-tailed" gives the wrong impression. Being pretty
cagey with a dollar (or a Rupee, as the case may be), our guess is that as
we speak, Anna and Anton are probably slowly chugging north on a 4th class seat aboard a steam engine of pensionable age doing 10 km per hour (on the
down hill stretches). We imagine them sitting on wooden slatted seats with monsoonal perspiration dripping down their faces, trying to read a sodden
copy of Lonely Planet whilst guarding their bunch of bananas and thermos of boiled water. Two or three days of that would be pretty trying we guess but
they ought to end up with some great train storys to tell when they get home. Wouldn't you
love to be young again? Anna and Anton are sure having some adventures as they backpack through Asia.
The way these Newsletters are turning out, you seem to be getting two Newsletters
for the price of one. However, we concede that Anna's adventures are far more exciting than ours. In truth we ought to be able to throw in some adventures
from Fiji as well but we've heard nothing whatsoever from Matthew and Michael since they
left Sydney. This tends to suggest that the surf must be really pumping.... a factor which
far outweighs sending off a fax or e-mail to Mum and Dad.
Well, returning to Canada, it sure is a pleasure to prepare this instalment
on a computer which is not in a cyber cafe. Don't get us wrong; cyber cafes are a wonderful facility for receiving messages whilst on the move and sending out one's
own mail. However they are not exactly ideal when it comes to preparing longer messages.
There's a whole lot of little frustrations one encounters in internet cafes which we won't go into here.
On the other hand..... we are missing that rich expresso coffee aroma and
the cinnamon buns which are so much a part of the cyber cafe scene here in Canada!
Suffice to say it's great to be preparing this message on our B&B host's
home computer, great to be able to prepare it leisurely off-line and great
not to have another dozen people sitting in close proximity. Most of all it's wonderful to
be free of the distracting chatterboxes one often encounters
in cyber cafes. Of course in the neighbourhood cyber cafe you ARE at least free of cats which rub your leg and dogs which lick your toes. "That's enough now you
pesky critters.... please piss off and let us concentrate on the job at hand".
OK, now we're in this leisurely mellow mood with a reasonable amount of free time on our hands, let's bring things up to date.
As best we recall, when we left you last we had just finished a superb meal at Marie Clarisse Seafood Restaurant in Québec City.
FRIDAY 11TH JUNE (in Québec
City)
Somehow we frittered away most of the morning and didn't get rolling until around
lunch time. We wandered off from La Maison Robert in a different direction this day and
found ourselves in the student quarter of Old Québec City. Feeling a little peckish we
selected a small cafe which seemed popular with students and eccentric types of various
descriptions.
We were particularly fascinated by one guy dressed in Dickensonian costume who arrived on a penny farthing bicycle and proceeded to act like he owned the cafe. It was a real free show; kind of like a street busker without his begging cap.
Streams of
young people with bizarre clothes and hair styles were coming and going at a great rate
but we were lucky enough to get a recently vacated table by an open window overlooking the
street. This was just as well because you could cut the cigarette smoke with a knife....
smoking seems to be much more prevalent in the French speaking Provinces.
We decided to go for the Menu du Jour rather than selecting from the printed menu. Past experience has shown that in French or Spanish cultures this
usually represents great value.... and so it proved on this occasion. The Menu du Jour on
this day comprised home-made cream of mushroom soup, followed by a baguette topped with
ham, tomato and grilled cheese, a small side salad, a marvellous creme brulee for dessert
then expresso coffee. Price $7.50.... not bad eh?
We spent the afternoon shopping for a few items Lynn needed then we tried to buy some flowers for our B&B hostess who had been particularly nice and
helpful. Asking directions to a florist we got sent from one part of town to another
without ever finding one. Finally we spied a shop across the road which seemed to be in the right place and had the promising name of Pot
Pourri. However, when we entered the shop it was obviously just a gift shop with some souvenir junk. We asked an assistant where was the nearby florist.
"Oh monsieur, eet used to be 'ere but closed now two months and we now 'ave for you
zee china and art". Time to call it quits.
A middle aged New Zealand lady is also staying at our B&B. She's here for some kind of conference at the local university. She has an extremely strong
NZ accent and speaks very quickly. This has our hostess bamboozled as she can't understand
much of what is spoken. Marie has more or less enlisted us as interpreters (Kiwi to
English, not Kiwi to French) because Lynn and I are quite fluent in Kiwi....!
We decided to invite the NZ lady to join us for dinner at a nearby Cambodian Restaurant. We really feel in need of another "fix" of Asian food. We hadn't been
expecting this restaurant to be so great given the look of things and the contents of the menu. In fact it turned out to be great! The piquancy of the few dishes we
had was outstanding. In some respects it was the best Indo-Chinese cum Thai-like food we
have ever eaten and we thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
(that pesky cat is back working on my foot again)
SATURDAY 12TH JUNE (from
Québec City to Rimouski)
We caught a cab to the Avis depot. The clerk said "sorry, we're fresh out of
Ford Taurus's but we can give you a..............um..............let's see,.... how about
a Buick Century!
"What's that for pity sake.... is it good or is it bad?" Neither, apparently.
It's allegedly an approximate equivalent so we sign off on all the incomprehensible
paperwork (written in French legalese),
take the key, load our gear and head off into the wilds of Québec Province.
First thing..... forget everything we've previously said about polite Canadian drivers coz it doesn't apply
here. The locals are pushy, ignore the speed limit and specialise in passing on double
yellow lines. The roads around here are infinitely inferior to the western States of
Canada too so we suppose one needs to be more innovative.
There are
motor cycles everywhere; mainly Harvey Davidsons and similar two wheeled tanks of other
brands. We can't figure out whether this is normal or whether there is some kind of meet
taking place. We tend to the former assumption however and this hypothesis will be
reinforced in coming days.
As we make our way into the rural areas we are taken with the brightly painted houses in
colours chosen from an extremely vivid palette. Very gay and festive looking. Things are
somewhat marred by the way they handle the family washing however. The washing is mainly
hung in front of the house with a line stretching from the front verandah to the closest
power pole out by the footpath. No kidding! There is a pulley wheel by the verandah and
this is presumably to allow Mother to string out the washing and later retrieve it without
leaving the verandah. Homes are always built at least two metres above the ground and we
guess this is because the snow pack around this way is pretty thick during winter with
some drifts reaching five metres or more we understand!
Around mid-afternoon we line up for our sixth ferry crossing since arriving
in Canada. This one will last one hour and take us from Ste Simeon on the
north bank of the St Lawrence River to Riviere de Loup on the southern side. All but one of our ferry voyages have been in excess of an hour and of course one of them
lasted for some 15 hours. There's soooooo much water across Canada and one has to
frequently cross lakes or wide rivers.
Rimouski had come up wanting during the course of our research and we
arranged to overnight here for geographical reasons only. As it turned out
Rimouski was a very pleasant little city located on the south side of the St
Lawrence River and the room (more like a suite) we were given at the
Rimouski Hotel was both luxurious and palatial. Once again it contained two queen size beds, something we are starting to get used to by now. Anyhow, if
you'd like to check out the hotel, the restaurant menu and the heated pool, you can do so at:-
http://www.hotelrimouski.com
SUNDAY 13TH JUNE (Rimouski to Parc de Gaspesie)
Went to a church service in the nearby cathedral. We kept on our toes and by carefully watching everyone else we knew when to stand, kneel or sit. Lovely, light
pleasant design of building inside. Heavy, European style monstrosity of grey granite on
the outside. Incidentally, Québec is like France in the way there is a huge and
dominating church building to be found in even the smallest towns.
Off and away yet again. Our first stop is at an historic garden which used to be some
minor aristocratic family estate but was later bequeathed to the State. The weather is
fine (actually quite hot) and we enjoyed our stroll around the mansion's gardens. We are a
trifle disappointed to learn that a chorale will perform in the gardens at 2.00pm because
we enjoy a good choir but can't aford to wait on here until 2.00pm.
Continuing on to the town of Matane we're looking for a cafe which features lobster because our research indicated that we're now entering lobster
country, that lobsters are cheap in season and that THIS IS the season!
We pull up outside a pretty tacky looking joint called Cafe de Matelot because the
roadside sandwich board is advertising two one pound lobsters for $18.95. Lynn says,
"let's share a plate.... one lobster each". Brian says, "cut it out, at
this price for lobster we'd be crazy not to go for broke"...... so we did.
Actually there's not so much meat in a one pound lobster and two of the little critters
worked out just about right for one hungry person. We had them grilled and served with
melted garlic butter (sorry about this) and we had an absolute ball. Our window overlooked
the St Lawrence River and a nice cool breeze kept us comfortable on this very hot day
whilst we tucked into the grub.Surprisingly, we still had time to strike up a conversation
with a lone lady at an adjoining table. She turned out to be the American Consul General
for Québec City who was giving herself a little weekend orientation tour around the rural
areas of Québec province. We enjoyed a very interesting conversation for an hour or more
whilst we all tucked into our lobsters with melted butter streaming down our bibs, down
our forearms and unfortunately onto our laps. And wer're sure it was diabetic butter.....
well surely they've invented such a substance by now. No? Well ok, so Brian's guilty of a
misdemeanour.
We resume our journey eastwards and by now the St Lawrence is so wide we can't see the opposite shore. Even so, this river (more like a sea at this point) is
perfectly smooth and mirror-like.
Then we turned south into the Gaspesie National Park. Given the late hour and the deserted
roads we're hoping to see a moose. We were really lucky with our wildlife sightings in
Western Canada and have seen all the major animals except a moose. However since coming
over here to eastern Canada we've seen little wildlife and our hopes of sighting a moose
have greatly diminished.
Our accommodation for tonight is in Gite du Mont-Albert, a hotel for winter skiers
and summer hikers located in the middle of a National Park at the base of 4,000 foot
Mount Albert.
http://www.sepaq.com/cenF.htm
It's almost empty on this day; just like our room which is extremely spacious except for a
bed and spartan looking standard lamp equiped with a 15 watt globe.... located in a
distant corner of the room.
The heat in the room is unbearable. The buildings in this part of the world are no doubt
designed to keep the heat in and not let it out. Given today's temperature of about 32
degrees celsius, the heat in the room is oppressive. A handkerchief size insect screened
window lets in no air at all. Opening an unscreened one lets in thousands of flies and
mosquitoes before we wise up. Brian is cranky and upset. Lynn keeps saying, "come on
darling, it's not REALLY that bad". But it is.
After dinner we took turns reading our books whilst sitting on the john. There's no
television set but the bathroom is fortunately well equipped with adequate lighting.
Spent a hot and restless night in this best forgotten tourist "resort".
Diary continues... Click here for Page 3