Day 39-42 - Saint John, Digby, Wolfville, Halifax

Friday 27 August 2004, 23:30 AT (GMT-3, Perth-11)

I have arrived in Saint John - a city of about 100,000 and, as I found out once I got there, the second foggiest city in Canada after St John's, Newfoundland. The scenery on the way here (from Halifax, up through Nova Scotia, via Truro and Moncton) reminded me a lot once again of Tasmania - farms, very green trees, and the occasional distant mountain range.

The place I'm staying at, Carleton House, is positively amazing. I am treated like a guest in a friend's home rather than a paying holiday-maker, and the room is the best I've stayed in this trip with a nice comfy bed - great for recovering from 30+ days of hostelling. Stan and his wife Nancy have gone to great trouble to make my stay as enjoyable as possible.

Saturday 28 August 2004, AT

Breakfast (french toast, maple syrup, crispy bacon and tea, all prepared by the hosts) was served, and then I decided to go do some sightseeing. The fog hung around until about 11am, so I checked out the Inside Connection (Saint John's version of PATH, but above ground instead of underground), scored myself some CD/DVD bargains (and more paperwork for Tuesday) and then went sightseeing. Saint John is Canada's oldest incorporated city - it's been around since the 1600s - and the beautiful old buildings are everywhere. Saint John is also home to the Reversing Falls, created by the tides of the Bay of Fundy (which can be up to 14m) as they force the Saint John River to flow upstream towards its source for several hours every day around high tide. It truly screws with your mind to watch it for any length of time. A note for later - there is a basic, but good, public transport system which runs well into the night - I didn't use it but good to know it exists.

Sunday 29 August 2004, AT

I was offered an extra serving of breakfast as the ferry food is expensive, and then got the grand tour of Greater Saint John from Stan, where we went to some places that were a little too far away to walk to. After that, I was off walking again - the fog had completely disappeared so I went around to photograph some things I'd missed on Saturday and rephotograph some of Saturday's shots. I had to be careful with the time though as I had a 4:45pm departure on the ferry across the Bay of Fundy to Digby, and had to be there an hour before departure.

The ferry was similar to other ferries I've been on - probably most like the Vancouver-Victoria ferry, or the ones that carry passengers from Perth to Rottnest. I sat with some goth kids and their older sister, who made passing the time quite easy. I think the quote I'll take a while to forget is "But I just don't feel right going out without things dangling from my hands!"

One thing someone forgot to mention somewhere along the line is that the Digby ferry marina is not the marina on the map of Digby. It is, in fact, the end of the 303 highway some 9km away. After walking nearly half of it, I came to a Nova Scotia Tourism office, and was offered a lift the rest of the way into town. I still cannot get over the friendliness of people in the Maritimes (as Atlantic Canada is usually called).

The Bayside Inn is more like a motel than a B&B, but I didn't mind the creature comforts offered at all. You have no idea how much you get used to a lack of personal space and shared facilities in hostels, and how much of a welcome change something like this place is.

Monday 30 August 2004

I was leaving Digby at 8am on the bus, but I really wanted to stay longer. I made the best of it by taking a walk at sunrise to see the place (which includes Canada's biggest scallop fleet) and getting back to the B&B for a home cooked breakfast. The service and quality of this place is good, and I do hope to return someday.

Left on Acadian to go to Wolfville. Wolfville was actually really nice, although the bus stop is really badly located if you're carrying half your life with you as I was - especially if it is over 30 degrees and humid, as it was. I still got a good meal at a place called Acton's on the main street, which does an awesome local buffet, and got in a bit of sightseeing including the Waterfront Park where one can see the place twice in two hours and the tides have completely transformed the way the place looks. After several hours of sweating, I got CJ's Taxi back to the bus stop and then went back to Halifax.