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We hit the road in bright sunshine, heading east. Leaving Toronto behind us we have our first break in Port Hope at Lake Ontario. Walking barefoot along the beach we forget about the stress of the last days. By now all of us are excited to go on this trip.
Our plans is not to bother to see the cities and sights within a radius of a weekend trip, but to head to the more eastern areas. We built our base at a lovely campground called Bayview Park at Lake Ontario. After we went swimming we have a spaghetti feast.
It is getting cool, but the sunset and the camp fire help to forget about that. Our first sleeping bag night presents us a starry night that wonderful you would never see in Europe.
The time until noon we are hanging around in the hot sand of the dunes of Sandbanks Provincial Parks.
We are so lazy and we don't get started this day and so we decide that after dinner somewhere on a byroad we're going to make night to day.
For killing many kilometers we drive in shifts until the new day dawns. In this time we leave behind Montreal and Quebec and in the early morning we register at a campground near Trois=Pistoles. We spent the day lying lazy in the sun, having a beach walk. All of us are still fighting jet-lag.
Offshore lying rocks are populated with seals. They don't mind to swim in the ice cold water of St. Lorenz River, we do. In need for some fresh food we drive to Trois-Pistoles, a nice but boring little town with a typically stainless steel covered church. We finish our groceries and then head back to lie in the sun again. In the evening we have noodles with a rich salmon gravy, drinking Canadian white wine, sitting on a rock, enjoying a unforgettable sunset. Before we get into our sleeping bags we have marshmallows at a camp fire on the beach.
We start early in the morning to reach the park around Mt Chaques Chartier before noon. Entrance is only allowed until 12 a.m. and so we hurry up.
Unfortunately our Minivan makes problems, after just half an hour on the road the alternator breaks down.
We're lucky to find a retired mechanic and after only 90 minutes our car is working again. But it is already to late to get into the park and so we decide to take the tour the next day. So we explore the environs of the campground that is situated in the highlands and can only be reached over a 30 km long gravel road.
Bear proof garbage boxes give us a feeling of experiencing an adventure.
A narrow trail leads us through a primeval forest, it is hard to make headway.
Back to our campground again we are swarmed around by flies, which do bite but get on our nerves.
The next day it is raining and so we decide to cancel the hiking trip.
After we have unloaded and dried all our stuff from the car we prefer to hang around on a beach than running around in the rain. So we leave the park behind us and follow road along coast until we reach Fourillion National Park.
The beach greets us with high waves and a rough wind is blowing. On our way we bought steaks and beer and so we have a real good barbecue on our site.
We get up 4 am to commonly watch the sunrise at the beach and we are not disappointed. The new morning welcomes us in fantastic colors.
We grab all our stuff and head south for only few kilometers to the southern part of the park. We want to take part on a whale watching tour.
With a over dimensional Zodiac we and 30 other people speed through the bay. We are lucky again and are able to see all the seven species of whales o see.
Among others there is the biggest whale of all, the blue whale.
Finbacks turn up in front of the rough shoreline.
Beyond that we are occasionally escorted by dolphins and seal turn up as well.
After we returned to the harbour we head south with our Minivan. After we surrounded the Bay of Gaspe we have a break in Perce.
Here a huge Rock is just off the coast standing out impressively from horizon. In great sunshine we prepare pasta with tomato sauce and have a feast again in a fantastic panorama.
Following we start our second night tour which brings us into the Fundy National Park. we arrive at the entrance in the dead of night an stay there until morning dawns. While the others want to sleep (??) in the car, I decide to bivouac under the starry sky.
Waking up next morning I have a surprising sight: I slept - without being able to see it in the night - right on a beautiful meadow next to a see like from a picture book.
We drive to Alma to freshen up our food supplies and then have a breakfast feast in the morning sun. We set up our camp at the Point Wolfe Campground and then split up. Nina wants to enjoy the day at the beach while the rest of us is going on a hiking trail.
The Trail leads us through a wash-out riverbed and because the weather is incredible fine we can't resist to jump into the fresh water. Although there are many people we find a part only for ourselves, even with a massage waterfall. In the afternoon we return to our tents and before we start cooking we have a look at the Bay of Fundy, the bay with the highest tide of the world. Under certain conditions (like new moon and full moon) the difference in height comes to 16 meters. Now somewhere in between it amounts to about 12 meters. We walk through the completely dry bay against the oncoming water. Flood is just coming and we can follow the waterline by walking besides in almost normal walking speed. After dinner we sit a the camp fire and relax.
In the morning we have a second look at the bay, now it is completely filled with water. With the Bay of Fundy we have reached the most eastern point in our tour and now we are n our way back. We drive through New Brunswick along the St. Johns river which is simultaneously the border to the USA. We set up our tents on a small campground besides the road.
After a little tour with an old pedal boot from which Lars, Simon and Nina almost not returned we have another barbecue evening. Beside giant steaks we have salad and corn on the cob followed by grilled bananas with chocolate.
The morning presents us the work of a racoon with garbage spread all over our site.
We travel on and have a break in Grand Falls where the St. Johns river falls down 23 meters. But that seems to be exciting only in times of thaw, in summer most of the water is detoured to the hydro power plant. Nevertheless the little water runs through a rocky canyon that is just beautiful.
The further way to Quebec city is more or less boring, only one name of a roadside town makes us laugh.
We want to cross the St Lorenz by a ferry in Riviere-Du-Loop but it is just too expensive.
So we reach Quebec in the evening, the sun is just setting behind the Chateau Frontenac, a hotel built 1894 by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Two hours later we happen to find the campsite we headed for. The place is dull and so we start for a first exploration into Quebec city.
After we had burgers (not those dry ones from Burger King or McDonalds, but really good ones) we head for the parliament area and find a street with small cafés and a bustle we haven't experienced on our tour so far. The atmosphere has a French touch and of course without French we wouldn't get very far. A nice cool beer refreshes us and afterwards we go for a little walk to fall tiredly into our sleeping bags.
We start without having breakfast and have a seat in a cozy little street café in old Quebec city. The whole day spent discovering the city, we see the Chateau Frontenac, the Citadelle and some more sights.
But walking around in the hot sun wears us out and so comes that we spent the evening on a lawn next to the old city wall. We just watch the people passing by, a guitar player provides a musical accompaniment for this scene. Relaxing is the motto.
The road to Montreal bring nothing really exciting and so we arrive at the Campground Amerique placed at the outside of the city.
It is very hot and so spending some hours in the pool refreshes us tremendously. After dinner we set off for the quarter where the Montreal's inhabitants go for the evening, too. Here we find lots of bars and beer gardens. The bordering on Chinatown is where we go afterwards. Somewhat tired the skyline can't impress us much more and so we return to our sleeping bags.
Nina, Cornelia, Thomas and me we want to have a look into the old part quarter of the city, Vieux Montreal. By chance we start at the most interesting part called Place des Armes. He Canada's oldest bank has settled, the Banque of Montreal. We are curious what it might look like from the inside and so we just walk in. We easily find a staircase leading us to the second floor, a place where we are not supposed to be. It just takes few seconds until a guard comes after us, but there is time enough to take some pictures. The guard tell us we are lucky not to have triggered the alarm, well there wasn't a no-trespassing sign at all.
The Basilique Notre-Dame for sure is one of the most beautiful churches and even I liked it, although I am not a fan of visiting churches.
We go on for several streets then we have enough and stop for lunch.
The heat isn't inviting us for further explorations and Cornelia and I go visit a science exhibition. It is rather made for children then for science students, but it has air conditioning. In the evening we all meet again, relax at downtown fountain cooling our feet in the water. I happens that the International Film Festival is in town and downtown remains busy until late in the night.
While Lars, Thomas and Simon visit a space exhibition outside of Montreal, Nina, Cornelia and I concentrate on the underground shopping malls. 30 kilometers of shops and restaurants run all the way through the whole city. Having spent enough money in there we are able to grab something to eat at McGill's University. It is frosh week and so the campus is filled with people laughing, drinking, playing games or just having fun.
We stroll through the city and meet Lars, Simon and Thomas again to drive up Mont Royal. We leave behind the car half way and go for a walk. At the peak the is a outlook over the nightly skyline on Montreal which is just breathtaking.
On our further way back we spent one more night on the Bayview Campground, but this time it is to cold for a swim and so we the tour comes to an end with us sitting around the camp fire.
Shortly before we pass Toronto the tour mileage reaches the 5000 kilometer mark.
As we can move into the Columbia Lake Townhouses or the Beck Hall not until Monday we decide to stay one night in the Laurel Creek Conservation Area in Waterloo. Here we relax once more and look forward curiously to student life in Canada....
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