MAKING THE NEWS IN NEW BRUNSWICK

After popping in to the Welcome Centre to get maps & use their Wifi we arrive in to the city of Monckton.  On our last chore at the dump station we meet Shelley from Global TV. She convinces us to do an interview for her. I am reluctant, but obviously, John is not. So, we arrange to meet tomorrow at Alma, which is halfway between here and St John. Why? Well her camera man has to come from St John. So off we head to the “world famous” Hopewell Rocks”. The park is not open, but everybody has said “just hop over the gate and go in”. So, we do. I think they look impressive sitting in the mud, but John is rather more dubious. Apparently, the highlight is to walk around them in the mud! That we cannot do as access down to the beach is securely locked off. We stay overnight near the carpark, right beside the water.

Another grey wet day. We follow the shoreline to Alma, stopping to see the lighthouse at Cape Enrage. The raging waters are pretty awesome. Then on to Alma where 2 TV cars are waiting for us. Oh my, 3 hours later the interviews and filming are over. Hollywood called Lynda the next day. (Johns comment, not mine!) You can see our little venture on TV simply google John & Lynda Pinder in New Brunswick.  Hey, but we did get our no. plate.

Finally head on in to Fundy National Park, which sadly is closed. So, no moss-covered hikes for us. But we do stop beside a frozen lake for lunch before heading to pretty (but very tiny) St Martins. Here there are not one, but two covered bridges!  Yet another thing I love to photograph. And yes, we do fit underneath this one.  To top it off there are 2 lighthouses. One with the loudest ever foghorn blasting – yes there is fog. The Fundy Trail (a cliff hugging road) is also closed, so we head on to the city of St John. We fancy watching ourselves on TV tonight. Dinner in a pub with ourselves as stars. Then out of town to a “surf” beach for the night. Well we did see the surfers packing up. Didn’t quite see the waves! We had looked at the lighthouse for camping, but were very glad we gave it a miss as the fog rolled over again in the night and that foghorn going would have been a nasty surprise in the middle of the night.

Mist stays with us for ages today. We head back in to the city to explore. First to the ultra-amazing Reversing Rapids, and then in to the city to visit the inside markets. Yummy food!! After stocking up with more groceries we decide to pop back over to the Reversing Rapids to see them at a different tide – amazingly they look still! Finally, time to leave the big smoke and head north following the St John river. It is full & swollen from the big melt. Even flooded in lots of places. It is late by the time we reach Fredricton, so we quickly park and set out to explore.  As the locals tell us – there is not too much to see. Before we know it, we are out of the chilly evening air hunting for a spot beside the river. And what a pretty spot we find beside a huge river (picnic area all flooded) covered in huge foamicles - as I name them.

It is Saturday and the Farmers Market is on in town. Lots more yummy food. Pity we can’t just keep eating. Lots of driving today (we have discovered that the shipping agents in Newfoundland for shipping to Iceland want us at the docks earlier than planned so we are speeding up our itinerary.) Head on to Bathurst, passing heaps of snow.  Finally reaching the Acadian Peninsula which we will explore. There is heaps of snow on the beaches and some of the ports are still iced up. It is extremely flat, marshy & very windy. At night, we find a nice beachside spot, but when the wind starts to whistle in beside the fridge we tuck in beside a deserted shed. Much warmer that way.

Of course, the peninsula ends with another lighthouse. Then it is time to back track and head south. We do spy 2 moose out near the Miscou lighthouse – they are busy munching in the cranberry bog. Bonus. The beaches get prettier, but it is still so lovely and sunny we carry on and on. Finally pull over for the night on a little used wharf.

A grey day, but we will keep our crossed, as they say it will rain for 2 days.  After wandering the coast for an hour or so we decide that beaches don’t look so good without the sun, so decide to fast-track it on the motorway instead. But we do pull off to take a look at Shediac to see the world’s biggest lobster and the port. All very quiet of course because all the boats are out hauling in lobster. Brrrr it is chilly. Time to cross that 14km bridge to Prince Edward Island.