Day 64 - Museum of Industry and the ferry to Prince Edward Island (Draft)

We continue our learning at the Museum of Industry which has a nice chronological display going from manual labour, to using water power, to coal, to combustion engines, to electricity and computers. The kids find the hands-on models of water power very entertaining.

After that we drive to Pictou to take the ferry to Prince Edward Island.

Our campground turns out to be very rustic and a bit odd. We are on the campground, but parked up next to a house instead of on a proper site. However, the company more than makes up for it. After dinner we go into the common area and have a blast. There is also an adorable boxer dog to pet.

220km - 3h45m driving

Day 63 - Gran Pré (Draft)

Coming soon.

Day 62 - Port-Royale to Gran Pré (Draft)

We explore Port-Royale which was a French trading post, not a fortress. It was built in the summer of  1605 and is linked to an expedition to St Croix island which we visited previously. The (New) English destroyed it only a few years later, but it was rebuilt in 1939 using original building methods and still looks marvellous today.

Unfortunately most of the interpreters had left for the season so no blacksmith to keep the kids entertained. There was however a Fist Nations Mi’kmaw with his traditional art and he explained all about how he creates the jewellery, clothing, drums, etc.

Nearby is an interpretive walk through an area where an Acadian settlement used to be before the English displaced them. There is nothing left, but the information bords tell the story about how families were broken up and deported.

We head onto Greenwood where most but not all of us check out the Military Aviation Museum. There is a large Airforce base right next to it and the museum has a lot of beautifully restored aircraft and interesting information, especially about WWII.

We park up in Gran Pré ready to explore this UNESCO site tomorrow.

140km - 2h15 driving

Day 61 - Wrapping up Keji NP, Fort Anne (Draft)

On our way out of the park we stop in a couple of spots to look at the Mersey river, a historically important waterway for the Mi’kmaw people and Acadiens.

After lunch we head north to Annapolis and visit Fort Anne. The French and English battled 13 times for this place and it changed hands 7 times! We spend a few hours in the lovely museum and walk the grounds where the Fort used to be. We drive through the lovely village and head across the water to Port Royal where we park up for the nigh ready to hear the French side of the story tomorrow. 

75km - 2h driving

Day 60 - Kejimkujik National Park & seaside adjunct (Draft)

We start off the day exploring the seaside part of Kejimkujik National Park. We take about an hour walking 6km very noisily in full protection... protection against the black bears and the ticks... not sure which is worse... Fortunately all we see is a tiny little snake (well, only Niels gets to see it).

We cheer ourselves up with a cuppa tea and cake, then we drive to the main part of the National Park which is about 90 mins inland. We delay lunch until we get to the campground so we can use the electric grill to make toastier. Unfortunately with dumping our tanks and filling up we take a bit too long and end up with a trailer of hangry campers :-)

Refuelled, the kids explore the playgrounds while the adults potter.

Martijn spots a porcupine and Lucy is freaked out by the size of the beetles and ants.

145 km - 2h45 driving

Day 59 - Mahone Bay, Lunenburg & Liverpool (Draft)

We wrap up on the campsite mid-morning after school work, laundry and some more baking.

We take the coastal road and have a look at Mahone Bay, Blue Rocks and Lunenburg. They are each beautiful in their own way. We end up in well to do Liverpool. There is a rich (pun intended) history of privateering here. A privateer is basically a pirate which has permission from the ruling government.

110km - 3h driving

Day 58 - Mahone Bay

We drive into Halifax with the intention of going to the Museum of Natural History. Unfortunately all the free parking spots we scouted previously are taken. We check out the parking by the museum and nip inside to see what's there. It turns out it's fairly small and appears to cater to a younger age group so we decide to give it a miss. (The kids celebrate as we did a lot of this type of museum 2 years ago.)

Instead we get some haircuts, fill up with petrol and drive to Mahone Bay and check in to our campsite for lunch. Janine puts the bread maker on and Martijn does a little maintenance on the trailer. Niels and Lucy do their schoolwork. We all have lovely hot showers.

100km - 2h30m driving

Day 57 - Halifax Commons Playground & Maritime Museum of the Atlantic

We've booked the car in for some pampering at the Ford dealer so we park the truck and the trailer there and take the bikes into Halifax. First we go to the Commons park which has a lovely playground for the kids.

Then we head on to the harbour. It's a bit up and down, but with some incentive from Tim Hortons the spirits lift and we bike along the waterfront, walk over the sea bridge and see the Bluenose II which is  replica of the legendary Bluenose fishing schooner. Unfortunately we cannot board the ship as they are busy painting it.

We then spend a few hours at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic which is very interesting. They have so many fantastic scale models of various ships and again lots to learn.

17km - 1h15 driving

Day 56 - Halifax Citadel

After breakfast we pack up and head into Halifax. We spend a glorious day at the Citadel which was built to protect British interests in British North America. The interpreters were all in character and costume from the late 1800 when the threat was mainly coming from the newly formed United States of America.

In the Army museum there are also displays about WW I & II. Niels got to re-enact the D-Day Landing.

55km - 1h15 driving

Day 55 - Fisherman's Life Museum then Peggy's Cove

In the morning we drive the coastal road to Jeddore Oyster Pond. The drive treats us to one spectacular view after the other.

We stop off at the Fisherman's Life Museum and marvel at how Ervin Myers managed to build his own (tiny!) house in 7 years, then built himself a boat to catch fish to sustain  his family of 15! We get a tour around the tiny house which still has most of the original furniture and furnishings. Lucy has a go at embroidery.

We drive on to our Campsite near Peggy's Cove and after dinner go to explore it. Another stunning drive and a glorious sunset. The landscape is noticeably different here than in Cape Breton. We have fun clambering over the 350 million year old Granite Boulders.

280km - 5h driving

Day 54 - Sherbrooke Village

We spend a fabulous day in Sherbrooke Village and chat with the interpreters that are in character. We learn that this was quite a thriving town in the late 1800’s. The kids get to dress up a bit in character as well. Niels wore a cap and Lucy was delighted with her pinafore dress. They also get to deliver some post. We spend an hour at the black smith, a favourite of both Niels and Lucy, and also visit the jail, printer, photographer, carpenter, apothecary, pottery and of course the animals.

0km - 0h driving

Day 53 - Driving to Sherbrooke

We take it easy in the morning, pack up the trailer, chat with our new neighbours and pack up after lunch. We drive to Sherbrooke, back on the mainland proper at last. The leaves are starting to turn, the fall colours display has started.

The causeway connecting Cape Breton the the mainland

We park up in the Sherbrooke Village Museum car park ready to immerse ourselves in Pioneer Day life tomorrow.

Day 52 - The Cabot Trail & Cape Breton Highlands National Park (Draft)

We drive the renowned Cabot Trail (counter-clockwise) and do some beautiful hikes in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The road is very steep and windy, we're glad the caravan is still at the campsite.

On one of the walks some locals give us a great tip two other hikes just outside the park. We drive to White Point and walk the lookout trail to the Two Tittles (two rocky outcrops just off the coast). It is a magnificent view. Very windy though!

We drive on to see where Giovanni Cobotto (John Cabot) landed in 1497. We try to get to the Kauzmann trail but the state of the access logging road is beyond our 4x4 capabilities.

Back on the Cabot trail we do another short walk and the kids collect another doggy tag from Parks Canada. They hand these out at most National Parks and National Historic sites once the kids complete a related activity book. They have quite a collection already!!

All in all we drive about 350 km in 6h30m and we arrive tired and hungry back at camp around 7:30pm. Another night with the heating on as frost is in the air...

Day 51 - Fort Louisbourg (Draft)

We visit the reconstructed Fort Louisbourg and learn about the battle between the French and the British in the mid 1700’s. We are amazed to learn how these events fit in to war of American independence and how it was fundamental to shaping Canada as it is today. Truly eye-opening.

Day 50 - Alexander Graham Bell museum (Draft)

Laundry in the morning and visiting the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck in the afternoon. We learn that A.G. Bell lived in the area for a large part of his life and that he did a lot more than just invent the Telephone.

Day 49 - Relaxing on the campsite (Draft)

After the impromptu Halloween we need a day to chill from all the candy and scares.

Day 48 - Highland Village and Halloween (Draft)

We tour the Highland Village to learn about the Scottish Gaelic settlers that populated Cape Breton in the 1800's. They are having a special day on and we are treated to delicacies of days gone by.

We are staying at the Adventures East Campground in Baddeck and it turns out they are having their annual Halloween festivities. Many trailers have elaborate decorations. The kids go trick or treating, we get scared on the haunted walk and we finish off with fireworks. A fantastic experience! A big thank you to the owners and campers of Adventures East for adopting us :-)

Day 47 - Ferry to Nova Scotia (Draft)

Uneventful day on the ferry. The kids watch movies while the adults read up on Nova Scotia.

We spend the night in Sydney.

Day 46 - Tablelands and back to the ferry (Draft)

Today we are did a guided walk on the Tablelands and learned about the geology of this area. After lunch we drive back to Port-aux-Basque and park up to be ready for the ferry tomorrow morning.

Read this first

We are finally getting our act together to blog about our family adventures. Our first main goal was to reach Newfoundland and we wanted to get there and have time to explore before the weather turned. We know we have been bad at keeping in touch and apologize. We still love you all!! If it wasn't for our lovely family and friends we would not have been able to get to where we are now.

There has been so much to see, do and learn in Newfoundland that we haven't found the time to sit down and write up our experiences. Also, we did not plan ahead before we left so every evening we were planning for the next days ahead. And there were still some jobs to do on the trailer. Anyways, after 23 days in Newfoundland we still haven't seen nearly enough, but the weather is turning so we are heading back West.

So, long overdue, here it finally is. We are starting to document what we are doing on a daily basis with some backtrack to record our path and experiences from the beginning of the trip. Sorry Dutchies, it's all in English. :-)

Blog posts that have 'Draft' in the title will still receive further information and/or photos. Once completed the 'Draft' will be removed.

You can keep in touch with us using the regular channels: e-mail, Messenger/WhatsApp, FaceTime/Skype, etc.

All the best to everyone!

JaMaNaL

Day 45 - Gros Morne National Park

We set off early to park at Elephants Head Campground in Trout River just outside of Gros Morne National Park. We start some laundry and put on another loaf of bread. Then we head out for a walk in Gros Morne National Park to the Green Gardens. We start off on a very rocky path with big boulders. This is the 485 million year old rock from below the earth's mantle. Hardly anything grows in this acidic soil full of metals.

After about 30 mins the ground changes pretty abruptly and we see shrubs and smalls trees.

We spot some droppings on the trail. Could it be from the illusive Moose....???

No, still no Moose sightings...

Once we reach the coast we are rewarded with some fabulous views.

We double time it back to the car. After nearly 4 hours hiking on very uneven ground we are long overdue for some lunch.

We spend the rest of the day finishing off laundry and baking another loaf. The freezer has to stay stocked up on bread!!

It is getting noticeably cooler, especially at night, so we get our summer duvet back out of storage compartment to add it to our fall duvet and make a nice a warm winter duvet. Because the kids have bunks, their area is nice and toasty.

Day 44 - Gros Morne National Park (Draft)

Big drive in the morning to get to the Discovery Center in Woody Point in Gros Morne National Park. Here we learn about the unique geology of the area. One of the few places on earth where 485 million year old rock from beneath the earth’s crust can be found in plain sight.

We park up in Woody Point with another fabulous view.

Day 43 - Heading back to the West Coast (Draft)

We spend a relaxing morning in Terra Nova. The kids play in one of the amazing playgrounds in the park. After lunch we’re back on the Trans Canada Highway. We stop in Gander. The boys check out the Aviation Museum while the girls get some groceries. It turns out Gander airport played a pivotal role in the early intercontinental aviation with propeller airplanes but got sidetracked when the jet liners arrived. On Sep 11, 2001 42 flights were redirected to Gander once the airspace over North America closed. Gander hosted almost 7,000 additional people for 4 days.

We stay the night at Dominion in Grand Falls-Windsor.

Day 42 - Laying Low in Terra Nova National Park (Draft)

We decided to stay another night in Terra Nova National Park due to the expected arrival of Hurricane Dorian in Newfoundland.