Canada–26 April to 7 May and 20 May to 4 June 2011

We visited our children and grand children in the USA and decided to spend some time exploring Canada, which we did in two visits.
In April/May we visited Kingston the first capital of Canada, Montreal, Gananoque on the St. Lawrence Seaway near the Thousand Islands then Niagara on the Lake.
The St. Lawrence was the superhighway of its era, so much of it is dotted with forts to give control of the waterway.  Kingston has Fort Henry and is also home to Royal Military College of Canada. The Wolfe Island Ferry provides a free trip into the St. Lawrence across to Wolfe Island, the largest of the Thousand Islands which stretch North East in the St. Lawrence from Kingston.
Our next stop was Montreal, where we wandered to the top of Mont Royal and then took the magnificent Metro to St. Joseph’s Oratory, an amazing church, the result of one humble father of the Congregation of the Holy Cross, who started with a simple chapel which over time grew to the magnificent Basilica it is today.  We saw the Black Watch Regiment on its annual May Day parade through Montreal.

We wandered through the old town, and the city with its many fine buildings and sculptures and then toured the Notre Dame de Montreal Basilica.

From Montreal we followed the St. Lawrence to Gananoque, staying off season at the Gananoque Inn, located right on the St. Lawrence.  We discovered the Socialist Pig coffee lounge, with some of the best coffee we have had in North America, even a flat white.

We visited Jones Lock on the Rideau Canal.

We took a Thousand Island cruise through the many magnificent mansions, and past the smallest border bridge between a house on a Canadian island with its boat shed on an American island.

The largest of the mansions is Boldt Castle built on what became a heart shaped island by George Boldt the manager of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel as a gift for his wife, who unfortunately died before its completion.  On her death work stopped and it was not until it was purchased by the Thousand Island Bridge Authority for $1 that it was restored and opened to the public.

We met Chris, Monica and Jeremy at Niagra on the Lake for a holiday weekend and then returned to the USA for Katharine’s graduation.

In May/June we returned to Canada to see Ottawa, Quebec, Taddoussac where the whales are and Arowhon Pines, a resort in the Algonquin National Park.

We spent the holiday weekend in Ottowa.  Victoria Day celebrates Queen Victoria’s birthday.  It is amazing how every Australian State and Canada have a Queen’s Birthday on a different date, but always on a Monday.  We toured Parliament and the excellent Canadian Museum of Civilization.

Next stop was Quebec with its still walled city, the beautiful Chateau de Frontenac and its Citadel, built after the French defeat in 1759 to prevent the same back door attack used by Wolfe to defeat Montcalm at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.  The Citadel is home to the Canadian 22e Regiment [the vingt-deuxieme or Van Doos] and we watched them rehearse for summer’s Changing of the Guard ceremony, and had a tour of the Quebec home of the Governor General.  We enjoyed the many fine French restaurants in Quebec City.  We had a fine lunch in the Quebec Parliament House dining room, now open to the public, but we think a still undiscovered treat.



Further North is Tadousac where we stayed in the historic Tadousac Hotel and on a bitterly cold and windy day went out into the Saguenay Bay to spot Beluga and Minke Whales.


We then moved to Arowhon Pines Lodge in the Algonquin National Park for several days of walking through the glacial lakes, followed with dinners in the lodge by a warm fire.



We finished by spending the night in Niagara Falls where we saw the falls from the Maid of the Mist and generally enjoyed being tourists.  From Niagara we returned to Washington then on to Brisbane to pick up our caravan from storage and move to our pit stop of choice at Mooloolaba.

Mooloolaba–9 to 15 April 2011

There are a great deal to many O's in this part of the coast!!  From Woolgoolga we returned to Mooloolaba.

As there was an accident blocking the Pacific Highway after Grafton, we took the alternate route using the  ferry crossing between Lawrence and Woodford. 

We passed through Maclean, which celebrates its Scottish heritage by painting each telephone pole with a separate clan tartan.

It has a great coffee shop attached to the coffee roasting business espresso Botero.

Back in Mooloolaba we resumed our routine of walks and swims, while enjoying the million dollar views of our beachfront location. 

We visited with our friends, cleaned the van and had the car serviced.  We arranged to have the caravan serviced while we are away in the USA to visit our children.

Woolgoolga - 31 March to 8 April 2011

There are two lovely Council Camping Parks in Woolgoolga, both on the beach.  The Ocean park is near the Surf Lifesaving Club.  The River Park is where the river meets the sea. We have a great site in the Ocean Park right on the main surf beach.

We can watch the surfers hovering on their surfboards and see the people come and go.

The Beach Report says it all: “WELCOME TO: PARADISE  CONDITIONS: MAGNIFICENT!”

The town has a pleasant atmosphere with a couple of great cafes and where would we be without Bluebottles mirroring our favourite coffee shop from San Francisco. The Saturday market is excellent with some very good quality and original local craft.

This town has a large Sikh presence dating back to the days when the Sikh’s came to Australia as camel handlers, hence the term Afghans and the Ghan railway.  Subsequent arrivals came to work on the banana plantations in Queensland.

We spent our time swimming, bike  riding and walking. Woolgoolga is a lovely place to stop. The Headland is a good place to watch for whales in the season and the waters around here are part of the Solitary Islands Marine Park.

Coffs Harbour–6 April 2011

One rainy day we headed into Coffs Harbour.  Coffs is the largest rural town in the vicinity and also a popular tourist city in season.  Most of the towns around here primarily serviced  the timber industry and are now agrarian.

We visited the harbor and then went for a walk on Muttonbird Island.  Mutton birds here are Wedge Tailed Shearwaters and they use various isolated places or islands on the coast to breed.  The Shearwaters on this Island have been under threat from various predators as the breakwater has joined  the Island to the mainland thus allowing  foot traffic onto the Island.  Rats from the ships, cats, dogs and people all take their toll on the nesting Shearwaters as the burrows are flimsy and will collapse if you walk on them and rats and dogs steal the eggs and eat the nestlings.  The name Muttonbird is self explanatory and they probably fed many a hungry settler.

Both parents share the care of the chicks.  We weren't there late enough in the day, but if you wait till dusk the sight of the birds returning to their nests to feed their chick and mate is a marvelous sight. We have seen it at other nesting sites in Australia.

We had a rather wet walk along the Island to the lookout over the Solitary Islands Marine Park.  Then dripping wet we did our shopping and dried out in the car on the way home to the van.

Byron Bay [the most Easterly Point] – 1 April 2011

We have been lucky with the weather but even the most charmed trip has to have some rain. The second day we were in Woolgoolga it rained and as we had been to the most westerly point of Australia at Steep Point we decided to go to the most Easterly Point of Australia at Byron Bay.

The history of white settlement at Byron Bay began in 1770 when Captain James Cook found a safe anchorage and named Cape Byron after John Byron. Byron Bay began as a struggling working class town but as industries closed and the smell went surfers began coming for the fantastic surf breaks. In 1973 following the Aquarius festival at Nimbin its reputation as a hippy, happy alternative town was firmly established. It is rather touristic now but the coast is still stunning.

The lighthouse was built on (nearly) the most Easterly Point on Cape Byron. This is one of a chain of lighthouses protecting mariners down this coast.
We had lunch at Fish Heads Cafe once the original bathing pavilion and change rooms and drove to the lighthouse. We stood at the nearly most Easterly Point and then walked down the headland. The lighthouse keepers houses are a popular place for weddings, gliders and hang gliders.

 

Nambucca Heads–29 to 30 March 2011

Reluctantly we left Dorrigo for our next destination. We stopped at Bellingen on the Bellinger river for lunch.
We bought excellent bread from Hearth Fire Bakery and walked the town.

After lunch we drove down to Nambucca Heads. Nambucca is an old timber town on the Nambucca River. Nambucca is thought to come from an aboriginal word meaning entrance to the waters.

We had a lovely site facing onto the lagoon. We did the River Walk down the Nambucca River. The breakwater is called the V wall. One can memorialize almost anything here. We found it very touching.

Dorrigo–24 to 29 March 2011

Our friend Sidsel lives on a 30 acre property adjoining Junuy Juluum  National Park in Dorrigo.  Dorrigo is an attractive town on the escarpment, a caldera of an extinct volcano and the beginning of the rich farming area known as New England.  Most of the Dorrigo area was clear felled for timber and then used for potato and dairy farms.

Some virgin rainforest was left and the rainforest is regenerating in areas unsuitable for farming or as tree changers buy a property and allow it to return to nature.

This is a really beautiful part of the world with wonderful views from the escarpment.  We visited the Skywalk in the Dorrigo National Park which has a platform built over the forest canopy, a great series of walks and a cafe. By chance we met a friend from long ago at lunch. This was an unexpected pleasure, two old friends in one place.

We drove the Moonpar Forest 4WD track and we walked through the Norman Jolly Grove. This is virgin rainforest, left for future generations so we can see what pre white settlement Australia looked like. We saw Platypus Flats a great place to camp or picnic by the Nymboida River.

We fed Sidsel's almost tame wallabies with macropod food, chased the python off the road so it was not run over and had a lovely time catching up.