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Date:         Sat, 24 Aug 2002 16:37:01 -0300
Reply-To:     Malcolm Stebbins <Malcolm.Stebbins@MSVU.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Malcolm Stebbins <Malcolm.Stebbins@MSVU.CA>
Subject:      Fundy Shore trip report
Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

This was our summer for changing travel plans. Our trip to Newfoundland was deferred; then, our Isle des Madeline plans were put on hold as we could not get the good folks at the ferry to converse with us re our reservations; we were not about to drive a full day to the ferry only to find out we did not have reservations and were “stuck” on PEI.

So, Patricia and I sat down with a map to look for a destination that could keep us entertained for a week. Neither Pat nor I had been to Grand Manan or Campobello Islands on the Fundy shore of New Brunswick (near the Maine border). So we read up a bit and decided this trip was our best option.

Again those of you who like to follow along on a map are welcome to try http://www.tourismnbcanada.com/web/english/maps/ (lower 3 regions of the map); and our digi-pics are located at http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/mwstebbins/ . Click on “Fundy Trip”

So on Tuesday, 13 Aug, we loaded up the Westy and headed out about 11 a.m. from Halifax NS, heading northwest-ish to the NS and NB (New Brunswick) border crossing near Sackville. We drove up the Bay of Fundy to Moncton and then headed right back down the NB side of the Bay of Fundy to the Fundy National Park. We have visited this park before, but have not done many of the hiking trails. After dinner (at the campsite) we walked around the campground and I stopped to talk to another vanagon owner from NS and was able to proselytize for the vanagon listserv. (I just heard that she blew her engine returning to Halifax – ouch.)

After a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast of pancakes (I do breakfasts), we headed for the Whitetail Route, a 4 to 5 hour, 10.3 km loop hiking trail that conveniently started from our camp-site. The trail starts at about 800 meters elevation, then descends to sea level and back up to the campground. We took a lunch, and were in no hurry, but still finished the hike sooner than we anticipated. So after a rest and another snack, we headed off for another hour hike along the Kennie Brook trail. All-in-all an varied day of woodlands, seascapes and interesting water falls along wooded streams, marred only by 33 degrees C temperature and high humidity.

Thursday we decided to do a morning hike, as today’s drive was only going to be about 3 to 4 hours. So with an early start we headed along the 8 km Goose River trail that goes along the cliffs of the Bay of Fundy to – you guessed it – Goose Bay on the edge of the park. “Down and back” trails are not our favourite, but the early start meant cooler temperatures. We were back at the van for lunch and back on the road about 1 p.m.

Our route took us inland to Sussex and then back to the cute little coastal town of St Martin (see photos); then we took the highway around Saint John, back on 2 lane roads to the New River Beach Provincial Park. This was just an overnight for us and after a nice beach stroll (in the fog, which obscured in a rather lovely way much of the beach), dinner, sleep, and breakfast, we were off the next day, Friday, trying for the 9:30 a.m. ferry from Black Harbour to Grand Manan Island, a 90-minute trip. Carto- philes can try http://www.grandmanannb.com/map.htm .

We had reservations for the Anchorage Prov. Park campground on Grand Manan, so that was our first stop. Grand Manan Island is only about 50 km long, so it did not take very long for us to visit many of the interesting spots on the island (see photos). For the “birders” reading this, good buddy Jimmy Audubon documented many of the 312 species of birds here in 1831. Also of ‘bird’ interest is a museum which has a collection of (maybe) hundreds of stuffed birds donated some years ago by a local (and avid) taxidermist. Pat was fortunate in finding a nice road side ‘Tea-room” for her desired afternoon “cuppa’ (see photos).One nice aspect of “tearooms” is that they are yet to be franchised, and so are actually authentic -- as this one certainly was! This tea-room was run by the grandmother who offered tea either in her kitchen or on the veranda, with her visiting teenage grandson as the ‘waiter’ (clad in a hooded sweatshirt and baggy jeans). At any rate, we did all of this and a few short hikes prior to returning the campsite for dinner (Pat does the dinners).

By now it was Friday night. Saturday a.m. we had only about 12 km (as the crow flies) to go to get to Campobello Island, but we had to take the ferry back to the mainland, drive a short 24 km to Black Bay for the ferry to Deer Island, then drive the few km across the length of Deer Island to get a second (third?) ferry to Campobello Island. So to do what would take the crow about 12 km, took us most of the morning and early afternoon.

Campobello is best known for its most famous summer resident, Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR spent most of his childhood summers on Campobello in very swanky settings (see photos). The Roosevelt house is part of a US/CDN international park that covers most of the south part of the island. We squatted in less POSH (who can tell me what POSH is an acronym for?) surroundings at the Herring Cove Provincial Park campgrounds on the island. Like Grand Manan, Campobello Island is only a few kilometres wide and long, so getting around is no problem. We took that Saturday p.m. to tour Roosevelt’s summer “cottage” then drove around to the 4 corners of the island, having dinner at the Liberty Point picnic area with a grand view out over the ocean (what am I saying, the whole trip had grand ocean views). Back to the campsite for an early night, as ……..

The next day, Sunday, we wanted to again get about 12 km to St Andrews NB, but that necessitated taking 2 ferries and a drive up and around, back down to another peninsula. As the ferries have no reservation system and only went every hour, we wanted to be sure that we were on the first (9 a.m.) ferry. To this end, we decided to get up early and drive to the ferry ‘terminal’ (the road just was paved to the ocean, more like a boat launch ramp) and cook breakfast while waiting for the ferry. The plan worked fine (except Patricia is not a morning person) and we were the first in line and had plenty of time for me to cook scrambled eggs and clean up while Pat savoured her morning cup of coffee. So back to Deer Island, back to the mainland, and a short drive over to St. Andrews.

The write-up in the Lonely Planet on St. Andrews makes it sound similar to Harbour Springs MI (where I spent many youthful summers) so I was interested in visiting. St Andrews dates from about 1783 and has many old buildings and many summer homes of the wealthy. Also there is the lovely Algonquin Hotel, which dates from 1899 (see photos).

Our first order of business was to make reservations for dinner at the swish Algonquin Hotel; then we checked into the very nice Kiwanis campground (located right at the tip of town on the ocean). After briefly settling in, we went “walk-about” in the village. Pat, again, led us straight to a tea-room for a ‘cuppa’. We then walked around town for much of the afternoon, with Pat reading aloud about many of the buildings. We did some window shopping, and I found a pair of earrings for Pat that she really liked (I paid for them, so I got double relationship points!). Then back to the campground to clean up (shower and shave) and put on ‘nice’ clothes for our dinner out. If you look at the photos, you can envision us sitting on the long veranda of the Algonquin Hotel having one of our infrequent alcoholic drinks; beer for me and a gin & tonic for Pat. Dinner was salmon for Pat, pheasant for me. Dessert was a notable “Sea Urchin” made of white chocolate outer half shell, dark chocolate pudding/cake inner, with black liquorice strips underneath. All of this with ginger ice cream. Pat would not let me see the bill for fear of ruining the meal for me.

You can imagine that Monday’s breakfast was rather light. We headed for the Kingsbrae Gardens (see photos). This is a new garden (1998) but rather nice, containing many different theme parts. Pat is the gardening half of our duo and she was enthralled – talking with the gardeners and even taking notes as she slooooowly made the rounds.

So this was about the end of the trip; around noon we drove 4 hours back to Fundy Nat’l Park for the night, then after a slow start in Tuesday morning we ‘meambled’ (meander+ambled) back to Halifax lamenting, that for us, the summer was over as our teaching, here at the university, starts in a few days.

OK, how about some vanagon content: The van ran without problems although the Carbs are running rich and the van stumbles on full throttle, so I’ll have to take a look at it this. I also found a really crapped out Westy ‘For Sale’ in someone’s yard. The owner wanted CDN$5,000 for it. I offered him $2,000 and that seemed to piss him off. Oh well.

Hope you enjoyed the story & photos as much as we enjoyed the trip. Malcolm & Pat


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