Canadian Road Trip

Haven’t had a great deal of time or internet in the last couple of months. I’ve been on a road trip with my man lover Matt. We left Courtenay, on Vancouver Island on the 1st of May and spent a month and a half on the road seeing the sights. It took us a month and a half in my 1985 Toyota Tercel. My biggest worry was the car (Harry, named after a former student) breaking down. We made it there and back without anything too major happening though. Tire blew out on the highway and the transmission was a bit shit. We got all the way to Halifax on the East coast of Canada and back. We camped when we could, stayed at Matt’s rels or friends, or stayed in a cheap skanky hotel as a last resort. Matt has a great camping kitchen, and we spent most of the trip eating crap we’d heated from a can, soup and chili, or pasta mainly.

We saw and did so damn much, I’ll try and just stick to the highlights:

- Canada’s Wonderland! Just outside Toronto. Matt had never been on a rollercoaster before, so this was quite the experience. He’s the kinda guy who likes to mountain bike down a crazy hill, white water Kayak, or jump off a cliff. That stuff scares the shit out me, roller coasters scared the shit outta him. He still went on every ride I dragged him on. It was a damn good day (for me at least). Most of the roller coasters were pretty old and rickety, the newer one, Bohemeth was my fave.

- Quebec city (where the girls are pretty?). The old part is freakin’ beautiful, how I imagine parts of Europe to look. Cobble roads, old buildings etc, plenty of charm. We were staying at this super cute hostel right in the old part. It had this super cute courtyard and b-fast was provided, mmm mmm. Quebec is a province in Canada, mainly French speaking. Quebec city is the capital. Quebecs liquor laws in chilled out hippy BC would be awesome. You can buy booze all hours, relatively cheaply, and from anywhere, corner stores etc. It was ace.

- Me, being an idiot, left the trunk (boot) of the car open when we went to sleep. Lucky animal sounds woke Matt up. Scared the shit outta me, I thought it was a freakin’ bear. Lucky it was only a raccoon though. Mother fucker nicked some Mr Noodles (2 minute noodles). Lucky we caught him in time, Matt scared him away and closed the boot. In the morning we discovered little paw prints over quite a few things, apparently if left to his own devices he would have invited all his friends and demolished everything in the car, so lucky Matt got onto it early. We heard him come back sniffing around for more once he’d finished his noodles.

- Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.). Super cute province/Island out East. We caught the Ferry over, and the Confederation bridge (longest bridge in the world or some shit) back. Super cute houses, red soil, Ann of Green Gables. Good times.

- Matt’s relative David. We stayed with him on Cape Breton Island, in Nova Scotia. He was just so lovely, had our time planned out for us, gave us travel advice, woke us up in the morning and had break fast ready. Made super awesome dinners (shrimp/sun dried tomato pasta one night, Newfoundland Steaks – A.K.A. Baloney and home made baked beans the next). He was full of great stories, a great relief to have someone other than each other to talk to.

- Halifax pubs, so many, so many beers, so good. Went on an Alexander Keith’s Brewery tour. Set up old timey, guides in costumes speakin’ old school. Beer, singing and games at the end. Pretty decent.

- White water rafting at Matt’s old workplace. He guided the boat I was in. Had a steak dinner, camp fire and a sauna in the evening.

- Nelson. Super cute town in BC, could see myself spending much more time there. Surrounded by forests/mountains. Right next to this big beautiful lake. Nice sized town, pretty hippy.

- Grizzly bear playing with a big ball at Toronto Zoo.

- Adding to my pressed penny collection.

- Swan Lake hot springs. I’d been hanging out for some hot springs that weren’t just a big pool full of hot spring water. These ones were the real deal, rock pool right next to a river.

There’s so much more, but that will do for now. Back on the Island, got a job as a lifty on Mount Washington for the down hill mountain biking season. Pretty boring right now, still snow on the mountain. Went snow boarding last weekend, crazy, the opened up just for the weekend. Moved into a condo on the mountain with this British girl. Dunno what to do once this finishes in September. Winter season doesn’t start till Mid-late December. That’s 3 months without work. Tempted to just come back to Aus, mmm, two summers in a row.