I had booked a surfing lesson with a local club, and headed off to meet Jules. She would give me my first ever surf instruction, for a hundred bucks with all equipment included for a 3 hour lesson. We grabbed the gear from the Surf school up the road from the beach. I had to change into my wetsuit at the school, to ensure the correct size. We then drove separately to the beach.

Driving in a wetsuit and flip flops in a strange experience, its very hot and quite restrictive, kind of like being inside a giant George Foreman. I quickly exited the Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine and helped Jules down to the beach with the ‘boards. Jules instructed me on observing the conditions of the beach and the weather, making judgements on where the bulk of other surfers are heading and how to avoid them in different scenarios. By drawing pictures in the sand, she explained that there are essentially three types of geological formations that cause waves to break into white water: point, beach and reef breaks. At Cove beach where we were, a small beach break provided beginners with an easy start. We did some practice ‘pop-ups’ on the beach where you spring from a lying position into the beach boys’ surfing safari stance. After a few tries I had it, and we took the boards down to the water. We paddled into the still water to the side of the ‘beach break’ waves. I say we. Jules paddled into the stills. I rolled and came up spluttering, climbed on the board again and promply slid off. Eventually I made it out to the stills. We did a few more practice rolls, during which I concluded that surfing in contact lenses is a tricky art.

After a brief interlude involving going back to the car, putting my diving mask on and paddling, huh, back again, we could then try belly boarding. Jules headed effortlessly into the white water and belly boarded back to the beach like a pro. I started to paddle towards the white water, determined to up my surf-cred by at least paddling with some style. An eon passed. still paddling my arms were like lead weights I could barely lift. I looked around and discovered I had moved backwards a few meters. Anger charged my adrenal glands and I made a final push, this time I would make it. Another Eon passed. My arms were now dissassociated entirely from my body, but were considering visiting rights every third weekend.

I think I swallowed some sea water. Just a few gallons. The bright sun forcing my eyes tight shut. At this point people normally have day dreams involving pink elephants rendered by cartoonists, to a tune better fitting on a disney family movie. Mine involved a horror at sea, where a foolish amateur attempted to paddle a surfboard. I laughed at him pathetic as he was, being shunted around by Poseidon's whims. Cold salt water lapped joyfully into my limp mouth, bringing me back to semi-conciousness.

Another brief interlude involving some rasins, cashews (salted), water (unsalted) and a bit of self reprimanding I paddled back out…

Soon I was once more exhausted, Again my arms flopped uncontrolledly in the water like a comatose jelly fish. Through some raw primal anger I plucked the energy to keep paddling, screaming for five strokes and relaxing, then another five until eventually I made it! I had moved the requisite 5 meters into the white water. After a few rolls to avoid the wash, I turned my board towards the beach and belly boarded in on two waves! It was sooo cool!! (10) With my energy and confidence freshly restored, I crashed head long into the rocky boulders, shearing off a fin from my board. Opps. Guess I won’t be going back out again just yet.

Awesome.

I bombed off to Halifax the following morning to drop J back to her appartment (a daughter of my kind hosts R and his wife A) but ran out of time to get all the way down to Lunenburg on the south shore by 1:30pm, so I headed back into Downtown Halifax to see if I could catch the 3:00 whale watching boat from there.

The 3:00 boat magically became the 4:30 and so I had time to spare. I ducked back to the C.S.S Acadia and hoodwinked my way aboard to see the decks I missed the first time. Before I got press ganged into service for the Halifax Maritime museum, I jumped ashore and found a bench to stop on for lunch.

Soon I was joined by an elderly gentleman who proceeded to give me a condensed synopsis of his life. He was travelling for free from Manitoba, using his train pass. He wanted to see how far he could get, and concluded that Nova Scotia would probably suffice.

I queued for the Whale boat, and observed the crew frantically searching the vessle. My fellow que-ers were transfixed as one staff member would search through the life jacket box on the stern, and then moments later a different staff member would have the same stroke of brilliance followed by dissapointment. Apparently an irrate tourist had lost their wallet on board.  Just as we departed it was discovered in the Gents. The item was hastily passed across to the dockside, much to the relief of the recipient and the rest of the passengers who had watched the saga unfold.

We made good speed for the harbour mouth and out into the bay beyond. Then we saw a Minke Whale! More hilarity ensued as the mob of eager photographers onboard swarmed from one side of the boat to the other, as we revolved gracefully on the water. I got a few shots, but all you can really see is an errant fin protroding from the water, as if to test how warm the air might be.

Through the encrouching fog we motored around. The crew raised some lobster pots, to show us how they work. Two live lobster and a confused looking crab were offered around to hesitant onlookers, before being thrown back to the depths. We saw two more Minke together, and then a third one joined them, and then later a few seals to top off the voyage. The Fog really started to set in now, so we made for home. All in it was very good, i’d give it an 8 on the andy-o-meter. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.

After two days on the trot getting sun burnt, I decided to do something indoors. I headed back into Halifax to see Pier 21. This is an old wharf building that has been used for the best part of the last century as an immigration checkpoint. It has bags of history covering the influx of migrant workers to incomming Evacuees and outgoing soldiers during the second wrold war. The layout is a little confusing at first as it isn’t designed in the traditional ‘lead you down the garden path’ style of museum. Its basically a huge room full of stuff, and you pick your own way through. Mine took me to the darkness of the janitor’s closet. After a brief struggle with my pen torch and the guide book, I was back on track.

I foolishly ate the remains of yesterday’s beef sandwich for lunch, and then pressed on to the Maritime museum. They had an exhibition on ‘TITANIC’ and the tour was just starting, so I joined the back. Ages ago I had been to the maritime museum in Waterford (or was it Wexford? Note to researcher: find out which it was so I don’t look like a silly prat by putting the wrong place name in my blog). In Ireland. They had a huge exhibit from the perspective of the other ‘End’ of the titanic story, how the ship was constructed and the events that transpired to lead it to its resting place. Halifax has a much more macabre association with the disaster, as this is where alot of the victims who’s remains were retreived from the water are buried.

I also found out about the Halifax Explosion. Alegedly the biggest manmade explosion of its time, world wide, until the bomb that fell on Hiroshima. Here is a description I found:

A French ship, the Mont Blanc, loaded with 2500 tonnes of explosives collided with another ship, the Imo, close to the staging area (where troops and supplies are loaded). It is thought that this collision led to chemicals such as Benzol, which is highly explosive, leaking from it's containers. The crew certainly believed themselves to be in a position of great danger as they abandoned ship almost immediately after the Mont Blanc had collided with the Imo. Unmanned the Mont Blanc floated slowly towards the pier, where a group of bystanders gathered to watch the ship: not realising that it was unmanned and leaking explosives.

Upon hitting the pier the explosives on board the Mont Blanc ignited and there was a tremendous explosion as the ships cargo exploded. The blast killed over 1500 people instantly, with at least another 500 dying from wounds inflicted by the disaster. 2 square miles of land near the Halifax port were flattened and many civilians suffered from burns, blindness and other ailments as a result of the explosion.

Yikes. Then I heard they got a massive snow storm the next day.

I got heaps of pictures, and saw tonnes of cool artifacts. It had started to rain when I left the museum, so I ducked into a cafe and wrote postcards. The weather is turning bad here for the next few days, so I might have to go whale watching elsewhere on a later date.

Ha I made it! Despite locking my keys in the car, losing my bank card and getting eaten almost to death by mosquitoes I can now proudly say I have reached the starting line of my coast to coast journey.

Now what? Hmm sleep first, no wait chicken wings down the pub and then sleep. No wait…

After a long sleep in this morning, I headed into Halifax to have a poke around and see the Citadel. GPS had its map upside down again, I was not amused.

During long car journeys you may be familiar with boredom. With boredom comes rather pointless time absorbing games such as ‘I spy with my little eye’ and the like. One such game I have often played is called ‘I’m an animal, I’m an animal what kind of animal am I?’ where players take turns asking questions about the chosen animal until it is revealed. Not literally but figuratively. I have had to modify the game to suit my circumstances and lack of an opponent player. I am now proud to bring you ‘I’m an Idiot, I’m an Idiot, what kind of idiot am I?’ for which you need one idiot (me will suffice) and a GPS box set to ‘random’ (mine appears to be set to random straight from the factory, you may have to set yours to random by applying jam or orange squash as desired to the interface). The player takes his (or her) turn (left, right, straight on or backwards) and waits for the next instruction from the GPS. If it returns with ‘recalculating’ or ‘turn around’ then you the player are the idiot, any other result and the GPS is the idiot. My current score runs almost even stevens with my GPS at the moment. Try it out yourself, who knows where you could end up! 

Halifax is quite nice, a modern water front and the citadell sandwiches between them the steep interesting shopping streets of the old town centre. Outside that there is a sprawl of suburbia and light industry.

Back in Kingston I had purchased a Provincial parks historical pass, to get me into places all over the country, so now was my opportunity to try it out in the Citadel. In the hazy warmth of the afternoon I staggered to the top of the hill and into the fort. Having seen Fort Henry at Kingston and the citadel at Quebec, it seemed a little samey. I wandered about trying to find what makes this one different from the others. After a little searching and perusing of the exhibits I came across a doorway that lead to a long dark tunnel. I ventured in and emerged in the dry moat that surrounds the inner sanctum. Across the moat there was another doorway with an equally dark tunnel behind it. This one lead right inside the hill and around behind the turrets that defend the moat, it was cool and quite spooky.

Meanwhile at the top of the hill Marcie and Bruno, two visiting pigeons from Latvia stopped on the forward battery for a break. Little did they know what the large metal pointy thing was.

We forked out the $61 fee to take us and the car over to Nova Scotia, boy what a price to get off the island!  The ride was 75 minutes so it was the perfect time to just chill out and relax.  Gillian ended up falling asleep sitting up, which was quite funny.  The boat had a t.v. so I able to watch the last 5 minutes and the horrible overtime to watch Canada lose the World's.  BOO :(  Damn Nash for taking that penalty.

The boat landed in Caribou, Nova Scotia and we were off to Halifax.  The scenic drive was more spectacular then PEI I thought, I just love the hills and highways better.  We even saw a sign that read "you are now in the middle of the Equator and the North Pole"... how cool was that!! 

Made our way to Halifax downtown and what a difference from Toronto downtown.  One-way streets, no traffic, people out and about enjoying the harbourfront!  We decided to check into the Marriot Courtyard on the harbourfront.  Headed over to Stayner's Wharf for some grub. 

After dinner, walked through the hilly streets of Halifax and ended up in an Irish Pub.  Great atmosphere but they were closing at midnight so we had to drink up our drinks!  When then marched through the streets to see what was out there, but nothing really fancied what we were looking for so we ended up in a Snoggle Pub... not sure about the name here! :)  Sat at the bar, drank a few drinks and had a good time chatting with the bartenders. 

Sunday we decided to take a late check-out as we wanted to catch up on some sleep since we've been up pretty much everyday at 7:30am.  We slept, watched some t.v. and then got ready to head out for brunch.  We ended up at Tug's Waterhouse Restaurant to experience the whole lobster meal.  We picked out our lobsters, also held them to take a picture and headed back to our seats.  We patiently waited for the delicious lobster.  Thank goodness we didn't hear any screaming coming from the kitchen..LOL.  The lobster arrived and it was delicious.  I can't believe we both experience the lobster and in Halifax of all places!  WICKED! 

After brunch we walked around the harbourfront and checked out Alexander Keith's Brewery.  We decided then it was time to head to Peggy's Cove!

Rudder's is one of the few restaurants in Yarmouth that go beyond of what the ubiquitous pizza/fast food/chinese dinner places offer. It's very well known among all Yarmouthians for it's great seafood menu (lobsters, oysters and much more). They also offer homebrewed beers. It's cosy, you have a great view over the bay and on a beautiful summer's evening, staying at Rudder's may be the best thing you can do in Yarmouth. It's all within a medium price range. The last time I dined there is too long ago, so I can't remember the menu - but they have quite a pretty website now with menus, prices and some pictures also. Conclusion: If you're into seafood, check it out. It's one of the few truly good restaurants Yarmouth has to offer.

We stayed at Rydges Capitol Square in Sydney for two days, and it was a fairly good choice. Located in Campbell corner George streets, the hotel gives you access to Sydney's major establishments. Everything you may need areas are so near--- supermarkets, tram stations, coffee shops (there's a starbucks coffee beside the building), train stations. Location wise, Rydges capitol is perfect! The staff are sooooo friendly, too. You will never have a hard time should you need any assistance from any of them. Pretty faces who never forget to wear that beautiful aussie smile. As compared to other three-star hotels in Sydney, you can get a better deal here from as low as AUD130 for a triple room. If you are after a cost-friendly yet comfi accommodation, Rydges Capitol Square can be your home in Sydney. For more info: http://www.rydges.com/hotel/0/RNCAPS/Capitol-Square-Hotel-Sydney.htm

The Rare Bird is the kind of place that you think about when you think East Coast. Located in a restored heritage building right above the town wharf and marina in Guysborough, Nova Scotia, you can taste some local mussels or homemade fish cakes and wash it down with an ale from their microbrewery, the Chedabucto Bay Brewing Company. They have kitchen Ceilidh parties in the summer, and live East Coast music on their stage. Upstairs there's a pool table and dart board, some big easy chairs, a good place to hang out with the locals.

Osprey Shores Golf Resort is a laid back, quaint East Coast getaway in the village of Guysborough on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore. The resort is on a 60 acre peninsula on Guysborough Harbour at the head of Chedabucto. Accommodations are comfortable in a 10 room motel-style lodge. The lodge has great chiropractic beds and nice duvets for a comfortable sleep if you want rest after driving the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton. The porches for the rooms look out over Mussel Cove, a nice place to enjoy your morning coffee. There is an historic clubhouse building where a continental breakfast is served every morning. During the day they serve sandwiches and beer and wine and you look out over the harbour. The golf course is a fun nine holer with ocean views from every fairway. There is a cool bell to ring at the sixth tee when you come off the green as it is a blind tee off. In addition to golf, Osprey Shores has a volley ball and badminton, a horseshoe pitch, outdoor pool and a boat launch. There is a lot to do in the area with tons of beaches and coves and the staff there are friendly and quick to offer suggestions on where to go.

Alrighty, me and the boy are off on a Canadian cruise to celebrate 2.5 years of fun!  So we meet in New York (we stayed in NY for 3 days first, and the airline had lost my bags, so I was still in the same clothes by the time we boarded the boat- the bags were delivered to the pier one hour before we left, thank god!!) and take the Carnival Victory off for 5 days of Canadian fun!  We end up being ten years younger than the next youngest passenger, and ten years older than the next youngest- so we had to entertain ourselves...  I think we did a pretty good job of it!

First stop was St. John, New Brunswick which was a really nice quiet town.  Its famous for the reversible falls at the Bay of Fundy, which is basically one of those weird natural phenomenons where the tide changes drastically and makes some crazy rapids in the middle of a bay.  We take a jet boat ride in the falls and get absolutely drenched- it was really fun!  The jet boat was piloted by this old crazy guy who was obviously having the time of his life! 

One of the major reasons we wanted to take this cruise is because we are both crazy about lobster- and there is an all you can eat lobster night.  We had a bet about who would eat more, I don't exactly remember how many we ended up putting away, but it was a lot.  I felt pretty sick at the end of it and I think I won't be eating lobster for a really long time.  It was the mass produced cruise lobster- and it was carnival, so not quality- so that could have been something to do with it, or human beings are just not supposed to eat that many lobster in one sitting...

Halifax was our next stop, and it is an awesome town.  Very pituresque and inviting.  We decide to go hiking in one of the national forests nearby.  Let me begin by saying that this was a very public forest- there were people jogging, walking there dogs, babies in strollers, etc.  This was by no means a remote, nor obscure location.  Anyways, Jeff and I started going off the paved trails to take the little paths that led through the woods.  We were on one of these paths and broke through some trees and it joined up to one of the main trails.  We walked out onto the trail, looked to our right and all we can see- about 20 feet down the path- is this enormous pale white ghetto booty being bent over a rock on the side of the trail getting hammered!  Obviously- a shocking site, I think I screamed.  We ran back into the woods, then realising what an amazing photo op this would be, we crept back to the trail to take a pic.  They must have heard me scream, because they pulled up their pants and were walking away as fast as possible.  And they were two men!  I can finally check off that difficult "See Canadian butt sex in the wild" off my list of things to see before I die!!!  

Not to be out done by their Canadian brethren, when we were reboarding the ship, we were on a ramp that dumped you off on the 6th floor.  Those people on the 3rd-5th floors did not realize it, and we got the second peep show of the day, from a man who was getting dressed through the port hole we were stuck in front of.  The grandma who was waiting in front of us enjoyed it a bit more than we did, though...

Not all of Halifax was worthy of a porn show, though.  It is such a beautiful sea-side town with lots of history.  A little bit about myself- I am cajun, which means that I'm from southern Louisiana and my ancestors were French settlers in Acadia, which is now Nova Scotia in Canada.  After France lost the French and Indian Wars, the English victors evicted all of the French settlers (even though they claimed neutrality), split up families and put them on ships heading to different destinations.  Over the years they gathered in Louisiana, but not before about half of them died from disease, starvation or being killed by the English.  So going to Halifax was like going to my home land- it was really interesting to see some of the Acadian traces that are still there.  We didn't have time to go to the Acadian historical places that were some hours away, but nonetheless it meant alot to me to see plaques that told the story of what happened to "my people" because its kind of one of those stories that are lost to history.

The Maritime Museum focuses on Halifax's nautical history and has quite a few interesting exhibits. I particularly enjoyed the exhibits on Pirates and their associations with Nova Scotia and the maritimes (as well as the myths of buried treasure on nearby islands)(Summer 2007 only), the Halifax Explosion which was the largest non-nuclear explosion in history, as well as the Titanic exhibit outlining the rescue process that Halifax was involved in. Depending on your interests, this may be a worthy stop. It's located along the waterfront and is a good place to start or stop a nice walk along the water.

The Citadel is a great place to bring the family and learn a bit about Canadian War history. There's a lot to look at and uniformed military people lining the gate and thoughout the rooms explaining what everything is for, such as soldiers barracks, where they keep the explosives, as well as rooms outlining the history of the citadel. For something to see, there's a changing of the guard every hour. The citadel also houses a great War Museum which has various artifacts from Canada's war involvement over the years.

This tour was extremely well-done, and is definitely something to do in Halifax! The tour is led by costumed interpreters who bring you back the time when Alexander Keith himself was making his fine india pale ale! You admission includes the tour through the brewery, explaining the process, as well entertainment while you enjoy your two drinks! If you don't drink, there's also iced tea to enjoy. Tours run often, every half hour all day, so any time is a good time to go!

Though I wouldn't really classify it as a "Sight & Attraction", a visit to the graveyard is a moving experience. The headstones are set up beautifully to preserve the memories of those lost. As a primary rescue base during the Titanic disaster, many families let the bodies of loved ones remain in Halifax to be buried. The graveyard contains the headstone of a 2 year old boy whose body was never identified until a dna testing technology made that possible a few years ago. For those who are fans of the movie, a "J. Dawson" is also buried at the site. Apparently after the movie came out, hoards of teenage girls would place flowers at the crewman's grave.