The house is located on the bank of the Saint John river and is in a rural setting although there is plenty of development in the neighborhood and a bank and shopping facilities are within walking distance (if you like walking).
There is plenty of outdoor equipment available and if you want to have a round of golf go fishing or cross country skiing then it is all there for you to use, you have plenty of choices.
There is bound to be something to do that suits your ideal holiday.
For me I was into relaxing, going on a few local walks, enjoying the scenery and taking photos with my new camera and then learning how to process the photos with new software.
The Saint John river is large and is joined by the Kennebecasis river nearby to form a large bay before squeezing out past the famous Reversing Falls in Saint John. The 15 m tidal difference results in very turbulent water at each change of tide as is a major tourist attraction.
There are many colorful people statues at various locations around the city and plenty of visitors stopping to take photos.
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| Saint John's people statues |
I arrived in July (summer) and the days are great compared to Melbourne's winter but the evenings are still cool so warm clothing still needs to be packed.
I did not bring much clothing but Mary and Phil have plenty of extra of everything in case you have forgotten to pack something.
Mary has prepared a comprehensive information pack on everything that you would want to know and there is plenty of things to do even for kids of all ages as this is a grandchild's paradise.
Mary's sister lives next door so there is plenty of help available if needed.
Halifax in Nova Scotia is a 3 hour drive from Saint John.
This was my longest drive from Saint John and other destinations were completed as a day's outing.
It is worth a detour to visit the 13 km Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island (PEI) but if you wish to continue across the bridge a $45 toll is levied for all cars for the round trip.
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| Toll Bridge linking New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island |
The many sheltered bays make for some stunning picturesque views.
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| Beautiful reflections in Nova Scotia |
Many families were swimming and making use of the sunshine and white sand beaches around Chester and if only the water was a bit warmer I may have gone in further than to my knees.
My visit was during the school holiday's and so the beaches were busier than normal.
Fishing is a major industry and fish is on every menu and lobster rolls are common.
I spent my 2 nights in Truro as this town was smaller and more to my liking than Halifax.
I made an attempt to drive downtown Halifax on a Friday afternoon and gave up after being stuck in traffic for about an hour and out of frustration turned around and left the city to everyone else that knew where they were going.
I enjoyed the Saturday entertainment in Truro's Victoria Park as part of Canada's Park day and this atmosphere was more to my liking than the bustle of Halifax.
The Salmon river is only 5 mins from the city center and is worth a visit to see the Tidal Bore where the incoming tide surges downstream in the form of a wave.
Tourism is a major part of Nova Scotia and there are plenty of choices to keep yourself busy.
Nova Scotia is a place I would like to come back to and have more time to explore.
Fundy Trail, Deer Island, St George, Saint Andrews and Saint Martins are all interesting places to visit and in easy reach for a days drive.
With all the Saints in the area I was half expecting to have seen a real saint at some stage?
The 20 min free ferry crossing to Deer Island is a pleasant scenic trip although I did not see a lot of tourist attractions on drive around the Island.
Irving Nature Park and Rockwood Park are both close to Saint John city and provide plenty of walking trails to explore.
The French, British, Irish and Loyalist are all key words in the rich history of New Brunswick's settlement and I won't try to explain or understand it as history has never been my strong point.
The Maritimes (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI) are definitely worth a visit and I am lucky to have had the chance to briefly visit 2 of the 3 provinces.
It seems strange that Nova Scotia and PEI are not amalgamated into one province with New Brunswick, as the areas are sparsely populated with little economy to support all the additional administration costs, but this appears to be due to historical reasons rather than logical reasons.
Most tourist know of Vancouver, Whistler and Banff on the west coast of Canada and although the Maritimes have not any similar stand out tourist attractions the area is still well worth visiting.
Winter would be too cold for me to visit most of Canada as I would not survive and like others in the animal kingdom I would need to migrate to somewhere warmer.
Parts of the Saint John river freeze solid enough for skating in Winter so how could I survive when a frost on the car windscreen in the morning in Melbourne 3 times in a year is bad enough for me.
Many Canadian home owners flee to Florida or Mexico in winter, much like some in Melbourne go to Queensland, but now that seems such a weak comparison as we don't have such extreme winters that Canada has in Australia and NZ.
