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Posted by Sam McCurdy: At our meeting on Wednesday, Co-President Jack Kraan and his wife Ann provided a summary of their trip in 2017, to the Eastern provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island in Canada. The year 2017 was the 150th anniversary of the creation of the Dominion of Canada by the federation of the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on July 1, 1867. To celebrate the event, entry to famous landmarks and gardens were free, which was a bonus for tourists. The trip began in Nova Scotia, which has a very rocky Atlantic coastline that has caused many shipwrecks. As a result there are about 160 lighthouses dotted along the coast. They visited an impressive museum in the town of Halifax, the top floor of which is devoted to the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. It also housed information on the tragedy of an exploding armament vessel in the harbour in 1917 that obliterated everything within 800 metres and resulted in 1,700 deaths. From there they travelled to Sydney, Nova Scotia, where they stayed in a traditional fishing cabin and encountered beavers, wolves and an arctic fox. While there, they linked up with Malou Johansen, our 2012 Youth Exchange Student from Nuuk, Greenland. who flew in from Newfoundland. An amusing anecdote was that after picking up Malou from the Sydney airport, they went to the Sand Fly Bar for a meal, only to find that the full menu consisted of fish and chips. However, there was a choice of one, two or three fish pieces with the chips. From Nova Scotia, they went to Prince Edward Island, which could be reached by ferry, air or the Federation Bridge. Although it was free to get to the Island, it was necessary to pay $70 to get of it. The Federation Bridge is the longest bridge in the world over a body of water that freezes in winter and it is 8 miles long. They liked Charlettown on Prince Edward Island, where they discovered an Irish bar that sold $1 oysters between 5:00 - 6:00pm during their 'Happy Hour". The next stop was New Brunswick where they had hoped to see the Hopwell Rocks, but found that the National Park was closed. Due to the extreme tidal range of the Bay of Fundy, the rocks (40-70 feet tall) are covered in water twice a day. Jack and Ann then visited Churchill in Manitoba, where they saw a Polar Bear Recovery facility and also witnessed approximately a dozen polar bears in the wild during their stay. Before flying home, they went to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, USA, which impressed them a lot. There, they got to see the "Old Faithful' geyser erupting. It is named 'Old Faithful"for its consistent performance. This was obviously an interesting trip and through the their presentation, we got to enjoy the experiences with Jack and Ann. Well done! |
