Quebec - the final summer fling!

Our last trip for the Summer was spent in Quebec -visiting both Quebec City and Montreal. This time we travelled by train from Toronto. Once actually on the train without losing anyone or anything, we found the train travel fantastic - relaxing, efficient, and economical. Each time we arrived feeling a lot less frazzled than we would have after a similar length of time (ie 5 hours) in the car.

Quebec City was our absolute favourite. We stayed just outside the old walls and spent a day wandering along the wall edge and through the old town, stopping for a Cafe au Lait. (The first truly good coffee we have had in many months). As a bonus, Cirque de Soleil were doing their final free performance of the summer - an hour long show they put on for the people of Quebec as a thankyou. (Quebec city being their original home). So, we lined up on a balmy summer night for the most fabulous show set under a freeway overpass in the heart of Quebec City - spectacularly beautiful and enjoyed by us all. The next day we visited the Plains of Abraham and learnt some of the French v British history presented in the most amusing way on a small bus tour led by Abraham himself! Kids are still asking questions about soldiers and wars!

A weekend at McDonalds

Our next door neighbours, Laura and Jay and their two kids, Jack aged 8 and Annie aged 6 invited us to spend the weekend at their gorgeous cottage on Grass Lake (near Huntsville /Burk's Falls). It was again hot, sunny and Laura had brought fantastic activities to do in between Boat rides and swims. The girls made cookies in the "Easy Bake", everyone made a tie dye pillowcase, and to finish off Laura made her Mum's favourite Canadian campfire recipe - a Dump Cake. (Dump in -Tin of berries, Pack of Cake mix, can of coke and place in the fire with hot rocks on top). Delicious!

Parry Sound

As a belated birthday treat for Elsie and Gemma, we went on a Boat trip around the lakes and islands of Parry Sound - an area of Georgian Bay. The 90 minute trip took us past a magnificent array of holiday homes ("cottages") to the allegedly famous Henry's Fish Restaurant on Frying Pan Island. The weather was kind and the girls were delighted to be able to wear their dresses for the special occasion. A highlight was the impressive rotating bridge.

Science North and the Big Nickel

Okay, every country has it's town that needs something a little extra to get people there. In Canada, Sudbury is one of those towns and they really have managed to produce something out of not much at all with their two attractions -Science North (which rivals and possibly out does Scienceworks in Melbourne) and The Big Nickel - home of Canada's original Nickel mine used to produce Nickels (5 cents in Canada). We had a great three days there exploring and learning and finally meeting some wildlife up close - beavers, flying squirrels, porcupines and skunks. We also found out about float planes, setting substances on fire, energy, how much miner's earnt 100 years ago and what it was like setting dynamite down in the mines.

Algonquin guided canoe trip

Possibly the highlight of our travels so far was a three day canoe trip in the west part of Algonquin Provincial Park. Our family and Holly and her 7 yo daughter, Natasha from Toronto went with our guide, Sean and three canoes on an adventure. Pete and Sean had to do a lot of the portaging (ie carrying a canoe on one's head to the next lake) and we all lugged bags and barrels with our camping gear and food. After a couple of hours of portaging we found ourselves camped on our own little island in the middle of a lake. As a bonus, a baby deer swam across and scampered up on to our island -a little startled to find us there!

It started raining during the first night and didn't stop for eight hours. Sean cooked amazing food under trying conditions - french toast in the rain tastes pretty good!! Later in the afternoon, to keep spirits up, he even made us a sauna with hot rocks and a tarp (that's the blurry picture above!) and we were able to come out of our tents which had become card playing dens! Daniel once again did an amazing job as chief fire tender -even in the rain. Despite the cold, and damp we set out early the next morning in search of Moose -not as easy to spot in Canada as one would imagine!! After cajoling Elsie and Gemma a little (it was 6am!), we paddled for a couple of hours and finally saw a Moose which made all the discomforts worthwhile!

Wattenwyl Cottage

Adventure number three of the summer holidays involved three quintessential Canadian summer activities - Car trips; Cottages and Canoes. For those yet to have worked this out, Canada has a lot of rocks, trees and water separated by numerous Highways, Country Roads, Side Roads and more than a few Backroads. Check out this link if you have time... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asqWMKju-0A&feature=related

We shared a very large "cottage" with the Scott-Mayo family and the Neufeld-Marriott family for a week of eating, drinking, reading, swimming, canoeing, beaver hunting, enjoying the flora and fauna, games, tennis watching (Rogers Cup -Canada's lead up event to the US open), and singing round the fire. Seven kids and six adults -great fun.

Elsie and Gemma turn 7!

Niagara Falls

In direct contrast to the serenity of the great Canadian outdoors, our second major excursion of the summer was a trip to Niagara Falls which is about two hours from Elora down on the US border. We went with the Wolkensperg's, our friends and neighbours who have twin nine year old boys and a seven year old girl. We spent an intense two days and a night at the famous Great Wolf Lodge - a hotel made for kids. Picture a huge indoor/outdoor waterpark in the hotel -with amazing slides, lagoons, wave pool. Add in a Games Arcade, Mini Golf, all you can eat buffet, craft activities, nightly story telling in the grand foyer and a Great Wolf soft toy to take home all included in the stay! Daniel is still wearing the wrist band from Great Wolf and is determined to leave it on until we return to Australia!

Niagara falls themselves are as spectacular as any natural wonder should be. We got a hotel room with an amazing view of Friday night fireworks over the falls. We took the Maid of the Mist boat trip and got drenched seeing the falls up close and walking behind the falls as well. The rest of Niagara Falls town is best left alone - full of every seedy, tacky tourist trap and a culinary nightmare.

Summer holidays Canadian Style

School is back after a ten week summer vacation. We have managed to do a lot of what Ontario and Quebec has to offer and I guess we've been busy and not blogging!! We feel as though we have travelled many miles but when you look at a map the trips we have done barely cover a few fingers width!! We have discovered that Canadians think nothing of a four hour car trip to their cottage for the weekend!

So, the first trip we did was a camping trip with our friends John and Kathy and Nathan and James to one of their regular favourite summer hideouts at Palmer Rapids. This trip was one of Daniel's favourite for the summer -mainly the camping (OK, we had the camper trailer and it was pretty comfy), rope tieing, and being chief fire lighter.

We had a couple of car hiccups, but met a new friend who let us swim in his pool while we awaited car assistance on Hwy 10, 999 or something. He also happened to train animals for movie roles and had a resident Raccoon which kept us entertained. We eventually got to Palmer Rapids -about a six hour drive, and the weather was kind to us for most of the week. We had a great time jumping off a rock in the middle of the river in to some gentle rapids and paddling canoes. If you ever get to Palmer Rapids, we've heard the cafe there has a great Red Squirrel Pie!