Local Fare and Latest Travels

Hi Again,

Time is going by so fast it is hard to accept that I have finished university for the semester, with only one exam to go on Wednesday 15th. Now I am forced to have 4 months off to get over the stress.

Over the last week in the lead up to Easter we have travelled some more around this amazing area and have sampled some local wild food.

We should start with the food. Here, a popular wild vegetable is Fiddleheads. These are actually fern heads and you cook them by boiling or steaming and serving with salt and pepper and either butter or vinegar. Bev and I think they taste like a cross between asparagus and parsley and are really enjoyable. (photo courtesy of google).

The other local food we tried during the week, again courtesy of our great neighbors Debbie and George, was Dulse. This is a tad more adventurous and is a dried local red seaweed. It tastes very salty when you begin to eat it and has quite a fishy overtone. It is very high in vitamins and minerals but low in sodium and high in potassium and flouride. You can eat it dried (as in a bar snack with a beer), fry it until crisp or grind it up and use the powder in chowders and other dishes. I didn’t mind it, but it was a total failure with Bev (you know the look that comes across someone’s face when they realize that they have swallowed a blowfly).

Having told our friends and neighbours that we were very interested in the New Brunswick fascination with outdoor murals they pointed us in the direction of Sussex N.B. which claims to be the mural capital of Atlantic Canada as well as having a number of beautiful old covered bridges in the region. We headed down there (about 100km) on Easter Saturday and were blown away by the place. It is truly remarkable for the murals, the architecture and the history of the place. We were so impressed that I recommend that you have a look at http://sussexdowntown.com/.

In a recent post we explained that spring was here and although there is some flooding in the province because of melting river ice the temperatures continue to be above 0c and all the snow around the house had melted (so much so that Bev and I were able to walk down the back of the block the other day). So just when you think it is safe to break out the speedo’s or at least the shorts, winter returns with a vengeance. These shots were taken yesterday (Easter Sunday) when we had a snow warning that up to 25cm was on the way. It is still snowing but the warning has been cancelled and they tell us we will be back to sunshine again tomorrow. I remain skeptical.

Stay safe

Bev and Ross

Visiting the Saints

Hi to you all and we hope that you are all enjoying life as much as we are.

Last weekend we travelled south to see the Saints. St Stephens was the first stop and is a border crossing into the USA. We then travelled to St Andrews, St George, St John, St David, St Patrick, and St Croix (not necessarily in that order). These are lovely towns located south of Fredericton on or near the coast of the Bay of Fundy.

St John is by far the biggest city of all of these places and it was from here we collected Murphy and Herb when they arrived from Australia on 26 January this year. The other Villages mentioned are rather small and St Andrews in particular is rather quaint as you will see from the photos below.

We took the opportunity to have lunch in a pub at St Andrews called the Red Herring. It was somewhat eclectic in its choice of furnishing which added to its individuality. You will see what we mean from the photos below. This added to the atmosphere of the place and the friendly staff who made us feel right at home added to the experience.

Murphy and Herb enjoyed their walk around the town but you will note from the photo below it was a cool day.

What were are now seeing as the seasons change is the damage the river ice flows can do. There are huge amounts of ice that is now breaking up and blocking up in rivers with nowhere to go. Families who live close to the river banks in many areas are now experiencing flooding and huge damage to their properties. There is also damage to roads where large pot holes appear after the many months of ice and snow.

Until our next update best wishes to you all and please come and visit if you have the opportunity.

Fondest wishes Bev and Ross

Travelling North

Last weekend we ventured to Edmonston which is about a 3 hour drive north of Fredericton. We stayed at another pet friendly motel which had a great view of the city which you will see from the photo below.

On Sunday we travelled another 1 ½ hours further on which took us into the Province of Quebec and we got to see some of the St Lawrence River at Riviere-du-Loup.

The closer one gets to Quebec the more French things become. We are convinced we need to purchase an English/French Dictionary as it has been many years since Ross learnt french at school and I never did. Among other things we noticed was the greatly different style of housing in Quebec with much greater use of brick and a different style from southern New Brunswick.

On the way to Edmondston we acted like the tourist we are and took some interesting turn offs. We visited Hartland NB which has the longest covered wooden bridge in the world. You will see from the photo below just what an interesting site it is.

We also drove through some beautiful little towns like Grand Falls where there is a major waterfall in the centre of town (right next to Burger King) but it was frozen and Notre-Dame-du-Lac which is a small village on a magnificent lake which we must visit again in the spring.

Weather wise we actually reached double figures at the end of last week with the temperature gauge reaching 13 degrees so we got to see our total drive way for the very first time in the 4 months we have been here and the ice covering the pond stated to melt. What joy and the locals were all very happy about the thaw as well. However, just like Melbourne, Fredericton also suffers on occasion with several different temperature changes often on the same day so since Sunday it has rained and snowed and this afternoon the sun was shining. We can now see the driveway once more.


Enjoy life, Love Bev and Ross

Kings Landing Historic Village

First up we would like to welcome Trish and Murray back to North America for another 6 month adventure in their motorhome. This time they are making their way north and plan to spend a week or so with us in early June.

The weekend before last we were fortunate enough to have a great time spent with our lovely Canadian friends. On Saturday evening Jacqueline and John joined us for dinner and we had a great time.

On Sunday we had the opportunity courtesy of Debbie and George our lovely neighbours to have a local day out. We went to Kings Landing which is an Historic Village some 35 kms from where we live. We were served a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausages, baked beans, toast and of course pancakes with maple syrup and the bottomless coffee cup, this breakfast was all in support of the local search and rescue organization who provided all the staff. It is after all maple syrup season. It was just great and we sat and chatted for hours with light flurries falling outside.

Following this we embarked on a walk around the village. This was a wonderful opportunity to see ice toffee being traditionally prepared on a bed of snow (the toffee is made from reduced maple syrup and placed on the snow to set). You will note from the photos, staff in period costume and you will see the large pots over open fires all at various stages of perfecting the exclusive maple syrup which is a prized product of Canada.

Weather wise it is now officially spring in Canada so most days the temperatures are on the plus side of 0. During the night the temperature still falls to – 8. However, there has been sunshine during the day and it is palpable in the community that there is great joy that warm weather is on the way. All things summer from BBQs to swimwear is on sale and we are already talking about what to plant when the last of the snow is gone.

Last week in an embarassing moment we locked ourselves out of the house. Fortunately it was a mild evening with the temperature sitting around -7. Ross had no jumper on and was in his socks. If you could have seen the looks on our faces it would have been priceless. With the assistance of our wonderful neighbours we were inside in a relatively short period of time and we have now made sure this will never happen again.

Well best wishes to all and have a great week.
Love Bev and Ross