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Bonjour East Coast - Part 2 - New Brunswick

New Brunswick welcomed us with vast forests and moose warnings on the extremely wide highway. We decided to stay safe and avoid driving at night. The highway was fenced on all sides, but there was still a risk.

Image curtesy of https://smokingbrakes.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/p1050018.jpg

Image curtesy of: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-TQlHIkIhQM/hqdefault.jpg

We first stopped at the information center to find out what the province has to offer.   First item on the list was change of the time by one hour forward, then we reviewed the New Brunswick tourism guide and marked items of interest.  

We also picked up the next month tide information for the Bay of Fundy for reference.

Because of the time difference we had to postpone the visit to Grand Falls until we make the return trip. (More on Grand Falls later)


We stopped in Fredericton for tasty dinner at Palate Restaurant and headed down to our accommodation in Gage Town.  Shortly after we left Fredericton we came across a road sign that said something like: Gage Town CFB Base, stay on a highway.  We were passing the active military exercise field.  The actual Gage Town is a small town on the St. John river about 10 km off the highway. 
At arrival we were greeted by our hosts and their over enthusiastic dog Annie.

Our agenda for the next day was to stop at Hopewell Rock Provincial Park.


When you arrive to Moncton and start the drive along the river, it is hard not to notice the muddy Petitcodiac river that empties to the Bay of Fundy.  It is called Chocolate River by the locals, but you probably do not want to drink from it directly.  Because of the daily bore, it is a mix of fresh and salty water, and it is not considered a source of water for the surrounding towns.


We arrived during the high tide at the Hopewell Rocks park and took some pictures from the view points.  It was also a very windy day that they had to cancel the kayak attraction. Apparently you can kayak on the nice day around the rocks during a high tide.




From there we stopped at Octopus;s Garden Cafe and off to the Fundy National Park where we went for a walk and enjoyed the different types of ferns.  We identified the ostrich ferns, and what we later learned were the cinnamon ferns.  There were few more but we did not know their names.

In St. John we stopped at Big Tide brewery for a quick dinner and head off back to our accommodation.

Before the end of the first visit to New Brunswick we also stopped at the Magnetic hill which was a cool experience to ride up the hill.

On our trip back through New Brunswick we stopped again at the Hopewell Rocks park during the low tide and were able to walk on the ocean floor.





Here is the comparison of low and high tides:



Then we had a nice scroll on the banks of the chocolate river and dinner in Moncton.

On the way back out of New Brunswick we stopped at the Grand Falls and enjoyed the sight of the stone formations and the very deep gorge.



We barely escaped the incoming thunderstorm, that caught up with us on the way to Quebec.


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