Revisiting New Brunswick
We spent the morning relaxing in the lounge onboard the Ocean train. After enjoying breakfast and lunch in the dining car, we arrived in the province of New Brunswick and our stop, the city of Moncton.
From Moncton we drove for 45 minutes to Hopewell Rocks. Located on the shores of the Bay of Fundy at Hopewell Cape, the Rocks are the site of some of the World’s highest tides. At low tide, you can walk on the ocean floor in the shadows of the flower-pot shaped rocks carved by erosion over thousands of years.
Next, we drove two and a half hours to Saint John and checked into the Hilton Hotel. After a quick change we headed out on a walking and tasting tour with Uncorked Tours. We finished the evening with a fabulous dinner at the East Coast Bistro.
The next morning, we walked to the City Market for some retail therapy. The market is one of the oldest in North America. From there we went to Skywalk Saint John to see the Reversing Rapids. This natural phenomenon occurs when the tide of the Bay of Fundy meets the Saint John River and pushes it back upstream creating rapids, waves and whirlpools.
From Saint John it is an hour and 20 minutes’ drive to St Andrews by-the-Sea. I visited this pretty seaside town on my last visit to New Brunswick and was really pleased to be back again. St Andrews was Canada’s first seaside resort town and until 1958 it was possible to arrive by train. The sun came out for our tour of the beautiful Kingsbrae Gardens. We then had an excellent lunch at Savour in the Garden, a fine-dining restaurant located within the Gardens.
The next activity on our itinerary probably wasn’t the best idea after such a delicious lunch! We went whale watching with Fundy Tide Runners. After donning our flotation suits and listening to the safety briefing, we boarded the Zodiac. It was exhilarating but very windy and quite bumpy when at full speed. We saw porpoises and seals, but it wasn’t until we were headed back into the harbour that we glimpsed, very briefly, the fin of a whale.
After such a busy day, it was a relief to check-in to our hotel for the night, The Algonquin Resort. When I visited St Andrews last time, this historic hotel which first opened in 1889, was in the process of being refurbished. It was great to be back to see the work completed and to get to stay and experience it for myself. We dined at one of the best restaurants in the Maritime provinces that night, Rossmount Inn. It was a wonderful evening.
The following morning, we visited Ministers Island which is just off the shore near St Andrews. This 500-acre island was the summer estate of Sir William Horne who was the driving force behind the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was also instrumental in the creation of the first national parks in Canada. The island can only be reached at low tide by driving 1km across the seafloor. We had a brief but fascinating tour around his house and the newly restored, massive agricultural barn.
Sadly, because we had a train to catch, we couldn’t stay long enough to explore the island properly. On the journey back to Moncton, we did get a chance to see something that New Brunswick is famous for, a covered bridge! There are 58 examples to see throughout the province, including the world’s longest, the Hartland Covered Bridge which is 391 metres long. The one we saw wasn’t that big but was built in 1917 and it was a great way to finish our visit to New Brunswick.
