22nd September – Sudbury, ON – Kilarney, ON

There was no way in hell we were staying in Sudbury today. So we hired a car and decided to head to the highly recommended area of Kilarney. The “short walk” I was promised to Budget to collect the car turned into a nearly 7km treck. But we made it and we were away (from Sudbury – yah). Of course, Dan was in such a hurry to leave, he burned rubber around the corner again – hoon!!


We headed to Kilarney. The drive in (about 100km) was full of autumn colours, again the oranges, yellows, reds and ambers. We kept pulling off the side of the road to take numerous photo’s. Each spot was more beautiful than the last.

Along the way we decided to make a romantic sidetrip to the rubbish dump. Yep the dump!! The guy at Budget had GUARANTEED us that we would see a bear if we went to the dump. We wound up the windows, noted the keep out signs – dangerous bears around sign (promptly ignored) and drove in. I was slightly crapping myself. I am terrified of being eaten alive by a bear. I had visions of a bear coming up to the car, opening the door, coming in and eating me (do bears know how to unlock the door?). But, we didn’t see one, NOT A SINGLE BEAR. Geez.


Anyhow we went to the world renowned Herbert Fisheries for fish and chips by the water. Now this place in summer, you can apparently wait for up to two hours for your order it’s that popular and that good. Personally, I thought the fish and chip shop at the end of our street in Mt Pleasant was better. Lunch done with, we went back to the dump, desperate to see a bear. Again, not a bear in site. Even after Dan undid the window trying to terrify me further!!!!

We drove to a bay and a dog came down to play with us (after scaring Dan to death thinking it was coming after him). He was a cute puppy and just wanted us to throw sticks for him to bring back. Which we did for a while. He chased the car back along the road, only veering off to go to his house.
We drove to Georgian Bay to the lighthouse considered to be the sixth great lake. It was freshwater and we tasted the water. It was great, even though later we read that the lakes are so clear due to acid rain! An old lighthouse was in the area and we shielded from the wind for a while and enjoyed probably the last bit of sun and warm weather that we would see for some time.



We headed back home stopping at various bays along the ways and lots of fall colour shots and Dan insisted on taking me to “The Big Nickel” as I had missed out in the week. Yes, very exciting looking at a big coin…. We did see more amazing rocks which had turned smooth from the glaciers.

Sudbury has one of the biggest Nickel Smelters in the world. It has a massive stack but the housing sits right underneath it where its emissions disperse. Would you want to live here??? Check out how close the houses are to the stack.


After covering some 350km’s we headed back late in the evening. Here’s Dan downloading Star Wars for me to watch up on site - a deal is a deal (as well as Anne of Green Gables Two)….

We are leaving Sudbury tomorrow... pass the tissues.