8th September – Halifax, NS – Annapolis Valley, NS

Robert, our tour guide, is a fairly laid back kind of fella. We had organized the previous day to meet him down at the Saturday markets held outside Keith’s brewery at 9.15am. We met him there, no problems. Unfortunately, he had ridden his bicycle and not his car and had to drop his produce home (Robert is a foodie) we arranged to meet him back out the front of the hotel at around 9.30. Well, 10.30 finally ticked around and no Robert. He apparently bought so much stuff that he had to do two bike trips. Oh, and did we mention Robert will talk to anyone, so over an hour later and after a phone call he finally arrived! Yah Robert, what a way to run the business. We didn’t mind too much though as it was only us and Robert on the trip. Robert was rather tired after our long day yesterday so first we had to stop at the supermarket so he could buy some mixture like Red Bull – which he kindly bought for us too as we were tired. The supermarket was absolutely massive. We gave it a miss and had an impromptu game of volleyball out the front with our “Sponge Bob – Square Pants” ball in the chuck out rack out the front. Robert took ages (he must have been talking again) and we were finally off!!!

First stop along the way was to visit strangely enough the grower of the world record of the biggest pumpkin in the world. We saw this pumpkin which still had around 100 pounds to grow and during the day had its own blanket placed on it and its own “Pumpkin Tarp” to ensure it didn’t split in the heat (it was 30 degrees today – unseasonably warm). With the large pumpkins, they are cut open for charity and made into boats in a regatta and the money goes to charity. They also grow tonnes of them for Halloween – a big deal over here apparently.

We then stopped off at the “Tangled Garden” a beautiful spot where you can wander through the gardens with art hidden amongst the plants. We gave the flower maze a go and hid amongst the massive sunflowers. The Tangled Garden also made the yummiest jams and liquors and salad dressings. Because we started so late in the day before we knew it, it was lunchtime and we stopped off at Robert the Foodies suggestion for Lobster Sandwich and the region’s best pies (check out the size of my lemon meringue!!!) We rolled out of lunch and back on the road to the Gaspareau Winery. Here we tried white and red wine, the Canada famous Ice wine and port with brandy and the local maple wine. We purchased the port thinking we’ll be needing it soon in the cold. The Canadian wines aren’t a patch on the Australian ones (we should know – we’ve probably drank Australia dry). We drove to the Look Off (a lookout) over the Bay of Fundy. The Bay of Fundy is very unique in that within a twelve hour period, the tides will rise by up to 50 feet which is equivalent to 15 metres and then the tide will go out, draining the bay almost dry. The view reminded us a little of Tuscany with the fields and colours. We drove to Halls Harbour where this was clearly evident as the large fleet of boats were sitting high and dry with the tide completely out. We could walk on the river floor and touch the boats on the other side. Whilst we were there the tide was starting to roll in the river level rose white a bit in the small time that we were there.

In the restaurant at Halls Harbour there were Lobsters, a local delicacy (you can buy them at the airport to take away on the plane). This massive one which weighed 8.5 pounds would have cost $142CDN to eat!!! We saw one which had malted and had to be removed into his own tray as his shell was too soft to put elastic bands on his claws and he would of attached the other lobsters. The lobsters have a pincher and a crusher on each claw and they were massive. We watched the sun set over Halls Harbour and called it another day getting home around 9.00pm. We had a ball with Robert who said it was like being out with two friends. We both agreed.

We had to move accommodation and stayed the night at the Haliburton Inn…..noice.