6th September – Halifax, NS

Today was all about exploring the beautiful town of Halifax in Nova Scotia. We stayed overnight in a beautiful B&B, called the South Park Garden Inn (hehe) from the turn of the century, which is consistent with so many houses in this area. We started off the day on foot heading up the Public Gardens which are stunning. Most of the flowers are still in full bloom with the cold not starting to kick on for another few weeks in this area yet (or so we’re told). The gardens were old and had huge iron gates at the front of them. Later we would see what they would look like in the middle of winter when they are covered in ice and snow (pass the thermals!!). We saw more squirrels and some swans and the occasional turtle in the ponds.We then walked up to the Citadel right in the centre of the city at the top of the hill with the history of Halifax as a fort laid out. The fort itself offered great views and it was interesting to learn the history of the city. There were plenty of characters dressed in traditional uniform and we stayed up wandering around for the 12.00 noon gun firing demonstration. Whilst they may have not shoot out iron balls any longer, the bang was still pretty loud. The best thing about the citadel is we stumbled on the back entrance and walked in. We didn't realise until three hours later on the way out we had to pay $20. We took one for the team and supported team Danantan instead of Parks Canada.We then stopped for lunch at the “Economy Shoe Shop”. Strange name for a bar, but we were told this was the place to go and we sat on the pavement people watching with great food and Dan with another local beer under his belt to try. One of things to do in Halifax is the harbour walk on the front of the town that is filled with boats, restaurants and shops. The day was absolutely fabulous with mid 20 degrees. We’re making the most of it as we know the cold is just around the corner. We saw this tug, known as Theodore and thought it may be a little embarrassing for this to meet a large boat coming into dock!The end of the harbour walk led us to Keith’s brewery (funny that).So we went inside and did the hour long tour of the history of the brewer and of course, at the end we had to sample the stock. For someone who generally doesn’t drink beer – it wasn’t bad at all. Keith’s appears to be our new favourite beer in Canada!! We also took the opportunity to travel back in time for this photo.
Stopped off for Dan to have a haircut (seeya afro) and went to see “The Bourne Ultimatum” at the movies, which I had been dying to see since we arrived. It didn’t let us down – it was awesome. A late quick Italian dinner and we off to bed for the night.

5th September, Gros Morne, NF – Halifax, Nova Scotia (NS)

Packed up this morning to head over to Deer Lake airport to yep, catch another plane – and another prop plane at that. We still can’t get any coverage for mobile phones or internet even at the airport which is kind of nice but kind of frustrating because we know when we get to Halifax we have to update the blog and respond to a tonne of emails. It’s amazing how much you take technology for granted until you don’t have it!!

So onto the prop plane (another Dash-8) for the world’s most expensive flight and we were off to Halifax in the province of Nova Scotia. Why Halifax? No idea really. It looked good and was on the way to Quebec City and Montreal which will be our final destination before heading to either Sudbury, Vancouver or Tent City (otherwise known as North Saskatchewan). So after a fairly quick flight we arrived. We organized our shuttle into town which was leaving in 5 minutes after we arrived to see it drive off full. Four of us missed the bus and the lady kindly provided us with a limo into town at the same cost. Now when I say limo, its not that kind of limo (although that’s what they call them here), it’s a luxury car with drinks, mags, leather seats but perhaps most importantly free chocolate provided. The windows were black so no one could see us, we felt very famous and did the queen wave out the window! The driver must of thought “what do we have here” with two Aussies with enormous backpacks climbing into his car giggling like children! About a half an hour later we turned up to our lovely old Victorian Bed and Breakfast with yes, wifi!!! The B&B is on South Park street although alas no Cartman or Kenny!! We updated the blog (yes you can stop reminding us we are behind) and caught up on our email and enjoyed the pleasant view of the cemetery from our window. Our email appears to be working again so you may find some of the them delivered that we wrote almost a week ago.

We headed out after this with one thing in mind – where is the best local pub? The lady at the counter provided directions and didn’t let us down. About a 20 minute walk to the waterfront and into an underground pub and we were at the Lower Deck, a maritime kind of pub. Anyway, the local beer and wine were good and we met some interesting characters such as Jeff, the loud American who told the whole pub his view on American politics and refused to remove his sunglasses although it was dark. He was brash and from Tennessee and full of crap, but he was amusing none the less. We decided that it was probably time to head home after sitting in the pub for four hours. Dan tried three different types of Keiths and two types of Oland and then went back to Keith's in his quest to drink Canada dry. So the only thing we have seen in Halifax so far is the pub (oops!!). We had an awesome time and have a list of locals to try out over the next few days.