Bear with me

Hi all,

at the moment I'm waiting for the car rental company to pick me up, as I'll be leaving for New Brunswick today, so let's get you updated about last week, the Salty Bear "Island Hopper Tour". That week can actually be described with one word...!!!FANTASTIC!!! It all started at a very early Monday morning, when I was picked up by our lovely tour guide Kathryn. Straight from the beginning we all knew that the group was great to travel with. The first day we drove towards Baddeck, which is on Cape Brenton, with nice stopover at the beach near Pomquet. First I though I didn't want to go in for a dip, till I felt the water, which had the perfect temperature. After an afternoon walk towards a amazing outlook over Bras d'Or Lake it was time for diner. With all hands on deck to aid, I ended up to be the chief, which became my nickname (aside from Holland ;) ) for the better part of the tour. That night we had our first bonfire, where all kind of hilarious and funny stories were told. Ofcourse the marshmallows witch chocolate chippings where there as well.
The second day we went up to the Cabot Trail, which is the most scenic routes of Nova Scotia. Before we entered the trail we had a small stop over at a scarecrow village, which boiled down to a lot off creepy stories during the day :). In the "Cape Brenton National Park", where the Cabot Trail passes straight through, we had a Moose "hunt" hike, which ended up without seeing a Moose on the hiking trail...However, on the gravel road back to the parking lot a young Moose popped up, attracting dozens of tourists and their camera's. The lunch we had then was a really special one, fresh cooked snow crab legs :P I love it! After lunch it was time to get seasick on the whale watching tour. Though the weather was pretty ok, the waves not to high...the quartering waves played with the boat, making it a roller coaster. However, the whale encounter was fabulous. A whole pack was feeding around the boat, some of them probably on snow crab...though my portion stayed in :). For keeping the balance stimulated we went kayaking afterward, it ended up to be a fantastic tour, with a great guide telling nice stories...not to mention the scenery, which was absolutely stunning. That evening I was on fire duty together with Matthew, setting up a nice bonfire at the beach, while the women of the group teamed up making pizzas. After dinner we sat down near the fire telling embarrassing stories about our selves, which was great fun ;). It ended up in a late night again, but you know what I always say...sleeping is a choice that you shouldn't make to often :).
The third day we made a scenic morning hike in the Highlands National Park, looking out over a bay and the ocean, with a nice morning sun. From there on we drove further on the Cabot Trail towards Baddeck, where we had a nice lunch and sweaty soccer match in the park, as temperatures were around 28 degrees with a humidex of around 36. After lunch we headed out to the marine, to set sail around the Islands and the Alexander Graham Bell's house. The sailing weather was splended though, with wind speeds up to 22 knots, hardly any waves and a clear blue sky. We returned at the beautiful hostel "Bear on the Lake", were we had spend our first night as well. After an afternoon dip in the salt water lake it was time to say goodbye to a part of the group, as they returned sadly towards Halifax. After hughs, kisses and waving, it was time again to make up my nickname. Preparing a lovely diner again, I keep forgetting the name of the recipe, with great aid of the group. Unfortunally it started raining during diner, so we couldn't sit out the rest of the night. The substitute was hilarious however...google for the Australian movie "The Castle".
The fourth day we headed out really early to catch our ferry to Prince Edward Island (PEI), which is the smallest province of Canada. After a two hour drive or so, leaving Cape Brenton behind, we found ourselves on board the ferry, where we enjoyed a well deserved rest and a lovely COW icecream. Just after making land on PEI we made our way towards the beach, for a refreshing dip in the Northumberland Strait, were we played the frisby in to much wind ;). After lunch the road lead us towards the charming Charlottetown, were we spend the afternoon strawling through town and boardwalk. That evening no-one was really into doing dishes again, so we grabbed a very good bite in the Irish pub, where I eat scallops wrapped in bacon...jummy! The rest of the night we spend in a small bar with live music, which was pretty ok.
The fifth and last day we went up to Cavendish, were we mountainbiked through dune landscapes and fields. A part of the group took a short cut to visit the Anne of Green Gables house, though Lee, Richard, Anthony and I took the long route. We kept up quite a pas and arrived back just ten minutes after the rest of the group, giving us some time to relax and play frisby and soccer again ;) The road took us over the Confederation Bridge towards the province of New Brunswick. The bridge is btw the longest bridge over icy waters in the world and is named after the signing of the Canadian Confederation, which took place in Charlottetown some years ago. After a short stop over at the bridge landing for pictures, we found ourselves back on the road towards Halifax. There we dropped everyone of at various locations around downtown, before heading back towards the bright side of town (people of Halifax call Darmouth the Dark site ;)). I gave Kathryn a hand with cleaning out Josée (the van) in exchange for a ride home...as we ended up living only 3 minutes apart from each other ;). So we'll be Cole Harbour Buddies for the time I'm here :).
I think I filled up quite a webpage with text now, so I'll leave it for now. I'll see you probably next week, with more stories to tell. Thanks for reading and all the reactions so far!

Bye bye,
Erik

Pictures @:
http://picasaweb.google.com/E.A.J.Vroegrijk/UploadWeek2?authkey=Gv1sRgCID5kNPAteGWDA#