Reef and Rainforest

As soon as we drove off the small cable ferry that crosses the Daintree River it was like we were in another world. The Daintree Rainforest covers a large section of the Tropical North Queensland coastline and at over 100 million years old it pretty accurately feels like being in a prehistoric jungle. The ferns and leaves are enormous, there are vines everywhere, some of them as thick as my leg and strangling the trees. 

The drive to Cape Tribulation felt like some kind of Amazon trek rather than part of a caravan tour of a commonwealth country. While I've enjoyed every part of our trip, from the big cities to the little beach towns, this was the first time it felt like an adventure. We camped right beside the beach in the thick jungle, surrounded by giant bats and brush turkeys. The palm trees and mangroves sprawl out of the rainforest and onto the beach in a perfect tropical setting. I'd really wanted to try cracking a wild coconut and there just happened to be a husking post at our site, only took two tries! Since neither of us have been to Southeast Asia this was an incredible new experience that we didn't really expect from Australia. 

I sought a lot of advice for this trip, from friends and my own online research, but nowhere explicitly said crossing the Daintree River to Cape Tribulation was a must see. There are rainforest attractions closer to Cairns, but I think we'd have really robbed ourselves if that's all we'd seen. Being in a rental campervan we are pretty limited to how deep we can explore (dirt roads are uninsured), so the best camping has alluded us. Cape Tribulation marked the end of the asphalt headed north so it just made sense to explore that far, and I'm so glad we did. 

A downside of North Queensland is that all the beautiful beaches basically become off limits past the Whitsunday Islands due to jellyfish and crocodiles. It's a big tease. There are croc signs at most beach accesses and estuarine rivers and creeks, as well as stinger signs, communal vinegar and netted swimming enclosures at most beaches. While we didn't see any on our own walks, we did take a couple cruises on different parts of the Daintree River in search of crocodiles.  Despite high water levels from the cyclone last week we were lucky enough to spot quite a few, from a massive 15 foot male to some 3 foot babies and everything in between. It's a surreal experience to get so close to them in the wild, few things in Australia feel so far from home. 

Cairns had a reputation for being a tourist trap city that parties too hard, couple that with on the spot fines of $220 for overnight camper parking and we didn't have a reason to spend much time there. We decided to stay in Port Douglas for a few days, which is a smaller town full of resorts and boat trips to the Great Barrier Reef. The guy who rented the van to us in Adelaide told us about a good seafood restaurant on the water and we had planned to treat ourselves when we got there. After the daily show of feeding 500 pound groper fish off the deck we settled in for some locally caught seafood. The barramundi was delicious, no wonder everyone is always fishing for it here. 

We happened to be in Port Douglas on Anzac Day which was interesting to see. There was a small parade and service at the war memorial followed by an all day piss up at the local bars. Hard to imagine partying hard on Remembrance Day, but I guess that's how it's done here. That's probably what the boys were fighting for in the first place. Tradition for Anzac Day is to play an old war time gambling game called Two Up, which is basically glorified heads or tails. Everybody gathered at the biggest pub in town and started throwing big dollars around and flipping coins. We left for about 5 hours and came back to the same people gambling away, drunker and rowdier. It was actually a really good time. We left up $5.

My goal for the Great Barrier Reef was to do a 3 day multi dive trip on a boat that takes you to the further and less visited areas of the reef but time and money were against us on that dream. Next time. Luckily the consolation prize turned out the be one of the best days I've ever had. We took a day trip from Port Douglas that spent about 5 hours on 3 different sites on the outer reef, each one was absolutely incredible. It's hard to describe just how amazing it was to be surrounded by so much colour, the fish and the corals. My camera has been water damaged a few times and so close to broken I almost left it at home. I'm glad I didn't because while most of the photos didn't work the ones I got of the clown fish in the anemones do a good job of summing up the experience.

Fraser Island

After Byron Bay we headed straight to Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast to spend a night with a relocated Canadian friend, James, who worked with Gen at CityTV Vancouver. Surfers is a highly developed and commercialized area with huge skyscrapers and restaurants and night clubs on the beach. I'd heard the term 'Beach Vegas' and it's fitting. On the surface it looks like the opposite of Byron and I'm sure all the hippies and pseudo hippies probably sit around in drum circles talking about how horrible Surfers is but the reality is they are both selling the exact same thing. I can appreciate that Byron has a more laid back charm, but at this stage that charm is entirely manufactured and I actually appreciate that Surfers is a no bullshit vacation town on the beach with restaurants, condos and clubs. 

James has been here three years and still said he feels like he's on vacation, and I can see why. Waking up to a view overlooking that beach every day is definitely appealing.

After Surfers Paradise we headed to Brisbane to meet up with Maddie and Josh for a long anticipated trip to Fraser Island. Maddie is my friend Catherine's older sister, who I didn't really know in Qualicum but we all properly met when we went to Greece a couple summers ago. They also lived in London at the same time and we met up there as well. Their travels have led them to Brisbane now and they were keen to join us on an adventure. 

Fraser Island was one of the first trips I read about and the more I researched the more appealing it got. Essentially it is an island made entirely of sand (the world's largest) that has very little development, no main roads and is only accessible by 4x4. The entire eastern beach is an 80km highway governed by the tides. 

We rented a Land Cruiser for the trip which was of course a phenomenal vehicle for driving up and down the beach and on rough narrow roads through the middle of the island. Right from the start you drive through deep soft sand onto an unmoored barge beached on the sand and moving with the waves. Then Gen spotted a couple dolphins cruising alongside just feet from the boat. It was a fitting start. 

We spent both nights camping just off the beach along the many kilometres of open camping areas. Despite being a popular tourist destination both spots were quiet and private. The stars were incredible. 

Apart from the experience of driving and camping the island there are also a few must see attractions we checked out. The first was the crystal clear waters and white sand of Lake Mackenzie, easily the nicest beach I've ever seen on a lake. We also checked out Eli Creek, which is a perfect creek through the jungle with a soft sand bottom and clear water that you float along. It's so perfect it looks like a theme park ride. We also hiked down to the massive sand dunes of Lake Wabby, and spotted a minke whale off the lookout of Indian Head. Due to sharks and rips the only safe ocean swimming is the protected Champagne Pools, a decent but crowded little tidal area. There's also the Maheno shipwreck which was cool to see up close. 

The dingos of Fraser Island are quite famous, and the multiple warning signs and camp closures really hammer home that they are to be taken seriously. We spotted a few on the beach each day and both nights we had them patrolling our camps and checking us out. They aren't particularly scary but they have attacked children and you wouldn't want to face a pack of them. 

There is certainly a lot of places in Canada to explore with a 4x4, particularly in BC, but I don't think there is anywhere that comes close to the big boy playground of Fraser. We've been living out of a van for a while now but this was the first real camping I've done in too long and it was just amazing. I absolutely love off roading and this place was some of the most fun I've ever seen. It was really nice to have the freedom and time to see the island at our leisure because some of the tour groups looked like a pain in the ass. It was also great to have good company to share the trip with, Fraser Island was the highlight of the trip so far for me. 

In a van down by the river

We've been in the campervan for a little over 2 weeks now. We started in Adelaide and have driven along the coast up to Byron Bay. It's really been quite pleasant, the van is new, clean, comfortable and reliable. I really like having a home base on wheels, and we've enjoyed some free urban camping in a number of places. The real bonus for me has been the ipod jack, as radio stations here are pretty brutal, the DJ's all have names like Clairsy and Kymba and they sound like douches.

Adelaide was basically just a place to start the drive, nothing much on the list to do, but we did manage to see 2 friends of Genevieve's from high school who had separately ended up living there. It's funny when you reach out to people on the other side of the world that you'd likely never see living in the same town. Everyone likes a little familiarity on the other side of the world, and local insight (as well as rides from the airport and home cooked meals) are always great when travelling. It was great to meet them and hear a bit about moving down here.

From Adelaide we headed for the Great Ocean Road, which is not just a clever name. This 250km stretch of highway runs along beaches, jagged coast, sandstone cliffs and rainforest. It was built by WWI vets after the war and claims to be the world's largest memorial, which is a bit of a stretch. Nevertheless it's a stunning drive and worth the hype. The iconic views were amazing, but the highlight for me was all the wildlife. We camped under koala filled trees, saw so many kangaroos and wallabies, picnicked with emus and saw countless colorful bird species, all in the wild.

Next stop was Geelong to see another couple Aussies we met in London, Isabella and Gianni. They had recently had their first child and it was so nice to see them and their new son. Amazing how much their lives have changed since their going away party with some drunken karaoke and bowling on Euston Rd. Life moves so quickly. It was really great to see how well they're doing and have a few nights catching up, and sleeping in a bed.

Melbourne was somewhere we both would have loved to spend more time, but the nature of this trip gave us only a few days. An English girl we met in London, Katy, happens to now be living in Melbourne and offered us a sweet parking space in the city and bathroom access, a real perk. It was cool to have her show us around to some markets. We also met up with Emma, who is my good friend Cole's little sister and also happens to be living in Melbourne. I didn't know Emma that well when we were younger but I'm really glad I reached out to her because she was so nice to hang out with and really went out of her way to show us around the city. It was the very large Melbourne Comedy Fest while we were there, and she and her boyfriend joined us for a show. We were lucky not to have to arbitrarily pick from the list of hundreds as there was a comedian performing that happened to be a regular at Gen's coffee shop in London. She was quite surprised to see Gen and it was really cool to see her show, which luckily was quite funny so we didn't have to lie to her face.

I'd really wanted to catch and Aussie rules football game, and since half the AFL teams are around Melbourne we were told that was the place to do it. There was a good match at the huge cricket stadium while we were there and it was really cool to see. I can get into any sport that so many other people are that passionate about, especially when it doesn't have the nancy diving and whining of European football. I'd definitely be an AFL fan if I lived here. We met for a beer with a guy I worked with in London and he explained a bit about the sport to us, it's amazing to me a city like Melbourne can support so many teams, and there were over 60,000 at the game we went to.

We both really liked Melbourne, I could definitely spend more time there. There were so many vibrant areas and outdoor cafes and restaurants, alleys packed with people eating and drinking, huge parks and a really nice waterfront. I can see why people either like Sydney or Melbourne because they're very different cities.

We kind of rushed from Melbourne to Byron Bay in about 6 days, but we did take the scenic route and stopped at a few great places for beaches and snorkeling like Jervis Bay, Nelson Bay and Coff's Harbour. We spent a couple days in Sydney so Gen could see the city, and have dinner with a girl she worked with in London. We also did the very beautiful Coogee to Bondi walk which is 5km of paths along the beaches and cliffs of the city's coastline. I could really get used to that lifestyle, so many sandy beaches and surf spots and swimming holes.

Now we're in Byron Bay, which is an incredibly strange place. It's a very small town with a huge international reputation for being a good time. It does have some very stunning beaches and tons of great bars and restaurants so I can definitely see why it's gained so much popularity. It's a bit of a victim of its own success though since the massive crowds and traffic kinda of go against the laid back vibe. The first thing we came across was a benefit concert for the areas homeless, which is ridiculous because everybody in Byron Bay is homeless, those guys are just staying longer. Once we passed the requisite hula hoopers and bead sellers I knew I was out of place. I'd love to tell somebody I made the money to be here mining uranium to be sold to China. Namaste Byron Bay.

Parallel Universe

When we lived in London we both worked with a lot of Aussies, one of our favourites was Hannah, from Perth, who Genevieve worked with in Putney. Perth is pretty far out of the way and given the length of our trip we probably would've skipped it had Hannah not moved back as well. Luckily we didn't because I had an amazing time.

I landed about 5 hours before Gen so after writing the last blog I saw that the Swan River that runs through Perth was only a couple km's away so I figured I'd carry all my belongings down there in 35 degrees. While I was sitting at the edge with my feet in the water I noticed a dorsal fin about 30 feet away. Being that I've never seen a dolphin or a shark, and I was about 40km up river, I was pretty startled. Luckily it was a beautiful bottle nosed dolphin that ended up coming within about 10 feet of me. I've always wanted to see a dolphin and that was completely unexpected. 

Gen was sick for a while before getting here and the flights only made it worse so she's had a rough go to start this trip.

She did manage to tough it out for a trip to Rottnest Island, about 20km off the coast. The weather was perfect and we cycled around the island to a few incredible beaches for some snorkelling. It was so good to get back in the water and look at the fishes, I can't wait to do more. The other highlight of Rottnest is the Quokkas, small marsupials with funny little faces that are all over the island. We also saw a pod of Dolphins at the mouth of the river from the ferry back. 

Hannah was an amazing host, her parents welcomed us into their home and it was so nice to meet them and hear their stories. She took us to the port town of Fremantle where we wandered the beaches and city before meeting up with her siblings and friends for a night out. We went to a quiz night hosted by a cross dressing friend of theirs that was a hilarious good time that you could only find yourself at with locals. Nights like those with friends in new places are the fucking best. 

Gen and I spent the better part of a day in Kings Park overlooking the city. There are so many common birds there that are so exotic to me and I just love it. All of Perth was like that. Hannah and Toby met us there with beers for sunset which is always a treat. 

One thing that really stood out about Perth was how much it reminded me of Canada. The mining industry is most prominent in West Australia and by listening to Hannah and Toby describe their city and people they knew, as well  as seeing the expensive utes (SUVs) and the sprawling suburbia I couldn't help but see similarities. Australia makes me think of Canada in a parallel universe where everything is completely different and exactly the same all at once. 

On our last night Hannah invited us down south to Yallingup Beach near Margaret River on a camping trip with a bunch of her friends. It was really cool to see a little more of WA. The bit we saw really made me wish we had time to do more. The beaches and reef and tropical northern parts of the state will have to wait for the next trip. 

It was so great to see Hannah and Toby, and meet her friends and family. I liked Perth and the area around it more than I expected and hope to get back for sure. 

A land down under

As anyone reading this already knew, we are in the middle of a long awaited jaunt around Australia. I'm just sitting in the Perth airport waiting for Gen's plane to land after her version of the epic 2 day journey to get here. My pilot informed us that the 16 hour Dallas to Brisbane flight I had is the longest commercial flight, so there's one for the bucket list. 

I've just spent 8 days exploring Sydney since I had a little more time off than she could get from work and I really wanted a chance to get to know the city a bit better.

I've wanted to visit Australia for a very long time, when we were feeling a little bored in Vancouver the choices for a working holiday were either London or here. I kinda felt like Australia wouldn't offer enough of a change since it's basically a warmer Canada. I think we made the right choice going to London, but since getting the snub back then Australia hasn't really left my mind. The unexpected move to Montreal nearly threw a wrench in the plans, and though it's not exactly the lengthy meandering adventure I'd envisioned I am really glad that we were able to get here in some capacity. 

As I often do, I planned and researched the absolute hell out of this trip. In reading about Captain Cook and idolizing the crazy adventurous spirit the explorers and early settlers had I couldn't help but laugh at the irony, considering all the google maps and street views and trip advisor reviews I've used to make the trip more seamless. I couldn't be further from an explorer.

I stayed at a dirty old hostel in the somewhat offensive area of Kings Cross. I think it's safe to say that my backpacker hostelling days are very nearly over so I guess it was a last hurrah of sorts. Luckily I don't look my age so I think I was able to pull it off. I did meet a few good people, almost all of them Brits, but my days were entirely solo missions to various beaches and skate parks and spots. Manly and Bondi were both beautiful beaches, and if those are the city beaches I can't wait to see what a little exploring find us. 

Hyde Park had a little plaza area that a bunch of skateboarders take over in the evening so I found myself there most nights. I couldn't believe how friendly the guys I met there were, typically I find skateboarders can be pretty cliquey in Canada but that wasn't the case at all in Sydney.

I knew Sydney was a beautiful city from all the photos I've seen, but it never really occurred to me how big it is. At over 4 million people it's a huge city with a massive downtown skyline and tons of diverse neighbourhoods to explore. It's funny but shouldn't be surprising how much parts of it remind me of London. The English really made themselves at home here. 

While I was taking some photos of the harbour bridge one night I heard some rustling in the bushes that I assumed was a little rat or something, then shortly afterwards a possum about the size of a small dog ran and jumped right over my legs as it scampered along the rocks. This was while the evening congregation of thousands of giant fruit bats was taking place in the trees above me. Add the fact that every bird is a new species to me, and I haven't even seen the animals I had hoped to yet, I think I am really going to enjoy the wildlife encounters here. 

I'm really looking forward to sharing the rest of the trip with Genevieve, and seeing some friends from London here in Perth.

Montreal so far

So we've been living in Montreal for about 6 months now, although, actually it still feels more like I've been regularly vacationing there with the amount of time I've spent working in Saskatchewan. Genevieve could probably give a better idea of what daily life is like in Montreal. What I can do is share a bit of how I've found the city, and province, so far.

I spent a week in Montreal when I was 20, so before this move, like London, I had some idea what to expect while Genevieve was going into it completely blind. At least when you tell people that you are moving to Montreal everyone has something great to say about the city, or at least they've heard good things and want to visit. That was a nice change from the sympathetic looks you get telling people you are moving to Alberta.

Montreal is a very beautiful city, the European influence is more obvious than anywhere else I've been outside Europe, and it does make it an exciting place to be even when you’re just running errands. The Old Port is the most obvious example but the entire city really reflects this style. I really love how much of the city streets are lined with 2 and 3 story rowhouses with the wrought iron staircases. It’s a stark contrast from the urban sprawl of most other cities in Canada to see so many people actually living IN the city they choose to live in. The endless miles of cookie cutter homes and 2 hour commutes does not do it for me, and living in the Plateau in Montreal is the perfect alternative to that.

I read a stat that said a person could eat at a different restaurant every day for 13 years in Montreal, and I believe it. The population density means that in every neighbourhood there are countless options for dining, shopping and entertainment. There are so many bars and restaurants within a 5 minute walk from our door that we won’t even scratch the surface. The city parks are lively, ice skating and tobogganing in the winter and picnicking with beer and wine in the summer, especially the Sunday phenomenon of Tam-Tams with thousands of people gathering at Mont Royal park for drum circles, larping, circus training and general lounging in the sun. It’s so pedestrian friendly that weather permitting you can walk or ride a bike to pretty well anything you need to do, I think I drove or took the metro maybe 5 times before the snow came. When Chris and Phil came to visit in September we rode the bike share Bixi’s all over the city, to skate spots and bars, without ever riding more than maybe 15 minutes.

Unlike the “Festival City” we moved from, Montreal actually has a ridiculous amount of events going on year round. Every time I walked around a corner this summer a street would be blocked off for another event I hadn't heard of. We only got here in August last year so I’m really looking forward to seeing what else the city has to offer this summer. Montreal considers itself to be mentioned in the same breath as London, Paris and New York, and while I wouldn't agree with that if it means they keep trying so hard to be relevant and exciting that’s fine by me.

One of the main reasons I was excited to come here was to have a home base on the other side of the country. It’s pretty cool to have so many new options for road trips, which we've already taken advantage of with a couple trips to New York. I've wanted to visit NYC for a very long time but I never expected I’d first see Manhattan by driving straight into it. I absolutely loved both my trips there and can’t wait to go back. I can see why people would draw comparisons between New York and Montreal, they’re both very exciting and vibrant cities with endless options for entertainment thanks to their population density. One of my parallel lives could definitely be living in New York.

We've also gotten to ice skate the Rideau Canal in Ottawa and explore the old walled city in Quebec. There are a number of new cities to see near us, as well as friends in Toronto, and family in the Maritimes. I also bought a Backroad Mapbook for Southern Quebec that looks like there will be a lot of options to get out and explore some lakes and ‘mountains’ north of the city.

Now I couldn't write this blog without venting some frustrations about Quebec, but I’ll try to keep it brief. I moved here with an opinion of this province and that hasn't changed. I don’t agree with a province that has little to offer the country, aside from Olympic athletes, making so many threats and demands, especially the spoiled brat mentality that it wants to move out from its parents’ house and keep the credit card. I don’t agree with a government exploiting its own racism and oppressing minorities to push for separation because they feel their culture is oppressed. I don’t understand why the road signs at Tofino’s national park, over 5000km from any New France claim or French speaking Canadian, are in French but when I’m 1km from Ontario’s border important road signs pertaining to construction or lane closures are not in English.

As a white male growing up in BC I have been fortunate enough to never really experience prejudice, it’s been a very strange and eye opening experience to live where there is the chance that somebody is going to be a total asshole to you for no reason. Of course this is not the norm, but it’s happened on enough occasions that it isn't exactly rare either. I actually kind of appreciate getting a small idea of what it feels like to have someone’s pre judgment affect how they treat you, but at the same time it would be nice to deal with people that didn't treat you like shit for being Anglophone. It’s true that you can get by in Montreal without French, but there is a huge difference between the fluent English you get from a McDonalds employee and the broken English and snarky attitude you get from a government employee when you’re trying to sort out your vehicle registration.
I do appreciate how hard it must be to preserve their language in an English speaking continent. Quebec wouldn't be as foreign and exciting if it wasn't for the language. I think the important thing for me is to stop expecting this place to feel like Canada, it may have the same money but the similarities dwindle after that, a trip to the US feels like going home.
They’re also fighting a losing battle so it would just be petty to make a big deal about it, I give it another hundred years, tops.

Growing up in BC I always ranked the provinces by their natural beauty, but after living in 4 of them now I am starting to appreciate that there is more to a province than scenery. I know I've talked a lot of shit about my time in Edmonton, but there is something to be said about a province that has lots of well paying jobs and opportunity for a good quality of life, and the fact that income tax and sales tax are so much lower is not something to be ignored. I still have no desire to settle in Alberta or Saskatchewan, but I can at least see now why people do. The people in Edmonton and Saskatoon are also the most genuine I've come across. Vancouver is full of yoga hipsters, Montreal is full of artiste hipsters and Calgary is full of cowboy hipsters. People seem a lot more concerned with image in those cities, but there is no bullshit in the cities that aren't as cool. People are just themselves, for better or worse, they aren't trying to impress you. I still like BC best, it will always be home, but I am really enjoying gaining a little more perspective.

It’s no secret that I wasn't ready to leave London and moving to Edmonton was kind of a shock to the system, I was still feeling a lot of wanderlust. Montreal is the furthest you can get from home in Canada and for now that’s still what I’m after. I might rant occasionally about Quebec but in reality it’s none of my business, I don’t even work here. Montreal itself is a fantastic city, in my opinion the best city in Canada, and this is the perfect time in our lives to be here.

-Justin

Thoughts from the road

It's been quite a contrast, spending last year outside of Canada and this year all over so much of it. On top of this drive to Montreal I've done many trips to Vancouver, Saskatoon and Calgary. Here are a few random thoughts from the road. 

- My truck was making squeaks and groans over bumps lately and I wanted to sort everything out before leaving so I took it in to have everything looked at. $1700 later it's worse than it was, and I had to keep the windows closed at all times to stop it from stressing me out. De ja vu. 

- I have a feeling the guy with a lifted SUV with Alberta plates stands no chance of not getting ripped off by a mechanic in Quebec. 

- It's difficult to get a good nights sleep when I'm so paranoid about my truck and everything in it disappearing. I stopped mentally calculating at $20,000, not to mention irreplaceables

- Hotels cost twice as much as motels, and they generally suck all the same. 

- Banff and Jasper get all the glory, but I think Roger's Pass is my favourite part of the Rockies. BC for the win.

- Google Maps and a GPS are great for turn by turn directions between two points, but you still can't beat a good old fashioned map book for actually planning your trip. 

- The 2 best skate parks in Canada are Winnipeg and Thunder Bay, 2 of the worst cities. 

- Road work crews take full advantage of the short Canadian summer

- Why is it that some people drive 10 under the limit during the single lane and then speed up to 10 over as soon as you get a chance to pass. 

- When you hit Manitoba the speed limit drops to 100 but the highway is exactly the same. The dirt roads that run parallel have a speed limit of 90. Figure that out. 

- It might not take 2 full days to drive through Ontario if it wasn't 2 lanes the whole way. Not enough tax dollars in Ontario?

- The bags on my passenger seat make  the seat belt light flash, just to remind me that I'm flying solo

- It's not all bad being alone, when Spice up your life comes on there's no awkwardness. I can even sing along if I want to. Having said that there are a lot of non Spice Girls songs that need to be purged from my ipod after this trip. 

- I have a lot of songs about driving down a highway. If I start doing a bunch of drugs and become more of a promiscuous heartbreaker I'll be able to relate to pretty well all of them.

- There is a lighthouse in the prairies. It's on a small lake in Alberta of course. 

- Rivers east of the Rockies look like chocolate milk

- I never drink coffee because I don't like the taste, but I've been choking back energy drinks. 

- I wonder if peeing in a Gatorade bottle is included in distracted driving legislation. 

- If I drive 15-20km over the limit and take the necessary gas, food and bathroom breaks I can usually hit the gps's arrival time right on the money. 

- In Italy my tomtom's "shortcuts" lead us on lovely countryside drives off the beaten path. In Canada it's ridiculous and I have to ignore it anytime it veers off the norm. 

- If you are proud of the fact your town won 'communities in bloom' in 1997, don't be. As far as I can tell every city in Canada has won at some point. 

- Someone needs to fund a pro-abortion billboard campaign. That side of the debate is grossly under represented on the side of the highway. 

- Amish people are real. 

- Northern Ontario is a lot more scenic than I remember. The lakes around Kenora look amazing, and the whole drive along Lake Superior is really nice too. Just don't tell anyone from Ontario I said that. 

- The drive between Ottawa and Montreal is real life frogger. It's also less than 2 hours so I'm looking forward to a couple weekend trips. 

- It's a joke that from Manitoba on there has been French on the road signs, but once you hit Quebec there's not a word of English. Should come as no surprise there's already a blog (rant) brewing about this province's stubbornness about their dead language. 

Bitterness aside, I'm really happy to have finally arrived in our new home. 6500km and over $1300 in gas and here I am. Montreal is an awesome city that I'm really excited to get to know better. Genevieve picked us a nice place in a great looking neighbourhood. I think it's gonna be fun.