We headed north from Halifax off the main highway, choosing instead quieter district roads that took us through small snow-covered towns and along the coastline of the Bay of Fundy. In the early afternoon we found ourselves in the small fishing port of Parrsboro that we learned copes with a tidal range of over 50 feet! At high tide the small harbour can take ocean going ships; at low tide the harbour has no water at all. Zilch. It was a cold picnic lunch at the Parrsboro pier; just us and several hundred sea birds. We then rejoined the main trans-Canada highway, leaving Nova Scotia behind us, and several hours later just after dark reached our planned destination of Saint John.
Saint John, the capital city of Canada's New Brunswick province, had its heyday in the late 1800s in the era of sail. At that time Canada had one of the largest merchant marines in the world, and Saint John was prosperous and busy, building wooden ocean going ships for Canada and other nations. Then in 1877, the business core of the city was destroyed in a disastrous fire that spread rapidly from one wooden building to the next. Saint John responded by rebuilding its business heart in masonry, and many of these fine buildings remain today. The advent of the iron ship severely dented the city's fortunes, but Saint John remains a strategically important port in the Bay of Fundy on Canada's east coast. It is also home to Canada's cherished Moosehead beer brewery.
We stayed overnight in Saint John and spent half a day the following morning walking around the harbour and business centre. Then it was time to hit the road again and head east towards the USA. We crossed the border into Maine, USA, at St Stephen/Calais where it was a pleasure filling the car with American fuel that cost only a little more than half of the Canadian price. Travelling in Canada is certainly considerably more expensive than the USA.
