The Final Chapter

We had a great farewell party. All of our lovely friends came to wish us well on our trip home and say good-by. We will miss them and we’ll never forget them, especially their generosity and the way they invited us, total strangers, into their homes. The children made some really good friends, it’s sad to think they won’t see them again, I hope they stay in contact in the years to come.

In hindsight, besides the fact that, Prince Edward Island, is a beautiful place where we had fun exploring and experiencing the climate, culture and traditions, without coming to know the locals it would have been a much lesser of an experience. Also, being able to spend so much time together as a family has definitely strengthened and bonded us as a family unit.

When I think of P.E.I. I first remember all the beautiful families we made friends with there through the St. Dunstan’s Catholic Community. Next I remember the snow, that was fun. Next memory would be the laidback rural lifestyle set in amongst stunning scenery ranging from pastures to woods to beautiful lakes, bays, rivers and other water inlets, a vast contrast to the big city . Yes, fond memories to treasure the rest of my life.

I’m so glad we went to Canada. There were times before we left when I had doubts about what we were doing. Taking 5 young children to the other side of the world can be quite daunting but I put all my trust in God and kept telling myself what Jesus sais in the bible, “Be not afraid, I go before you always” and he did and he blessed our entire trip from start to finish. The most wonderful thing about the whole trip though is that it gave us a chance to get closer to God. With the extra time we had to attend Mass during the week, in general not being so distracted by worldly things and being surrounded by a strong Catholic Community.

I was blown away by something, Naomi, said to me on the plane. Our trip back went smoothly, albeit tortuously long, except for one small incident. We had taken off from, Sydney, when the pilot announced that there was a problem with the aeroplane and he was not going on to, Brisbane, but had to turn back to , Sydney. I didn’t say anything, just looked over at, Naomi, who was sitting next to me. Naomi said, “Well, Jesus has looked after us this far, he isn’t going to abandon us now.” And of course, she was right, He didn’t we arrived in Brisbane, eventually safe and sound, thanks be to God.

Our Canadian adventure was over!

Hobbled

We are hobbled, unable to go anywhere without a car. This is what it would have been like 100 years ago, imagine living your whole life on such a beautiful island and not even seeing a fraction of it - of course you would have had a horse and cart at least!

I saw a raccoon in my garden, and frequent glimpses of several lovely humming birds. The neighbours made hay bails. The mosquitoes are vicious here now it is the season for them and even worse are these black biting flies that go for the back of your ears and neck, they are vicious! Insect replant is a necessity.

We have 1 week until we leave. I have plenty of sorting, packing and cleaning to do and plenty of time to do it! We are making preparations for our good-bye party we are having here on the week-end. All the lovely people we have met here are coming.

Vincent, has been keeping himself busy helping a neighbour with house renovation and applying for jobs back in Oz. Now he has got a job, got a love skype and the internet which made it possible for him to have job interviews. He starts on Aug. 2nd, it's a great relief to know he's got a job to go back to.

David and Mary-rose's Birthday

We had a big birthday weekend. First, on Saturday, David turned 11. After presents and cake we spent the rest of the day at "Shining Water's Fun Park". We all had a good time. Besides the water slides there were plenty of other novel things to do. I almost didn't bother going down the slides but I was glad Vincent talked me into it as they were fun.

Since we've been on the island, David, has wanted to try eating lobster, since it was his birthday we thought we would indulge him. He did like it.

The very next day, Mary-rose, had her 7th birthday. Another day of presents and cake. We intended to go to the other fun park on the island called, Sandspit, however it looked like it was going to rain so we postponed until a better weather day. When we did go a few days later we all had a fun time. The kids went on many rides, many times, I went on the roller coaster.

the next day, which was Canada Day, we had a minor car accident. Praise be to the Lord of all, Jesus Christ, none of us were hurt, not even a scratch! It was a short time later we found out that particular intersection was known for crashes. Several small crosses (God rest their souls) at the site, a sombre reminder of how we had been spared from a tragedy this day. Everyday of life is such a precious gift from God. I am reminded that everyday that passes is one day closer to meeting my maker.

Anyhow, the car didn't fair so well. I was very glad that we splurged on the kids birthdays because we probably won't have a car for the remaining 3 weeks we are here and won't be getting out too much. A kind friend is lending us his car on Sundays so we can get to Mass and do a shop. At least I should have plenty of time to pack and clean the house.

Go West

We finally made it over to the Western section of the Island. It was a big day as the round trip took 8 hours. We saw some beautiful scenery, stopped at the West Point Lighthouse and enjoyed finally being able to actually go in and climb the steep stairs to the top, what a view!

The second stop was at North Cape, where there is another lighthouse and many large windmills. Here there is a trail you can walk to get a closer look at the windmills, which we did.







On other news, Vincent, and David, had a great time camping overnight with a heap of other father/sons. We spotted (again) the lovely Bald Eagle that lives in our area, at first he was just above our roof top. I also saw a live raccoon and a beautiful red and black humming bird right outside my window, feeding from the flowers, which by the way are stunning, there are many beautiful wild flowers on the island, and so many different kinds too.

Visit to the Green Gables house

Apparently, no visit to Prince Edward Island is complete without a visit to, Green Gables, the actual house that, Lucy Montgomery, imagined her fictional character, Anne Shirley to live in after being adopted by, Marilla, and her brother, Matthew.

It was opening for the tourist season around the same time Vincent's mother, Stephanie, was arriving. She only had two days on the Island (before we left on the road trip) so this is how we decided to spend one of them.

At first we got lost and couldn't find it, so mum did end up seeing more of the Island than we thought she would. Confusion set in, at one point we ended up walking up a rugged, windy beach-I'm not sure why. Eventually, Vincent, and I got it together and remembered it was in Cavendish and headed in the right direction.

When we did finally get there we all liked it, it was very quaint and pretty. The older kids have read the book so they knew what it was all about.

Back in the Swing of Things

It took me about 4 or 5 days to fully recover from our road trip but, we're pretty much back to normal routine now. Schools back for another four weeks and then it's the Canadian Summer Holidays!

Naomi, had her 9th birthday, she had a nice day with lots of presents, cake and eating out for lunch.


The weather is warming up now, we went for a walk on the beach and we weren't the only ones there! Six others were seen, a new record. One young couple were even sunning themselves in their togs (I was still wearing a jumper myself). They suddenly jumped up and playfully raced each other to the surf, as soon as their toes touched the water they instantly turned tail and ran right back to their towels. It was pretty funny-the water is freezing.

After our walk, we went and explored the St. Peter's Bay Light house. I didn't have my camera with me, but found this photo of the lighthouse below and that's exactly how it looked to us too. This is the first lighthouse we've explored since before winter, and it's actually not very far from our house at all. We tried to see it a few months back but the small dirt road that leads to it was still blocked with ice. Soon, in the coming weeks we will head over to the Western side of the island-where there are you guessed it- many more lighthouses!



This weekend, Vince, and David, have been invited to a father and sons sleep over at a friends camp cabin in the woods. I'm sure their having a great time-mossies, sleeping on the floor, fishing, cooking on the fire-grunt! grunt! Vincent's last words to me were, "If it's too bad we can always drive home"-that's the spirit!

Tomorrow, we have a large church picnic to go to in honour of the parish priest who is leaving to go back to Rome. He has been a wonderful, holy priest and we have been Blessed to have him for our time here-which is growing shorter by the minute.

Before we left Australia, Vincent's, Aunt and Uncle had booked a Canadian Cruise, and low and behold they have a designated stop in town one day next week! Isn't that just amazing! We are going to meet them off the boat! Especially nice for, Helena, as the Aunt is her Godmother.

Ottawa to P.E.I.

Ottawa, is a very nice city. The first day we spent looking around the Museum of Nature, it was really good. In the afternoon we looked around the city. The Parliament house and buildings are very beautiful.

The next day being Sunday, we were going to go to church and then onto the Museum of Civilisation. However we were thwarted by a big marathon and a lot of confusion about which church we were actually trying to get to. We eventually ended up at the museum but had to leave church till the 7:30pm Mass. When we did finally make it to Mass we found ourselves in yet another stunning Cathedral. Another named Notre Dame (French for Our Lady).

The Museum of Canadian Civilisation was huge and very impressive. There was a whole interactive kid's section featuring different countries, the kids had a great time in this area. Huge totem poles and a time line diarama from early colonisation to modern times was very interesting. Being a museum buff from an early age I really enjoyed both of the museums.

Before we knew it our time in Ottawa was over, we had 2 days of driving ahead of us to get back to P.E.I. Travelling back through the western part of New Brunswick was a good idea as the scenery was lovely. I wondered if the Island might seem a little tame now after all the amazing things we had seen on our trip. However, once we were back over the Confederation Bridge I found P.E.I. was as beautiful as ever. In the 2 weeks we had gone all of the trees grew their leaves back and the whole island was bursting with green! We were all relieved to be back in our home away from home.

Toronto - zoo, C.N. Tower and Niagra Falls

The first thing I noticed about Toronto was an awesome road system. Dozens of lanes going in and out. Lots of traffic but flowing freely. Toronto is a bit bigger than Brisbane (1/2 a million more people). The 3 nights and days ahead were chokers.

First we went to the zoo. It was a good zoo, very big. We were walking around and I'm thinking to myself - it's really, really hot! what is going on, this is Canada!- Well we had a good time at the zoo seeing animals from all over the world, the Flamingos, were my favourite. David, pictured with some jelly fish were also pretty cool . I even felt a bit sorry for the kangaroos, so far away from home. When we eventually returned to our accommodation we found out Toronto had had it's hottest day in 70 years! 36 degrees C!

After dinner and a bit of recovery time we were off to the C.N. Tower (Canadian National Tower). The tallest tower in the world - 555m - (there is a bigger building- somewhere). Quite a view from the viewing platform. We could see the sun setting over all of the city and surrounding areas, it was quite something. The see through glass section of the floor was a real spin out, and fun to step on, especially for the kids.

Here is where I thank God for small mercies. On the way up the tower, we got in on the third elevator ride up, only about 30 people were ahead of us and we only had a short wait of about 10 minutes. However, on the way out, we saw a line up of 200 or more people waiting in line to get up the elevator. It sounds like a small thing but when you've got 5 kids with you those kinds of things can make all the difference. On this trip we've been blessed many times with things like that.

The next day we went to Niagra Falls, it's about 1 & 1/2 hours drive from Toronto. The falls were awesome, I loved looking at them, they were magnificent! The first thing I noticed when I got out of the car was the roaring noise they made, they're really loud. I've never seen anything even close to it. The next thing I noticed as I got closer was the water spray from the falls when the breeze blows in your direction. As far as natural wonders go, it was the highlight of my trip.

Montreal

The day we left Quebec and arrived in Montreal was, Helena's, fourth birthday. She had a good day with lots of presents and a big chocolate cake. She was able to wear her new clothes and jewellery to Sunday Mass at yet another beautiful, elaborately decorated Cathedral called St. Patrick's.

The next day, David, as part of the PEI chess team played at the Canadian National Championships. Even though the team did not get a placing it was a really good experience for him. We were all very proud of him, even to get to the national championships was a great achievement.

While David, Vince, and Naomi, were at the chess tournament. Myself, mum (my mother in-law), Mary-rose, Helena, and Eve all went to St. Joseph's Oratory, which just happened to be up the road. This was quite an amazing place. It sat on top of a high hill so you could see a great view of Montreal. The place itself was huge, so huge they had several long escalators. Inside is the tomb of Blessed André Bessette, who is soon to be named a saint.

After we picked up the others from the chess tournament we went for a drive into Montreal city. We saw many things including the last but definitely not the least Cathedral on the list. Notre Dame, it was the most ornate, beautifully decorated Cathedral I've ever seen and yes, by now I've seen a few!

Our last night in Montreal was spent meeting and dining with our P.E.I. landlords who live in Montreal. It was a lovely get together and I very much appreciated the delicious roast dinner. The next day it was time to say good-bye, Montreal, and hello, Toronto!

From Quebec City to Montreal

Our last day in the, Chateau, about 30 min. N. of Quebec City began with, Vincent, and David, climbing a mountain. In winter it is used as a ski slope. It is very high and very steep. Apparently the view from the top was worth the 1 and a 1/2 hours it took to climb, and the photos seem to prove it. Vincent was very proud of David and how he managed to go on even though it was very tough going. (first two photos) In the second photo you can see our accommodation right at the bottom on the right.

Next, after Mass at, St. Anne's shrine, we did the life sized Stations of the cross, situated across the road, along with other amazing holy buildings.

Then, we went for a ride in a gondola up a mountain, right next to a huge waterfall. (last photo) Then, we walked over a bridge which took us right over the waterfall. Then, after taking the gondola back down we walked around to the base of the waterfall and let it's spray saturate us. It was great!

After this we took a drive around the newer parts of Quebec City. It is a nice city, large in a sprawling kind of way, not many high buildings. Finally we returned to our chateau exhausted. What a big day.

The next morning we said good-bye to Quebec City and set out for Montreal. It took about 3 hours to get to Montreal.

Tomorrow, David, goes off to his Chess tournament and I am very much looking forward to a rest day. It will be good for the girls too. Surprisingly and thankfully it is really warm here. Tomorrow is suppose to be 29 degrees Celsius! We haven't had anything like that since we left Australia.

St. Anne de Beaupre Shrine and Old Quebec City

Well, we're three days into our road trip and have already seen and done a whole heap of stuff. We started off cruising the coast of New Brunswick ending up in Campbellton in the north of the province.

The next day we made it to French Quebec and it really is French. We spent the first half of the day exploring, the St. Anne de Beaupre shrine. It is the largest shrine in the North America and absolutely huge and spectacular. Of course the photos don't do it justice.

The second half of the day was spent exploring Old Quebec City, this was also beautiful. One of the oldest walled city in North America. Full of character and charming sites. Amazing to me is that it is still functional. People still work and live in the area. We went down a funicular (you'll know what that is if you watch the Amazing Race TV show).

We did a lot of walking and I've never taken so many photographs in my life so many different things to see. so needless to say I'm exhausted! but loving it!