The rescue and the loss

Just when you think every situation that can arise has passed you by, you get another one from the unfathomable depths of fate. The life of a news cameraman is an interesting one, made more so by the odd testing situation we sometimes find ourselves in. Whether it's an unexpected attack from a member of the public, a nutter deciding he wants to be on telly, or perhaps a sudden rainstorm in the middle of a live broadcast it's all bound to happen at one point or another. Today, I experienced one of the more frustrating sides to the job shall we say.

I have landed a part time job as a cameraman at a television station in Vancouver, Canada. Today I was sent off on a job with a reporter to cover the banning of campfires at many campsites across British Columbia due to the escalation of the fire hazard after a bout of hot weather.  Off we went to Golden Ears provincial park near Maple Ridge, BC. An hour drive and we arrived, all prepped to interview a few campers and see what they thought of the ban. Suddenly there was a phone call and we were told that a developing incident was occurring in Golden Ears Park.  A search and rescue was underway. We went to check it out.

Luckily for me, Nich and I had been out to Golden Ears park a couple of weeks prior for a spot of camping ourselves (yes, we had a campfire, lovely it was). In fact, it's also lucky for you, the reader, as it allows me to illustrate this tale with some pictures. For example, here's us having a perfectly legal campfire in the park...

Camping... Canadian style

Anyway, i digress.  Myself and the reporter arrived at the scene.  We found out that a man was stuck at the base of Lower Falls waterfall following the attempted rescue of a dog.  We decided to go and check it out, despite the fact that it was a 4km hike with the equipment.  I had done the trail before so knew that it was easy enough, even though my reporter was wearing high heels!

No heels were broken as I lugged the camera up the trail, and on arriving at the falls the story began to unfold.  A woman and her dog, and a man and his dog had trekked up to the falls.  The woman's dog had leaped into the inviting pool above the falls and the current had swept poor doggy over and down the three story drop, seemingly onto the rocks below.  When they looked, the dog had survived, so the brave man decided to jump in and save it.  Unfortunately for him, the current was very strong and , despite saving the dog and dragging it away, he was only able to scramble to a nearby rock and cling on. 

Lower Falls. The stranded man was to the right, just over the rocks.

The water is freezing here. Straight off the snowmelt, it is barely above freezing, so any length of time spent in there is bad news (I can personally vouch for this having swum in the river a couple of miles downstream).  The woman called 911 and the search and rescue team were deployed.  

The rock on which the man and dog were stranded was out of view from the main trial. In fact, the large crowd of onlookers told me that you couldn't see anything when we arrived (see above picture).  I got some shots of the crews working themselves into position and hatching a rescue plan and the then decided to climb above the waterfall to a point I had visited on my last trip, to see if i could catch a better view.  Sure enough, I found the perfect vantage point. It was a little risky, on sloping rock right by the waterfall itself, but I was perfectly safe on the bone dry rock. 

Lying by the pool at the top of the falls. The dog had jumped in here and immediately got into trouble

I caught the entire rescue on camera, leaving only to capture the heart warming reunion of first the rescuer and the dog-owner, and then dog-owner and rescued dog. 

The rescue teams were superb and I captured some great footage of them in action. They also spoke to us, along with the rescued man and dog-owning woman, who was very grateful to everyone involved.

As I finished the second to last interview, my tape ran out. So i swapped it out, handed the full tape to my reporter and told her to label it up and keep it safe. I swapped to a new one and packed up my equipment. We finished the shoot and set off triumphantly down the 4km trail back to the car.   As we reached the car, I unlocked and started packing up. I looked up at the reporter as she came toward and I noticed that she seemed slightly distressed. 

She had lost the tape on the trail.

This had never happened to me before, not least on such a good, exclusive news shoot on which there was no possible way of recapturing the footage. I went back (being the one not in high heels) and searched the whole 4km trail twice and couldn't find the tape. After a while, the reporter joined the search in a commandeered fire buggy but it was to no avail.

I suspect a member of the public picked up the bright blue DVCAM box and took it away, not knowing how precious it was. 

   
Click here to download:
The_rescue_and_the_loss.zip (297 KB)

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Day trip to Seattle

I've been meaning to write about our little day trip across the border for a week or so but i now finally have time as we sail across the Georgia Strait to Vancouver Island.  Nich had booked herself on a course at the Westin to see the 'father of data visualisation' Professor Edward Tufte, way beyond my current intellectual level (and budget), so I decided to come along to Seattle for the ride and hang out in the city for the day.

We hopped on a bus, faffed at the border and before you knew it there were Mcdonalds and armed police everywhere. Welcome to America!

Guns and Mcdonalds...and girls who say 'like' alot

Within about 5 minutes of wandering around, I stumbled across the first ever Starbucks coffee shop in Pike Market. It's a pretty unassuming  place and the only reason I spotted it was because there were about a thousand Japanese tourists filming themselves wandering around inside and gasping in disbelief that the coffee tastes the same as the Starbucks on their street corner.  Hard to believe it's now one of the most recognised chains in the world when you look at the place.

Starbucks first store

I then went out to Ballard to look around some music shops a friend had recommended but the crown jewel of the day was my trip to the Experience Music Project (basically, the museum of ROCK). The things that this town is famous for (apart from a coffee shop) are rock music and sci-fi, and the museum is a great place to visit if you are in any way interested in either. Here are the highlights of the sci-fi department...

Yes, that's the model of the Death Star they used for filming Star Wars. It's about the size of a football.

Captain Kirk's chair from Star Trek. I'm not a Trekky but I'd have this in the living room.

 One of the Teenage Mutant Ninja (Hero) Turtles complete with....

...remote control! I'd have this in the living room too.

The original IPad. Steve Jobs gets all of his ideas from Star Trek it seems.

The rock music section was definitely more my thing. They have a whole floor filled with practice and jam rooms. You can turn up and have a jam on bass, guitar, drums, keyboards and vocals. I just plugged in the Ipod and played drums on a Tama Starclassic kit for a couple of hours. In the museum they have some great exhibits, mainly from the Grunge scene and Jimi Hendrix, both Seattle alumni. The greatest thing for me, though, was Eddie Van Halen's Kramer super strat from the early 80's. 

Van Halen's Kramer. I decorated one of my keyboards to match this in my youth. Bad idea.

The Fender Stratocaster used by Hendrix to play the US national anthem on THAT recording.

The last prototype Fender Telecaster before production. 1949. Worth a fortune I'm sure.
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World Cup predictions *UPDATE*

The second round has just finished but I managed not to keep the 'better than random' performance up. A couple of good perfect scores though.

Cheese-o says...................Actual real-life says

 
South Africa 0-2 Uruguay...... 
 
South Africa 0-3 Uruguay
  
France 0-0 Mexico...................France 0-2 Mexico
  

Argentina 4-1 South Korea.......Argentina 4-1 SouthKorea (*)
Greece 1-2 Nigeria...................Greece 2-1 Nigeria
 
Slovenia 2-2 USA.....................Slovenia 2-2 USA (*)
England 3-0 Algeria.................England 0-0 Algeria
 
Germany 0-0 Serbia.................Germany 0-1 Serbia
Ghana 3-3 Australia..................Ghana 1-1 Australia
 
Holland 5-1 Japan......................Holland 1-0 Japan
Cameroon 1-1 Denmark.............Cameroon 1-2 Denmark
 
Slovakia 1-1 Paraguay................Slovakia 0-2 Paraguay
Italy 2-0 New Zealand...............Italy 1-1 New Zealand
 
Brazil 3-1 Ivory Coast................Brazil 3-1 Ivory Coast (*)
Portugal 4-0 North Korea.........Portugal 7-0 North Korea
 
Chile 0-0 Switzerland................Chile 1-0 Switzerland
Spain 4-1 Honduras...................Spain 2-0 Honduras

Cheese-o got eight results right and three perfect scores (*)

So, here goes with round 3...

Cheese-o says...................Actual real-life says

Mexico 3-1 Uruguay
France 2-0 South Africa

Nigeria 1-2 South Korea
Greece 0-1 Argentina

Slovenia 0-4 England
USA 2-1 Algeria

Ghana 1-1 Germany
Australia 0-1 Serbia

Denmark 1-0 Japan
Cameroon 1-3 Holland

Slovakia 0-0 Italy
Paraguay 3-0 New Zealand

Portugal 1-1 Brazil
North Korea 0-5 Ivory Coast

Chile 2-5 Spain
Switzerland 1-1 Honduras

Should I get this 100% right (haha), here are the potential headlines...

'Germans crash out!'

'England through... what was all the fuss about?'

'Rejuvenated French go out on goal difference'

'Italians qualify despite drawing all three group games'

Given the current 'better than random' performance. I reckon two of these headlines will happen. Let's hope they're the first two!
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Cheese-o's World Cup Predictions

For every World Cup since I can remember (and that probably only starts at Mexico '86), I've had a World Cup wall chart.  And, every 4 years just before the start of the tournament, I write the scores on it. Not the actual scores obviously, but my predictions. I use it to predict the whole tournament, right through to the winner, runner up, and 3rd place team.  This year is no exception, apart from that I'm writing a blog and thought it would be a good idea to share it around.

It's very much like one of my regular checks on a Friday afternoon - the 'Lawro's Preditictions' section on the BBC football website. It's where Match of the Day's very own 'ugly Tom Selleck', ex-Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson gives us his thoughts on exactly what the scores will be in each of the weekend's Premier League fixtures.  It's been quite a talking point on the Hull City message boards since the start of our two year stint in the Premier League, firstly because Lawro pretty much gets every result wrong in the first half of the season (especially Hull City's), and then he settles down and annoys everyone by being mostly right after Christmas.  I expect it's because many teams are unknown quantities for a couple of months, and then become very predictable, like the Tigers.

The good thing about the World Cup is that there is no post-Christmas bit. Many teams only play 3 games so it's like trying to predict who will be top of the Prem at the end of September. How hard can it be?
So here goes, here's my predictions versus the outcome of the first round of group matches, a la Lawro's Predictions. For ease and lack of imagination, I'll call this bit 'Cheese-o's Predictions'
 
Cheese-o says....................Actual real-life says

South Africa 1-1 Mexico.......South Africa 1-1 Mexico *
Uruguay 1-3 France.............Uruguay 0-0 France
 
South Korea 3-2 Greece.......South Korea 2-0 Greece
Argentina 3-0 Nigeria...........Argentina 1-0 Nigeria
 
England 0-0 USA................England 1-1 USA
Algeria 0-1 Slovenia............Algeria 0-1 Slovenia *
 
Serbia 2-1 Ghana................Serbia 0-1 Ghana
Germany 2-0 Australia.........Germany 4-0 Australia
 
Holland 2-1 Denmark...........Holland 2-0 Denmark
Japan 0-2 Cameroon...........Japan 1-0 Cameroon

Italy 0-0 Paraguay...............Italy 1-1 Paraguay
New Zealand 0-1 Slovakia....New Zealand 1-1 Slovakia
 
Ivory Coast 1-2 Portugal .....Ivory Coast 0-0 Portugal
Brazil 5-0 North Korea.........Brazil 2-1 North Korea
 
Honduras 3-4 Chile.............Honduras 0-1 Chile
Spain 2-0 Switzerland.........Spain 0-1 Switzerland
 
Cheese-o got ten results right and two perfect scores (*)
 
So not great but better than Lawro at the start of last season and better than picking at random. What I noticeably got wrong was the number of goals in many of the games. I sort of expected that there might be a few more than the odd one, but having watched most of the matches so far, all the teams are pretty scared of losing.  The last two world cups have had overall averages of 2.6 and 2.2 goals per game. Not giving anything away, I totted up my total for all the group games and t turned out to be 2.7! Whoops. Oh well. What I will give away is this... my top four (yes despite recent results) are 1. Spain, 2. Brazil, 3. England, 4. Argentina. 
On we go to round two. Only one match has happened at the time of writing and I so nearly got that right. Uruguay's last minute third denied me.
 
Cheese-o says....................Actual real-life says

South Africa 0-2 Uruguay......
South Africa 0-3 Uruguay
 
France 0-0 Mexico  
Argentina 4-1 South Korea
Greece 1-2 Nigeria
 
Slovenia 2-2 USA
England 3-0 Algeria
 
Germany 0-0 Serbia
Ghana 3-3 Australia
 
Holland 5-1 Japan
Cameroon 1-1 Denmark
 
Slovakia 1-1 Paraguay
Italy 2-0 New Zealand
 
Brazil 3-1 Ivory Coast
Portugal 4-0 North Korea
 
Chile 0-0 Switzerland
Spain 4-1 Honduras
 
I'm particularly looking forward to the Ghana vs Australia match. Feel free to cut and paste your predictions into the comments section. I'll post my third round choices and the results when the time comes.
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Good Morning World Cup

I have my alarm set for 4.30am just in case I feel like waking up to watch Algeria v Slovenia tomorrow morning. Not likely but you never know. 

This World Cup is already starting to remind me of Japan/Korea 2002 when we were all in England watching the games over breakfast. Over here in Vancouver, I was unsure how popular the tournament would be. Most people seem to know it's happening and there is a decent amount of media coverage. The CBC is showing all the games live and have a selection of pundits based in Toronto. Among them is former Scotland player John Collins - not sure why, and a couple of English guys I've never heard of who are utterly terrible.  After enduring the CBC for the first day, we decided to get out and find a pub to watch England.

We got up early this morning to get down to a pub in town which had set itself up as 'England House' for the tournament. They were charging on the door but we thought we'd give it a try to see what the atmosphere would be like and to mix with some other Brits. Shockingly, when we arrived over 2 hours before kick off, the queue was around the block and growing. We stood in it for half an hour but were then told that we wouldn't get in as the place was at capacity.  Turns out my underestimation about the popularity of football along with the realisation that a LOT of English people live over here got the better of me and we had to go elsewhere to watch the game.

Big queue at 'England House'

Luckily, there were no shortage of places and there were plenty of England fans in the pub around the corner. Not only did I meet people from England, I also bumped into Nottingham Forest fans, and a couple of girls from Hull of all places. They get everywhere.

England fans in Vancouver = Beers at 9.30am

Not a bad result, although the mistake by Robert Green was a disaster. Feel sorry for him but he'll not play again I don't expect.  

The best part of the day was after few beers we could get down to the beach to spend the afternoon chilling out and sobering up! I better watch it or the month of June and half of July could disappear quite easily down on English Bay beach.

English Bay beach: right on our doorstep
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Planes, brains and no automobiles

I type this sitting at gate C29, Toronto airport.  What happened to driving across Canada? Well, you know when your 'too good to be true' alarm goes off?  I had that exactly a week ago when I received a telephone call from the man at hittheroad.ca to ask me if I'd like to drive a convertible from Toronto to Vancouver.

Here's the deal... you get to drive the 2700 mile journey across the second largest country in the world for free! Yes, for free! All you have to do I suppose is contribute a little towards the petrol costs, in this case around $150 (£100).

The story began a few weeks prior when I first discovered the companies who operate 'drive-away' schemes.  I contacted torontodriveaway.ca who told me that they had a vehicle to deliver to British Columbia but it needed to leave immediately. Unfortunately, we were embarking on our trip around the Eastern provinces (see below for detail) so were unable to take the opportunity.  The company had been recommended not only by the Lonely Planet guide, but also by a friend who had done a similar journey a couple of decades ago.  They were obviously a professional outfit, they had an office, photos of their staff online and when I called them they were pragmatic about the chances of delivering a vehicle. 

I then found canadadriveaway.com, also based out of Toronto. The business had an informative website, oddly linked to hittheroad.ca, and a twitter stream advertising a plethora of vehicles which needed transporting in our direction. Perfect. I filled out the details and emailed them over. 

Immediately I received a response asking if we could take a car. A convertible Chrysler Seabring no less. Amazing, but it needed delivering before we had finished our trip out East. I negotiated a little but every reply to my email was a one line answer. I may be alone, but when you type and email with, say 3 or 4 questions on it, and you get a one line response which answers one of the queries, it is a tad frustrating.

Many emails followed about prospective cars, the website brandished numerous vehicles going to BC, the twitter stream constantly advertised numerous opportunities to take a car, it all seemed like it was going to be no problem. 

As our trip East drew to a close, it came time to finalise details and actually make it happen. I emailed... no response. After a while it became apparent that we were out of luck and had missed the boat.  But there  were still a bunch of cars, on the website and twitter stream, which needed to go.  Eventually we booked flights, not only because they were cheap but because we needed to get back to Vancouver for potential job interviews. I emailed Canadadriveaway and got an immediate response to tell me that it was our lucky day. There was a vehicle to go. I telephoned the airline and they told me we had 24 hours to cancel our flight without penalty... perfect!

There's always a 'but'...

I was told the final details needed to be sorted and that I would be called back in 5 minutes. Anyway, six hours and two voicemails later I did get a return call to say it was all happening, I just needed to lay down a $500 deposit from my credit card.  I asked for some details about the car. Namely, where it was located and where it was required to be delivered. 'I can't tell you that' was the response. Now, I don't think I would be the only person in the world to get alarm bells at this point. I just didn't feel comfortable paying for something which may not have existed, despite the seemingly genuine nature of the business. My other feeling is that you can always tell a scam when the perpetrator gets agitated when confronted.  Sure enough, I got a bit of an earful when I tried to express my unease with laying down a hefty deposit when he couldn't even tell me where I would be picking up and delivering the car.  When pressed about a rough location, I got an 'Umm' an 'Err' and then two rather odd locations, one being Port Dover, a small fishing village about an hour out of Toronto, and Cowichan, which was described as a 'suburb of Vancouver'.  It's actually a small town on Vancouver Island.

So I bailed out and now am about to fly instead. Perhaps we'll try again in the Autumn.
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Bikes and filmstars in Montreal

It's WELL hot in Montreal. You can stand in the sun for about 5 minutes before needing a drink. So we thought it was a great idea to go for a bike ride along the Lachine Canal. 

This city is apparently even better than Vancouver (which I noticed had recently only come in at number 4 on the list of the world's 'most liveable cities', tut tut) for cyclists, so why not try it out. I should point out that Nich was not completely convinced that it was a good idea in the heat, but I pressed on regardless. Besides, we're stuck waiting to see how we can get across back to the west coast and looking for things to pass the time!

One of the great things here in Montreal is a system called 'Bixi', which is a sort of remote public bike rental service. All over the city there are stations with bike racks which you can access by putting your credit card in a machine. You simply take the bike and then return it to another station when you've finished and you're charged a basic fee and then for the time you've used. There are plenty of stations around the city so it's easy to drop a bike near to your location and then pick another up later. 

Pay, grab a bike and go

It's a great idea. Brilliant, in fact. They're now rolling it out in a couple of American cities and I really hope it catches on across Europe. Of course, it helps if the city which adopts it has decent access for cyclists... London, I fear, would be a bit of a difficult place to make it work.

One thing you can't stop though is heat exhaustion. We only lasted about 45 minutes on our ride before Nich had to call it a day.  

A pleasant trip along the Lachine Canal on our Bixi bikes

Sill, an added bonus was that we spotted Mickey Rourke wandering out of the Intercontinental Hotel. He's in town filming his latest project 'the Immortals'. One for the scrap book. Apparently his co-star Freida Pinto (of Slumdog Millionaire fame) is also in town.

Mickey Rourke - wool hat in 33 degree heat. Nutter.

Might pop down the old town later to see if we can see them filming.
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Lay that bad boy flat

A weekend up in the glorious mountains of the Laurentians in Quebec is something which makes coming to Canada worthwhile. 

Canoeing on Lac Moore in the Laurentians

We'd started this leg of the journey in Ottawa, Ontario on the Thursday. I have fond memories of the city having visited on a CISV summer camp aged 11, and remembered the hot summers and swimming in the Ottawa river.  However, we were due to stay in the very interesting Ottawa Jail Hostel.  The place used to be a jail (obviously) up until the early 1970s, and I can honestly sat that not much has changed. Well, it's been made a lot more comfortable. Cells have been knocked together to make dorm rooms, and extra loos and showers have been added. But there are still whole blocks of tiny 3m by 1m cells which are untouched.  In fact, there are regular tours around the building... not just because it was a jail but because it is supposedly one of North America's most haunted buildings. 

Ottawa Jail Hostel: Wooooooo! (that's Nich in the middle)

I'd had no idea of this prior to arrival.  And, to make it interesting, the owner informed us that there was a party of one hundred 8th grade (12/13 year old?) children arriving for the night.  

The kids arrive

The ghost tours then started and I could hear from the bedroom a tour guide explaining to visitors about the numerous sightings by hostel residents.  So, we spent two nights in a haunted house without really knowing about it. All I can report is that we heard someone hammering hard at one of the external walls at about 6.30am for around 20 minutes.  Apparently there were no workmen working at that time. I haven't got any Hampton Court style conclusive proof or anything but never mind. Of course, I spent a lot of the night after getting back from the pub, clattering about in the corridors trying to scare the kids but i'm not sure that had much effect.

On then to Quebec. We drove through the town formerly known as 'Hull', (now officially 'Gatineau') and up the hills to Mont Tremblant.  The resort is a well thought of ski area and we'd arrived on the weekend of the Coupe du Quebec mountain bike race.

Downhill racer goes over a kicker

Nich watches a racer head down towards Mont Tremblant

We managed to catch the cross country on the Saturday and the downhill racers on the Sunday (today) and in between we watched the fantastic Red Bull Monte Descend. An event in which a cross country rider and a downhill rider team up and do laps of a part cross, part downhill circuit for 2 hours in the dark. The winner is the pairing with the most laps when the gong goes.  Great to watch.

Downhiller finishes another lap of the Mont Descende, about to tag his x-country team mate

After all that it was nice to get down to the beach to relax, even if the water in the lake was freezing. On a hot day, all you want to do is swim, but we watched a succession of people try and then run out screaming.  I mean, it was probably frozen solid less than two months ago. That didn't stop the intrepid Nich though. After not much persuasion she went in... 

It looks amazing, it's freezing!

I think she lasted about 20 seconds!  That 20 seconds more than me however.  One more night here and then back to Montreal. Good times.
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The Cabot Trail

When browsing the BBC Jobs section a few months back I spotted the advertisement for the role of  'Director'  for acclaimed motoring show Top Gear.  What an amazing job it must be to go out and find amazing roads to drive on? To scout the world for the perfect scenic drive? Well, I suppose the only downside is then you have to spend far too much time filming it and not enough time just enjoying it. 

 
I didn't apply for the job anyway. Far too little experience/skill/everything. But if I did, the Cabot trail in Nova Scotia would be the first place I'd come to film.
 
The Cabot trail....in a 1.6L Kia Rio!
 
The 300km long route is one the star attractions for any tourist in Nova Scotia and Canada for that matter. It winds along the coast and over the rugged Cape Breton highlands national park with amazing views every few miles. 
 
Great views from the road
 
The weather was perfect when we set off and we were hoping to spot whales and seals down in the numerous coves we passed.  The area is a hotspot for whale watching but we were right on the leading edge of the season and the boats weren't due out for a few days.
 
Bit of whale watching from the car. Don't tell the hire company
 
However, you soon see why the boats aren't out. Half way round with not a cloud in the sky, the weather suddenly turned as we headed inland and we were soon enveloped in thick fog and started seeing snow by the road as we ascended. 
 
The summer season here is extremely short. It doesn't really start until mid-June and lasts until late September. You can see why it was so quiet. But this has its advantages too. We reached the peak of the overland section and saw a pair of moose trekking amongst the trees right by the side of the road. Our first moose sighting in Canada.
 
Beware of the moose! They're not kidding
Moooooose!
 
We drove off the trail for an hour or two to visit the interestingly named 'Meat Cove' to try and spot a whale or two.  They weren't showing up though so we stopped off at a waterfall en route to our overnight hostel.
 
You can see this from the road about 5 miles away
 
The next day the fog had descended further and the high points of the trail were a white out. A shame, until we dropped out of the clouds and were treated to the most spectacular views of the trip. The road is actually more popular with cyclists than drivers. Our host at an amazing hostel at the start of the route (Bear-On-The Lake) told us that they get around the route in 3 days which is an amazing 100km a day over difficult terrain. Perhaps we'll be back to try that one day.
The best road in North America?
 
The experience is impossible to capture on camera, as I found when trying to film it using the GOPRO and little Fuji point and click camera we have. But, to not leave anyone who reads this blog disappointed, I thought I'd better knock together a quick film. Here are the results of a couple of hours frustration on the increasingly annoying Final Cut Pro the other night in Quebec City. Music courtesy of Steeleye Span. Enjoy!
 
 
 
 
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'New Scotland' better than 'Old Scotland'

Winding along the country roads through Nova Scotia is a very pleasing experience. We landed in the province on the ferry from Saint John, New Brunswick following a long and eventful drive from Montreal. Our hire car, from the hilarious-but-actually-true company 'Rent-a-Wreck' managed to break down on the side of the Highway on the outskirts of Quebec City.  After learning the French for 'wheel bearing' (turns out it's 'bearing') we were on our way, We drove the entire length of New Brunswick, taking in a waterfall en-route.

Grand Falls: Just on the side of road really.

Nova Scotia is the most British place outside Britain I've ever been to. It's even more British than Guernsey which is in Britain. After landing in the town of Digby we took a trip out to Digby Neck, a tiny strip of land which pokes out 30 miles into the Bay of Fundy. The summer is whale season and the whole area is a great place for whale watching. Trouble is, the summer doesn't actually start until June here, and it only lasts for 3 months. Then it's basically back to winter again. The 'neck' of land is amazingly thin and reminded me of Spurn Head near Hull, only a lot longer. From there we headed south to the town of Lunenburg.  A UNESCO world heritage site, the town is a popular place for shooting movies and, sure enough, we parked up right next to a shoot. Apparently, according to Greg our friendly hostel patron, it was a TV series called 'Haven' based on Stephen King's books. Greg had been an extra in the TV series 'Moby Dick' and filled us in on the local penchant for film making. 

Filming 'Haven' in Lunenburg

The town is amazing. A postcard perfect fishing village with tall ships sitting in the dock. One of the ships, a barque named the Picton Castle, was about to set off for a 14 month round the world voyage. Apparently you can pay to be on the crew!  They set off the day we left and we caught a glimpse of them sailing off into the distance.

The Picton Castle: Set off around the world the day after this photo. Also a castle in Pembrokeshire. 

From Lunenburg we moved onto the wonderful provincial capital Halifax and proceeded to pass through New Scotland's landmark towns of Truro(!), New Glasgow(!)  and now we are in a small village called Aberdeen(!), how original. The Canadian imagination wins again. I mean, I'm not having a go but here is a brief list of some of the familiar sounding places we've driven past/near in the past week.  Kingston, Peterborough, Cambridge, Pontypool, Whitby, Grimsby, Pickering, Lincoln, Brighton, Bath (twice), Cornwall, Warwick, Bristol, Canterbury, Liverpool, Bridgewater and Enfield. It'll be nice to stay in good old Pleasant Bay tomorrow night after driving the famous and apparently spectacular Cabot trail. Over and out.

Nova Scotia
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