Bay of Fundy and the Hopewell Rocks

After a hardy breakfast in Sussex, we headed for the Bay of Fundy National Park. Ignoring Audrey the Annoying GPS Receiver's commands to continue to Moncton, we instead followed the road signs to the park, along a road she deemed 'unpaved'. It was paved, just poorly with plenty of badly patched bits. It was rather surprising that this was the official road to a National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site (for those keeping score, this was UNESCO World Heritage Site number 3, after Peggy's Cove and Lunenberg... though it's more impressive when the Bluenose is around). Amusingly there was a big road sign about what Irving Forestry was doing for the environment; obviously, re-paving roads destroyed by logging trucks was not on the agenda. This being New Brunswick, if you tell the lady in the booth that you intend to drive straight through the National Park, they don't charge you at the gate.



We did see the industrious beaver, building by the side of the road.



Due to the immense tide there are large tidal flats, and all the boats in Alma appear to have run aground at low tide.



There appears to be a rule: if you go to New Brunswick, you must visit one covered bridge.



This really says we get 8 feet of snow here and do not wish to fall in the river and die.

When we got to the Hopewell Rocks it was still near low tide so we were able to explore a bit in the brilliant sunshine. I got sun burnt, but it was something to see. The wet sand was muddy and slippery, as was the seaweed. Wellington boots would have been a better choice of foot ware. The so-called 'flowerpot rocks' - bit rocks topped with trees, perched on small tidally eroded stems, were impressive.





I was collecting the 'stickmen in peril' signs on this trip.




The bird, according to the park ranger, is a peregrin falcon parent whose eggs hatched 11 days prior. It was certainly in a rush. We tried to get more shots of it, or its partner, flying. Then we went back up the cliff, washed off the mud at the convenient shoe-cleaning station, and went to see the nest from the lookout. You can see the falcon and baby falcons if you look carefully.



(There are more photos on my photostream.)