Leaving Boston for home

Left our motel and drove our little Ford Focus back to the rental company in the pouring rain, then caught the shuttle to the airport. We were hours early, so a long day/night was ahead.

Our plane left at 5:50 pm and got to LA at 11:10 pm Boston time - or 8:10 LA time, then we had a 5 hour wait for our flight to Sydney. 

QANTAS was fantastic. The crew were great, friendly and helpful, the food good too. The flight was great, so smooth, we managed to get a few hours sleep and arrived in Sydney 8:15 am Sydney time, to wet weather. 

Caught the train to Meadowbank where David and Jan were waiting to pick us up. 

What a holiday we have had. We have looked at brochures and maps and listened to a navigator until we can't bear to look at another one.

We have been away for over three months, have had many interesting experiences, seen many fabulous places, caught up with people we haven't seen for ages, taken thousands of photos. 

We've had an amazing time, but for now ... It's great to be home.

Until next time....

Boston

Over the next two days we took the hop-on-hop-off bus around Boston. The drivers are fantastic, very knowledgeable, helpful and quite amusing. 

Wandered around Harvard, saw many churches and interesting buildings. Had a beer down at the waterfront, then dinner at the Beantown Pub to watch some of the ice hockey. 



Boston is a lovely city, but the traffic is atrocious. It is one big traffic jam, all day. 

                     

Salem_Boston

Headed off on our final leg towards Boston. On the way, we stopped at Salem where the 1692 witch trials were held. Did a very interesting tour of the Salem Witch Museum.

On to Boston where we spent one night in a hotel not far from the city, but had trouble finding anywhere for the next two nights as the ice hockey finals - the Stanley Cup - were being held in Boston. In fact the Cup was lost in Boston the next night.

Eventually got a room at a hotel way out at the historic town of Concord. Had to drive to the railway station then get the train to the city.

 

Concord

Belfast_Litchfield

On to Belfast where we set up camp for the night and went for a lobster dinner. 

                       

                

Next day we headed for the Blistered Fingers Bluegrass Festival at Litchfield. Set up camp in a horse stall as rain was predicted. Spent the day and night listening to bluegrass - quite a good day but one day was enough. Poured all night but the tent didn't get wet. Luckily, as we needed to get rid of all our camping equipment before heading home. We sold it all next morning.

Maine, USA

Finding somewhere to sleep for the night isn't always easy. Typically, when you are ready to stop, you can't find a motel or campground for miles, and after crossing into the USA we had to drive quite a distance, to Jonesport, before we found somewhere to set up camp for the night.

      
                   Americans love their flag





Our scenic drive continued and we drove on to Bar Harbor, a really busy tourist spot with heaps of people and shops, very pretty place but very touristy.

 

    

Leaving Canada

Leaving Moncton we visited Hopewell Rocks, also called the Flowerpot Rocks, formations caused by tidal erosion in the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick. The Rocks stand between 40-70 feet tall. We were there at near high tide so didn't get the opportunity to walk on the ocean floor at low tide, but they are pretty impressive anyway.

             

On to Saint John and the Reversing Falls, then sadly left Canada and crossed the US border at Calais where a happy, friendly border guard let us back into USA, no problem.

  

 

PEI 4

We continued along the north shore of PEI down to Summerside at Spinnakers Landing with its colourful huts (shops) then left PEI by the Confederation Bridge, a 12 km bridge linking PEI with the mainland. We were delayed as a full sized house was being towed across from the other side and our side was closed.

 

Drove coastal drive via Cap Pele to Moncton where we stayed the night and went to watch as the famous tidal bore came in. Lots of people there to watch.

PEI 3

Over the next two days we travelled round  the island and went to a couple of concerts which were part of the Festival of Small Halls, one off concerts held at various small community and church halls all around the island over 11 days. Some great acts, and we Aussies were singled out because we came from the furthest away, and won a CD, and Barry was taken up on stage to play the violin with one of the acts. (No, he doesn't even play the violin) lot of laughs.

 Hired some bikes and did a section of the Confederation Trail, a bike/walking trail which follows the abandoned railway lines and extends from one end of Prince Edward Island to the other. The part we did was one of the most scenic parts of the Trail, running beside the water most of the way, past bays, boats, old bridges, lovely farms and houses. Nearly ran over a squirrel and a snake on the trail, but alas, we have seen no bears or moose.

We finally did some camping on PEI as the weather was warmer and drier than it had been. People think there are a lot of flies and biting things in Australia, but they have nothing on the flies we encountered here. Barry and I both had enormous bites on our legs, face and necks for many days.