Day 58 Tues-Nova Scotia delights…

Up early but didn’t have to leave until after brekky at the motel…had a messenger call from Vicky to tell us Robyn Bryant Jane’s daughter had collapsed and been flown to the Gold Coast hospital from where they live on the border between Qld and NSW…..much prayer is required and we pray that God will uphold them in this difficult time….as I write this blog there is no word in why this has occurred for Robyn….Jane was in a Biloela visiting Bill and Vicky about to all head out to dinner when the news came through…poor Jane had to drive to Gladstone to get a flight out after arriving in Bilo today from a 4.30am flight from Armidale….she will be absolutely exhausted plus filled with worry…But God has this in every way….

So feeling very sad we headed to brekky…..I had bought a heap of tomatoes 🍅 that some had accidentally become frozen, so for brekky today because we could cook toast I microwaved them to have on my toast….yummy, yummy….was the best brekky I have had for weeks…with some butter, salt and pepper into it and voila a great meal 🥘 to behold….very satisfied today…

It was raining when we woke up, so had to pack the car in the rain…then off we went towards the massive 12.9k bridge…. This time we had to lay the toll of $50.27 to get off the island….remember the Canadian $ is more in Aussie $’s…..off we headed over this massive bridge…in the pouring rain and howling wind…to be honest a bit scary with the wind knocking us with its gusts….

We left around 7.30ish so drove for a few hours stopping at a Tim Hortons for a cuppa….today John’s in luck….he had his Cappa…..on we went until we drove into Nova Scotia where straight up a toll this one was only $4.00 so very good it wasn’t an arm and a leg….then after seeing the Nova Scoria sign there was a tourist info centre…this was truly one of the best centres we have encounter the whole trip…I got to look around while an older guy had John pinned down 😁🤪😂… not really… but he did have him by the ear filling him with all the info of what to do and where to go…I had been around picking up booklets and brochures and blow me down John walked out with nearly the same amount in his bundle as mine…truly crazy we had heaps and double of everything….

Ahh well I can give a Tim and Jess a bundle 😂😂😂😂 !

Off we went on the yellow tourist trail through village after village…the most notable and remarkable sight was the red, red mud cliffs…river and ocean banks….truly different and like PEI it stained the water pink….
We seemed to keep finding Lighthouse here as well …. and Church’s my goodness so many church’s…unreal gorgeous homes kind of Cape Cod type some of them…we seem to follow the inlets that truly left a remarkable sight with what we discovered as Massive tides…one spot we stopped at that had an old bridge that had long gone…but left some pillions behind that had been errored with time with the unreal 10meter tides rolling through the river mouth…We could see on the river wall just how high up it comes.,…. This area had been part of an old rail line with the bridge that was now long gone going across the river South Maitland Marsh….an old caboose was left behind and the tourist info centre at this spot had just lined it with Cedar it smelt unreal….interesting area that’s for sure…. My glory seeing where the ocean comes up the river inlets just how far, how wide and how high it comes in is indescribable…..I was gobb smacked just seeing it’s force of nature and ferocity where it had come up the estuaries….

Then finding Lighthouse spots dotted along the coast at Burncoat Head… first….this one was built 1859…. This area was filled with people out on the mud flats as it was truly an amazing area to explore….most people had mud boots 🥾 on which gives you an indication of how the area is awash with water over the red heavy soil area… 100 cubic kilometres with incoming and up outgoing tides….unreal isn’t it….apparently the people walking in the beach’s in this area have to keep a close eye on the tide times… because when it does come in it comes in so quickly people have drowned very quickly with its force of the incoming tide 😮😮😮
Info below in this light house! Any info I have copied has brackets around it so you can zoom past it if you don’t want t know the history!!

(The Burntcoat lighthouse guided wooden sailing ships since the Golden Age of Sail in Nova Scotia. Built in 1858, the lighthouse was built on land which eventually became an island. A narrow neck of land, just wide enough for a team of horses and wagon, connected it with the mainland. After the strip of land was eroded, the inhabitants went to and from the lighthouse by climbing up and down the bank by means of a ladder. There were five kerosene lamps that were cleaned and lit every evening. The lighthouse keeper of the first lighthouse saw the crashing of the schooner the Only Son (1898). This vessel belonged to the Mariner of Minasville, Captain William Scott. The vessel was being sailed by his sons in a storm and was dashed to pieces off the rocks of Burntcoat. The sons survived and the only part of the vessel that remains is the vessel's guiding light. The first lighthouse was eventually lost to erosion of the coast. The lighthouse was re-built in its present site (1913). The lighthouse was kept by William Faulkner and his family, on whose land the lighthouse was built. The gas light in this house was raised every evening on a 76 ft. tower. During the Great Depression, a German mail plane crashed off the coast at 3:30 am on 6 October 1931. Many local residents, including the lighthouse keeper Thomas Faulkner, heard the loud roar of the plane over their homes and then an explosion in the bay and then silence. Fifteen minutes after the crash the lighthouse keeper Faulkner heard screams from the water. The lighthouse keeper made his way to the Noel wharf to see if a rescue boat was available. There was a schooner, however, Faulkner had to wait for an hour before the tide was high enough to push it off. While he waited, the pilots continued to scream. After an hour, as the schooner began to float, the pilots fell silent. After a twelve-hour search, the bodies of the pilots were not found. The only remnant of the plane that was found was the gas tank. A week later, a pilot's body was found by a passing tugboat. Immediately after the event, Thomas Faulkner reported that he thought he could have saved the men had he had a boat ready. The local newspaper reported that the crew were trying to set a record for mail delivery from Europe to New York. The lighthouse eventually burned (1972). To commemorate the history of the lighthouse and the site where the highest tides in the world have been recorded, the community rebuilt the lighthouse (1995). Burntcoat Head Park is currently operated by the Municipality of East Hants and operates seasonally during the months May–October. Burntcoat Head park contains a replica lighthouse and walking trails and displays that interpret the natural and human history of the Minas Basin. The replica lighthouse contains an interpretive centre that provides information about the tides, past lighthouses, and history about the surrounding area.[15] Burntcoat has one of the only two lighthouses remaining in all of Hants county. The other lighthouse is in Walton, Nova Scotia.)

The other spot we had time to view a lighthouse was at Walton built in 1873…info below….it was out on an obscure point you couldn’t see from the road so we thought the sign was wrong! But there it was and a lovely little gift shop with a young girl selling her wares there! She hag some really lovely items for sale but John was already in the car ready to head to our next port of call! I had to say sorry the young lady that we were on a time line so couldn’t look longer! It was so quite I could tell she felt quite down! Anyway off we speed’

(The present lighthouse was built in 1873 by Timothy Parker, at a cost of $620.00. It is the only surviving lighthouse in Hants County. It was once the brightest lighthouse on the upper Bay of Fundy, guiding seagoing ships into the port of Walton.
Here they loaded cargoes of pulpwood, gypsum and barite before setting out for ports along the eastern seaboard of the United States. The light apparatus consisted of two large flat wick lamps with a brass base, using kerosene oil. The light was magnified by a Fresnel lens with a 16" reflector. A black screen revolved around the outside of the lamp so that the light was visible 10 seconds; dark 3 seconds; visible 4 seconds; dark 3 seconds (occulting), through a repeating cycle. The screen was operated by a clock mechanism, that had to be hand wound each night by cranking a handle for about 60 turns. Kerosene oil for the lighthouse came in 45 gallon drums, and were lightered ashore by the ship's launch to the breakwater, from the Coast Guard ship, S.S. Dollard, which anchored a few miles offshore. In later years the SS Dollard was replaced by the CCGS Thomas Carleton, to serve the Bay of Fundy and the Minas Basin. In later years the lighthouse was converted to an automatic system, with an electronic flasher installed giving light 3 seconds; dark 4 seconds; light 7 seconds, then repeating itself. After the decline of shipping in the late 1970's from the port of Walton, the lighthouse was decommissioned. The lighthouse was declared surplus by the Department of Transport, and was put up for sale by tender. The Municipality of East Hants bought the lighthouse in 1991 for its heritage property. The lighthouse was designated as heritage status on August 12, 1992. Today, the lighthouse is maintained by the East-Hants Tourism Association. It has become an important tourist attraction along the Hants Shore.)

We ended up with a quick lunch at Just Us Coffee Roastery at Grand Pre’ nothing special but food and quick as we still had a good 5 hours to go…big days with this travelling….getting in late just looking at a few sights along the long roads we are on…truly is crazy going at this pace and you as why! That in itself is another story!

As with PEI we came across church after church then as we zipped along an absolute monster appeared at the side of the road Église catholique Saint-Bernard Catholic Church it apparently took 32 years to build….Built in the shape of a cross was constructed in 1910 finished for first mass 1942…. Couldn’t see inside and didn’t have time…evening it was opened!

The best of the truly stunning Homes were in Clifton area Church Point….. my glory seeing the best there as around was at the beginning of the run and nearly the end…

The houses we were seeing,…were unreal so looking it up I could see what types that we were seeing today….
(Nova Scotia has many diverse architectural styles, spanning the province's four centuries of built heritage. These styles include:
French Colonial, 1604-1790
Dutch or Georgian Colonial, 1700-1830
Palladian Architecture in Canada, 1749-1830
Picturesque, 1790-1840
Neoclassical Architecture in Canada, 1820-1860 (includes Classical, Roman and Greek Revival)
Scottish, English, German or Irish Vernacular, 1830-1880
Gothic Revival, 1840-1890
Italianate/Italian Villa style, 1840-1885
Second Empire, 1860-1890
Queen Anne Revival or High Victorian Eclectic, Shingle Style, 1880-1905
The Four Square, 1895-1930
Craftsman and Bungalow, 1910-1940
Tudor Revival, 1915-1940
Most of the province's heritage structures, especially private residences, were not architecturally designed, but were instead built by knowledgeable carpenters. Consequently, while most have characteristics of a particular style they will not necessarily be 'pure' examples, due to many vernacular influences. Some may even be transitional buildings, with the characteristic style of the time predominating, but overlaid with first touches of the next architectural trend or with vestigial reminders of an earlier style.)

Our last piece of wow moment was another unreal, cathedral Église Sainte-Marie is a Catholic church in Church Point, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is one of the largest and tallest wooden buildings in North America. Built in the form of a cross, the church nave measures 58 metres (190 feet) in length, with transepts that are 41 m (135 ft) across. The church spire rises 56 m (184 ft) from floor to steeple, with its cross adding another 1.67 m (5 ft 6 in). Originally 4.6 m (15 ft) taller, the church steeple was struck by lightning in 1914, requiring part of the spire to be rebuilt.

(The first church built in the Church Point area, part of Nova Scotia's French Shore, was at Grosses Coques. Built in 1774, it was a rough chapel to serve the needs of Acadians returning from Massachusetts, and other areas, following the Great Upheaval, the deportation of the Acadians. A second chapel was built in 1786 on a point of land jutting into St. Mary's Bay, giving rise to the name "Church Point"….A third church was built following the arrival of Jean-Mandé Sigogne, the first resident priest. This church was built along the main road in the community, where the parish cemetery is now located, rather than on the point. It burned down in September 1820. It was rebuilt in a classical Georgian style, and served the community from 1829 to 1905, when the present church was opened. Construction on the present church began in 1903. Father Pierre-Marie Dagnaud, a Eudist Roman Catholic priest, was appointed the head of Collège Sainte-Anne in 1899, thereby becoming the parish priest of St. Mary's. He decided on the construction of a grand church, and hired Arthur Regnault of Rennes, France as his architect. The church was built by master carpenter Léo Melanson, with the assistance of 1500 parishioners. Due to dwindling attendance and rising maintenance/repair cost, the church held its last service on Christmas Eve of 2019. With repair cost estimated at $3 million, the Société Édifice Sainte-Marie de la Pointe was set the deadline of September 2021 to raise the required funds.)

To be honest my mind had by this time gone into overload…so much zipping by so fast trying to capture it as best I could…. My mind has taken in as much as it could….. actually felt numb…

These long days even though filled with wonderful sights are exhausting…5 yrs ago we could have Blitzed it in….not as young as we were and very, very tired….we will make it I know…. It’s a long story and one I won’t write about…but been a different trip to what was the plan…
We are in Yarmouth for tonight a seaside town but looks like on an estuary! Yarmouth is the home of the largest fishing fleet in Atlantic Canada!
We ordered in room meals as we were just too tired to go out…went to reception to order the Vietnamese meals…all good until about 30 mins later they rang to say sorry the cook went home….great… so plan B we found out there is a Walmart looks like frozen dinner meals…and yep they were great…cheap and eatable…a few drinks to cheer the soul and the day has had enough…
Still waiting on word from Jane on Robyn other to say she is in terrible pain….Read more