Day 68 Fri-Last leg of a mammoth trip

We packed up early packed the car…then farewelled Montreal……After brekkie at Tim’s we went from France to Scotland Glengarry to England as Cornwall….heading past Greece Athens ….then into Newcastle England 🤔🤔🤔🤔 could have been Australia 🤪 nope England…then onto London wow we made it back to London…it’s so funny seeing all these names of places around the world, but mainly of France, Glasgow Scotland and numerous other names from England.. Berlin Germany, Athens in Greece ….Sydney Australia and I think 🤔 England……Copycat names for most…Sydney here is older than our Sydney… then Perth, Gladstone and Queensland, and Victoria….. Certainly a multi nation of Well known towns and cities names copied…

When the forefathers of this country came here the never embraced a new country they all dragged the old country with them never letting it go…especially the French ohhh my goodness have they dug their heals in and not let go of the mother country…it has been quite an experience mainly on the east side of Canada to see the indoctrination of past history from the countries of origin still impacting this country so much today..,something we just wouldn’t see in the our country…well maybe in Sydney or Melbourne but not so much Brisbane etc….

Tim and Jess had made it to Toronto to sort out his Passport which only has a few months left on it…They had been in Quebec with the Pope and couldn’t access so much of the city due to his presence there…now heading home to put up with us oldies for the next 2 and 1/2 days…
We stopped at a very tiny but quaint waterside community called Rockport for morning tea…it is the (Heart of the 1000 Islands
Rockport’s rich history dates back over 200 years when Scottish and Irish settlers first came to the area. In the 1880’s, Rockport was an important steamboat building, transportation and cord wood refueling centre. The first ferryboat from Alexandria Bay, New York to Rockport started operation in 1924, owned by the Hutchision Brothers with a flat scow and a motorboat to tow the scow. Later the ferry was taken over by the Hutchision Ferry Co. in 1925 when the steamboat, the Roosevelt was put on to take the place of the scow. As the business developed another boat was necessary to accommodate the increased traffic. The General Hancock was added in 1929 until the Thousand Island Bridge was built and the ferry boats were discontinued. A large photo mural of the Roosevelt and General Hancock can be found on the Boathouse Motel.

Rockport’s history of boat building is depicted by a mural on the boat building shed at Andress Boat Works. Established in 1921, it is estimated that nearly 50 tour boats and working boats, plus many St. Lawrence Skiffs, were built at Andress Boat Works. The standard St. Lawrence skiff is a river icon. St. Lawrence skiffs, once common on the river of their namesake, are fading into the past.)

From here we keep going down down Hwy 401 ending up after checking goggle maps for a lunch spot …we found the Copperpot Brewery but there eftpos machine was down so only took cash and we didn’t have enough cash…so we found…The Yardbird restaurant at Clarington for lunch….what a find very French menu we settled on…..cream of mushroom soup, accompanied with red-wine braised chicken / caramelised/ wild mushrooms, house bacon, pan jus, brioche bun…. All very tasty, me being a bit uncouth asked what the consume was with the meal…turns out it was the Jus and you dipped your Brioche bun into it… it tasted so yummy I wanted to have it alongside my cream of mushroom soup…plus I had a yummy cocktail of Prosecco with Gin and Lemon juice, lemon peel and syrup…very tasty…John even had a beer he enjoyed…
Feed and relaxed, off we set into mayhem of crazy traffic from one side of Toronto to the next…that turned into chaos… our 8 hr trip back turned into 10 1/2 hours… very tiring very stressful…..so glad to make the turn towards Kitchener….

Made it Tim’s at 5.30pm….we had to unpack the whole ute it goes back tomorrow…as in past big trips this car has done us well….it’s done 90ks short of 20,000 kilometres….no wonder we are exhausted…bet it is too…..it looks dirty but looked after…John will give it a car wash tomorrow it has to be back by 12 md…

We as usual….. and because of me have so much crap to sort out, get rid of and or take home…John always calls what I take a chuck wagon….😂😢🤔😩 …. We survived the trip with our cold bags even through the darn fridges did my head in…I have to sort out my grocery bag….Knowing with Tim and Jess coming home to Aust they don’t need more crap…..Our downside this time wasn’t being able to access self container units…mostly a fridge, microwave, coffee machine and in most rooms twin double beds…, no real cooking facilities which I use when we travel…and it has hit and miss to what we ended up in our rooms…regarding fridge, microwave etc…

Tim took him and myself to Farm Boy to buy some fresh veggies 🥕 and some salmon 🍣 for dinner…just love that Farm Boy…the choices of veggies and fruit plus the huge deli section, Bakery and prepared meals is unreal….I would go crazy living with one of these I couldn’t help myself buying the great goodies on offer….I was so glad we got to go there before we left…Also went to LCBO which is Ontario’s government run alcohol shop….they have strick laws on Alcohol here which is government controlled….Funny thing is Wine 🍷 is very expensive, but Spirits are nearly 1/3-1/2 off our prices…Our Wine is cheaper by far, but spirits heaps dearer…Beer is Beer around the same prices or there about…
Anyway I had found while here a bottle of light sparkling Rose called Lola it’s made in Canada and I love the taste 👅 of this wine…won’t be able to access it at home I am sure…so one more bottle before going.,.

Phoenix is snuggling up to us both…he was picked up earlier today and I could tell glad to be home again…. he has lost a bit of weight again…..so Tim will be on a mission to get his condition back before he is able to come back to Aust….they are having major issues trying to get an Animal transport company to take on Phoenix’s case…. Apparently sending animals to or back to Australia is a nightmare….and most animal transport company don’t want to deal with it due to the strict Australian Bio Laws….he has been trying for 6 months to talk to someone about it….he has sent numerous emails and kept msgs and until yesterday he finally talked to as he said a real human…they will get back to him early next week and as he says if not then he will hound them again…their whole coming home depends on Phoenix’s coming home…he has been getting all his shots and done everything to prepare him for the trip, just need the animal transport side if it to be sorted….

Our time is nearly done….Leia mais