TODO: Add all the pictures
It started to rain early in the morning. And it rained consistently until about 5pm. Sometimes a misty rain, sometimes something more substantial.
We started the day with breakfast in the hut of the campground. Afterwards we headed for the visitor center. We did end up buying a few items (I got a new T-shirt). Then we headed for Alma to visit the various shops there (general store, bakery, another souvenir store) and we also had lunch. At the Kelly's Bakeshop we bought 6 muffins (good) and a blue-berry pie (super duper good. Probably the best blueberry pie I had in Canada). New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are definitely blueberry country. The lunch was reasonable. The fish portion of my fish and chips was good, the fries portion and the slaw was not so impressive. The seafood chowder ordered by Gongyu and Margaret was good. It was still raining.
After some procrastination we decided to brave the weather and went for the Caribou-Loop. It was a nice 1.5km or so loop leading through board walks crossing bogs and marsh land, through pine and moss areas and some leafy sections that had their own charm. We were in good spirits despite the rain.
Afterwards we decided to do the 40 minute drive to Hopewell Rocks and see them at low tide. It still rained when we arrived. But as luck had it, the rain little by little stopped as we walked among the rocks. The area has very much changed compared to 30 years ago. There is now a huge visitor center with integrated restaurant. Huge parking lots and a shuttle operation to and from the rocks. We bought non-shuttle cheaper tickets and walked all of this. There were several lookouts high above. But finally we reached a stair construction that led down to the beach. At low tide the rocks were much accessible compared to 30 years ago. We basically walked the whole way back on the beach and had a good look at the various "Flower Pot" rocks. Very nice. And then it was back all the way to the stair. In the meantime even the sun made a short appearance. The whole walk is about 4km (1km to get to the stair, 1km on the beach one way, 1km back to the stair, and the final 1km back to the parking lot).
The most impressive thing for me at Hopewell Rocks was visiting the 2 lookouts that had very good visibility of "Daniel's Flats". This was a huge tidal area (maybe 2km wide and 10 to 15km long). that was sand during low tide. Super interesting to see this amount of sand and the water streams draining it. This area is not accessible. But from the lookout it is super interesting.
We made dinner at the campground when we returned. As usual, tortellini with tomato sauce :-)
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