Chester, Nova Scotia.

The conference is over. We are on our way towards Lunenberg where Danny and I are hiring bicycles for ride along the coast. It has been a little foggy and wet but very still. A grand soft day.

Up Under in Nova Scotia

Greetings from Up Under

Watcha Lookin at?

Purcells Cove, Halifax Nova Scotia.Written Sunday June 17

It’s been a few days since long days journey into night when we flew from Sydney at 10 am and arrived at Halifax at 9-30 pm on the same day but 25 hours later.

We are staying with Garry’s brother in the old family home which has been a renovator’s work in progress for many years. The best way to describe where I am is a cross between “The Shipping News” and the Coen Brothers film “The Big Leibowski”! Garry’s brother, Grant is a reclusive retired electrician, very well read and knowledgeable of events of the world. He is visited regularly by a number of similar residents all who have spent the majority of their lives in Purcells Cove and all have their own quirky stories to tell. Nova Scotia is a land gouged out of glaciers. Wilderness does not seem far away. There are lakes everywhere and the coastline is comprised of thousands of inlets and coves. The countryside is a mixture of spruces, conifers and pines. A few varieties of maples grow here including what I call the Lipstick Maple. Lobelias are native and flowering everywhere. All the timber houses seem regularly painted, very few fences separate each other and everything has a sense of neatness, order and pride.  The Nova Scotians are very friendly and relaxed people content with their lot in life.

Purcells Cove is about 7 kilometres from Halifax which can be seen in the distance, is a sleepy little inlet surrounded by Native vegetation bordering on wilderness. Many sailing vessels of all sizes frequent the water for the warmer months. Much wildlife visits the yard including racoons, squirrels, Hummingbirds, Blue Jays and Crows. Close by is a walk into the bush where there are a few trails and some beautiful `ponds’ which we in Oz would call lakes. My first planned 20 minute walk in there lasted 3 hours as I made a wrong turn followed by a few wrong presumptions. Fortunately it dawned on me to check Google maps on my phone and I was able to see I was 180 degrees out, something I always find difficult when first swapping hemispheres. Anyway the locals thought it was a great laugh. They didn’t buy my excuse that I was philosophically but not technically lost.

Conifer growing on a Granite outcrop

Herring Cove

Herring Cove

So it has been quite a chore adjusting to the 12 and a half hour time difference especially sharing a sleeping space with 2 others who have a penchant for snoring and irregular sleeping habits. I am enjoying meeting new people and getting a sense of what life in Nova Scotia is like. Everything is clean fresh and green, the weather is mild and summer officially begins on July 1 “Canada Day”. How different this place must be in Winter when temperatures can drop to 20 Degrees below when all the lakes freeze over and everything turns white.