Open Hearts, Open Minds & Open Roads

In the couple of weeks that we had to wait before we picked up the new truck the weather changed dramatically. On our many walks we would stop and chat to the locals (did I mention how friendly Canadians are?), the topic of the weather always came up and as we were already nearing the end of March, we were curious about when spring would make an appearance. Every person we spoke to said that spring starts like someone switching on a light switch, we thought it was a joke. Surely the minus temperatures, icy winds that freeze your nasal hairs and knee-deep snow wouldn’t just disappear as quickly as it arrived.

Embrace change, even the seasons know when it is time.

Well, when we went out on our walk to pick up the new truck, we discovered they were indeed right. Before we set off, we put on our usual walking attire; thermal base layers, long sleeved t-shirts, warm pants (translation – Canadians call trousers pants, we call our underwear pants so to clear up any confusion for any English readers we didn’t walk around in the snow in our underwear I know we are a bit clueless at times but come on!) fleece jumpers, thermal socks, scarves, down jackets, hats, gloves and snow boots.

The gentle trickling sound of water from the snow melt, clear sidewalks, and the blazing sunshine as we stepped out of the apartment should have given it away, but it finally hit home five minutes into the walk when we had stripped off most of our clothing like the B Movie version of Magic Mike, holy moly it was warm. I swear to goodness that by the time we reached the car dealership even our eyeballs were sweating, and no amount of Vaseline was going to take the sting out of the chaffing, but at least we could drive back to the apartment so the pain would be worth it.

The pain you feel today is tomorrow’s strength.

Within no time at all we had signed on the dotted line and were now the proud new owners of a Dodge RAM Warlock, with the keys in hand we walked out of the dealership and stood by the truck, okay who was going to drive? We stared at each other and the keys for a good while before we started the ‘do you want to drive’ game and when we got bored of that we moved on to the ‘I don’t mind if you want to drive’ game neither one of us wanting to be the first to drive our new truck on an actual Canadian road.

It was getting mildly embarrassing because the staff in the dealership were staring at us through the window no doubt wondering why we hadn’t jumped into our new truck and screeched out of the forecourt in a plume of dust and burning rubber shouting “Wahoo”.

We had both discussed at length our nervousness at driving on the ‘other’ side of the road, neither of us were keen to pop our driving in Canada cherries but bloody hell we could not stand here all day, one of us had to drive this thing back to the apartment. Surprised by Mr (Police driver trained for high-speed pursuits) Carroll’s reluctance to drive I grew a set of balls and got into the driver’s seat myself; how hard can it be? I just had to follow the other cars and hope they were going in the same direction as me all the while remembering tight right and loose left when turning.

I knew it was not going to be simple when I got in the truck and wondered where the steering wheel had gone, it helps if you get in the right side of the vehicle to start with! So, I got into the right side and by that, I mean left side, grasped for the seat belt multiple times before realising this too was on the wrong side as were all the controls, bells and whistles, this was going well.

If the right side is the wrong side, does that mean that the left side is the right side?

It took at least another 10 minutes to familiarise myself with where everything was whilst glancing at the staff in the dealership who were by this time wiping the tears of laughter away. I was finally ready, I had adjusted all my interior controls as best as I could, I mean who needs to see over the bonnet that’s what bumpers are for right? And off we went, we successfully made it out of the dealership, Yas! We made it out of the road, Yas! This was going to be okay, then we reached the four-way stop sign …. what the flip? A four-way what?

There were many things that we would have to learn, the four-way stop and go system (or all-way stop) was one of them. Initially we thought it was a Wacky Races style ‘every man for himself’ or ‘Mexican stand-off’ situation but we found out that there are four rules for the four-way stop and go:

• Rule #1 – First to arrive, first to drive (after first coming to a complete stop of course).
• Rule #2 – Right of way goes to the right (if there is confusion as to who got there first).
• Rule #3 – Straight doesn’t have to wait
• Rule #4 – Left turn yields to right (If two cars arrive directly across from each other at the same time, and both are making turns, then the car turning left yields to the one turning right).

We were seriously impressed by the etiquette, courtesy and patience displayed by Canadian drivers at this junction especially because it took us quite a few minutes of watching what was going on to get the gist of how the system worked, none of the drivers behind us honked, gave us the middle finger, or shouted, “What are you waiting for a f@cking written invitation”. It was already a step up from driving on NZ roads.

Needless to say, we made it back to the apartment in one piece and without the Warlock being damaged, we had a taste of freedom and from that point on we got out in the truck whenever we could, (with Martin still preferring not to drive) I know driving to the supermarket five minutes away from our apartment might seem ridiculous, but practice makes perfect and we needed to get some experience under our belts.

We were now ready for our next adventure in the province of Nova Scotia.

This was the exciting part of our journey, preparing for the move, it was at this time that we had confirmation that our fur babies were settled in their boarding kennel/cattery in Vancouver, whilst they all looked well in the photos Jet Pets kindly sent us, we missed them dearly and looked forward to being with them again, and with this on our minds we began thinking of ways that we could be reunited with them in NS.

Option one, would be to find an Airbnb in NS that would allow all our pets so we started Googling and whilst some would allow a dog and a cat, surprisingly some even allowed parrots and rabbits, a dog and three cats was too much of an ask, so that was a no go.

Option two would be to find a cattery close to Halifax where the cats could be housed whilst Lola came with us to an Airbnb. This option was the winner because we did find a great cattery just outside of Halifax and near to the airport that could take the cats for extended periods. We also struck it lucky by finding a beautiful cottage called the Lilly Pad in a place called Annapolis Royal, it allowed dogs, was situated on the Annapolis basin with views of the water, had a small garden and was walking distance to the town, it had all worked out perfectly.

We booked the cats into the Kitty Care Inn Kitty Care Inn for at least two months, from the beginning of April and the lovely owner Marilyn not only agreed to meet us at Halifax airport when they arrived to make things easier with transportation to the cattery but also said we could visit them whenever we were in Halifax. We contacted Jet Pets and gave them authorisation to fly the pets to Halifax for the beginning of April so that gave us just over a week before we would need to head to NS.

With the pets and our end destination taken care of it was time to work out a road trip itinerary, the journey would take approximately 15 hours and whilst we have had our moronic moments, we knew that driving all the way to Halifax without a stopover would be idiocy!

We would need to traverse no less than three provinces to get to NS. Fredericton in New Brunswick was the half-way point so this seemed like the natural place to stop for the night, once again luck was on our side as we found a vacancy at the Big Axe B&B Nackawic.

Located outside of Fredericton on the Saint John River but not too far from the highway to continue to Halifax, Big Axe unbelievably was named after…. A big axe! In fact, it is the world’s largest axe and symbolises the importance of the forestry industry, past present and future, these quirky and surprising gems were one of the things we were really starting to love about Canada.

Next to organise was our accommodation in Halifax, the biggest city in NS. We needed to be close to the shops as well as the airport so settled on a two-night stay in the Chateau Bedford which appeared less Chateau and more ‘Bedford transit van’ but it looked clean with nice rooms, and we got a good deal, we were not going to complain.

In what felt like a long time it was all finally starting to fall into place, the Lilly Pad would be our base of operations in NS to house hunt, we would finally have our pooch with us, and our cats close enough to visit. With the setbacks we had been having lately we were well overdue some good luck.

Making memories, one road trip at a time.

With our time in Ontario ending, we wanted to make the most of it and an impromptu dinner out with our wonderful friend Mick who had travelled for business to Nepean from Bayfield where he lives with his equally wonderful wife Maria (Martins old next-door neighbour in the UK and friend for the past forty years) provided us with the perfect opportunity to do just that.

Maria and Mick had invited us to stay with them at their home in Bayfield the weekend before we left for NS. Bayfield was six hours away and the road trip would give us a chance to see how the Warlock handled the road long distance, it would give us more experience navigating Canadian roads and we would be able to explore another part of Ontario, the adventure was beginning.