Camping at Oka

Friday - drive to Oka National Park

Months ago, my friend Marie-Julie invited us to camp with her family plus two other families on this weekend, at Oka National Park. At that stage we had no plans for late June, so we eagerly accepted. Despite making a long day of driving from Baie St Paul, it was well worth it!

After a relaxed and calm morning, we left Baie St Paul mid morning. The children were all tired after a bike ride and hike on successive days, as well as very late nights. With the sun setting about 9.30pm, it is hard to get them to bed! Once we got underway, they promptly fell asleep.  The drive took us back down south, basically to Montreal. We skirted around the outside of Montreal and arrived at Oka National Park - about 6 hours of travelling. 

Marie-Julie, Julie and myself ... and a mutual love of champagne

As soon as we arrived and met the other families, we knew we were in for a great weekend. Marie-Julie and her husband Vido, Julie and her American husband Bruce (which meant another of us who spoke only English, so all communication was in English), then Manon and her husband Yann. We had nine children in total and the other six are completely bilingual - even the 4 year old! It is a marvel to watch these children switch between English and French without even thinking - their brains just know that if they are addressed in French they respond on French; also they just learn to whom they speak French and to whom they speak English - they don’t even think about it.

The other three families actually had on-site tents, which meant they had mattresses and basic kitchen equipment supplied, but not many other comforts. There was a gas cooker supplied, but no running water, no sink or no bathroom. Bertha as parked in a separate part of the campground, so our bikes proved extremely useful and moving between our site and the other families. We based ourselves in front of M-J’s site and that was were we all shared meals for the weekend. We had an awesome three days and all the families were great fun. 

Oka is a national park and is situated on the Lake of Two Mountains, right at the southern tip of Montreal island. It is a beautiful location and the closest thing resembling a beach around Montreal, which makes it very popular with day-trippers out of Montreal. This weekend is also a long weekend for many people. Canada Day falls on Tuesday, 1 July, but it is a movable public holiday - businesses and individuals can discuss when they wish to take the day off: thus many people are taking it on Monday 20 June. The campground was packed and certainly the fullest of any park we’ve seen in the last week. The “beach” resembled Bondi in popularity: but in no other way! We all had a square metre of sand and happily eavesdropped on conversations around us! The kids loved the water … the adults were a little more suspicious. It has been extremely hot and it was very warm in the middle of the day on the beach.

The campground is within the national park and there are many walking and cycling tracks around the area. It is heavily wooded … the image of Canadian woods is exactly what it is like. Great paths to run along! Unfortunately I didn’t take my phone out with me so couldn’t take any photos. Raccoons are a public nuisance … think possums when you are out camping … same thing happens and we had to put everything away each night. Even while we were sitting around the fire, raccoons came up close to explore and try to find food. We heard stories about raccoons eating anything - munching through plastic containers, managing to open sealed packets of food and even destroying toothbrushes! 

The only disadvantage to this park was the mosquitos. Mosquitos have been a problem everywhere we’ve been, but Oka was extreme. As soon as I got out of Bertha to help Tony reverse in, I was attacked - hours before dusk. Eau de repellent (it does sound impressive … roll those r’s and say with a french accent - and don’t pronounce the t at the end of repellent) was the fragrance of the weekend. It was applied as soon as we stepped out of the showers in the morning and reapplied regularly throughout the day. 

The weekend involved great food, with everyone contributing. Life revolved around eating; drinking; sitting around and relaxing; great conversations about Quebec, USA and Australia, including solutions to the medical systems of all three countries/province; children causing havoc/fun with fires; a trip to the beach; more food; more drinking … fun times. Very late nights but well worth the trip back down to Montreal to meet these great families and share the weekend with them. We hope to see them in Australia in the near (or distant) future!

From Oka, we headed into Ontario province, towards Ottawa - only about 90 minutes from Oka. 

M-J would quite like Olivia and Sophie to go to uni in Montreal ... they can live with her!

The last day at Parkdale Elementary School

Walking to school in the last week of school. 

One of the best decisions we made during our time here in Montreal was to send the children to school. Despite many administrative challenges last year, prior to coming, it all worked and they have attended Parkdale Elementary School for five months. Parkdale is considered an inner city school with an extremely diverse student population.

Lach and Ms Jennifer

Lach, with Mansva, Assim and Awias. A multicultural bunch!

The children have all loved their time at school. They have all had challenges along the way but we have no doubt these have made them better people for it! There have been some friendship issues, many gaps in knowledge, some cultural differences as well as the big one, some climatic differences. Many of these involved tears at home, but ultimately, the children have approached each challenge positively and been open minded. Never have they complained about going to school - in fact the opposite - there have been times when they haven't wanted to stay home or miss a particular activity. The children all have a couple of special friends to farewell in this last week. I don't know whether these will be friends for life, but for five months, they have been great supports and great company for our children. And, with social media, email and the world getting smaller, you can never predict whether their paths may cross again in the future. 

The teachers have all been very special and have all made our children feel welcome and supported.

Sophie with Ms Karin and her class - a total of 11 students!

Olivia and the girls from her class. 

Grand Jardins National Park

Thursday - Grand Jardins National Park

The rocky outcrop behind Olivia ... that was our destination!

The area of Charlevoix is known for its rivers and mountains. Isle aux Coudres, where we went yesterday, is very much the river - its an island surrounded by the St Laurence River. So today, we decided to explore the mountains. We headed inland, climbed elevation (more 18% gradients) and soon found the landscape changing to pine trees and forest land. 

The Canadian woods ... tall, green trees!

It was a very warm day so we decided a 2 hour walk would suffice. It a steep walk and we climbed 250 metres - but the walk actually only took 90 minutes. The barren, rocky hill behind Olivia in this photo is what we climbed! The up trip was much slower than the down trip! It was beautiful scenery - probably more typical of Canadian forests that most Canadian tourism sites promote. Very green; very tall birch and pine trees and very heavily forested. We are all in a little dilemma - we are keen to see a bear but we don’t want to see a bear … particular when we are walking! This was an area for bears so there was a little trepidation! We did manage to see other wildlife however - a porcupine, hiding in a bush with all its spikes upright, showing its fear; then a thin snake, about 40 cm long - its tongue was hissing madly. 

Isle aux Coudres

Wednesday - exploring Isle aux Coudres

We stayed in a van park just outside of Baie St Paul and on Wednesday, headed over to Isle aux Coudres to explore. Isle aux Coudres was one of the first areas discovered by Jacques Cartier as he was exploring this new country sometime around 1540. It is a small island, only accessible by a vehicle ferry. Bertha was allowed on board, so off we went. The island is 10.4 km long and only 3.6 km wide, with a 23km bike path around the perimeter. Perfect for us in a day. There were a few hills … in Sophie’s opinion it was primarily hills, so she whinged … but we made it around. There is very little english spoken on the island so we had fun conversing in French. 

The welcome sign on the island says “the rhythm of the tides” and it certainly has that slow, relaxed feel to the place. The island is very much a sleepy hollow, with a population of 1 700. It supports a school and several churches but not much else. Even cafes are limited. It is exactly how I imagine Prince Edward Island would be. Unfortunately, we won’t make it to PEI while we are in Canada in 2014- it was on my wish list - but this small island had beautiful, wooden houses with large gables of all colours (not brick as its not such a good insulator), rolling hills, stunning wild flowers and amazing scenery. For all the Anne of Green Gales readers … at one stage, Olivia stopped and said that she could imagine Anne and Diana running through this particular paddock full of wild daisies, with the Haunted Forest in the background, between their houses. It was beautiful, but very much a quiet town. It also reminded us of Batemans Bay in the quieter periods, but much smaller. We can imagine in high summer, on a great day, it would be packed. 

Baie St Paul and Tony's favourite meal

region of Charlevoix - Tuesday afternoon

Baie St Paul, the biggest town in the region of Charlevoix, has a population of 7 500. It is primarily a summer destination, with hiking, swimming, islands, whale watching and art being the main attractions. We arrived in rain …. and rain …. for the whole afternoon. We found a cafe where we could relax and hang out … and hope that the rain stopped. It didn’t. But Tony had one of his best meals of the trip thus far: an adult version of poutine, with crispy squid and octopus as the chips element, then feta, olives, caramelised onions (with maple syrup) and a few chillis as the topping. He was in his element! Accompanied by a local beer, it was another unexpected bonus!

We stayed at the cafe for as long as we could justify, before heading to find our van park. As lovely as it appeared, we really couldn't explore at all as the rain was heavy. We spent an evening updating diaries, sorting photos, playing on technology before finally cooking our meal on the gas cooktop inside Bertha - the first time we've had to cook indoors this trip.

Goodbye Montreal and Hello RV world

Heading North ... to explore Quebec province a little more.

Our time in Montreal has come to an end. The Dostaler family have returned home and we’ve caught up with them several times. We’ve shared many stories and they loved their time in Australia. They loved Canberra and wanted to thank all our friends who showed hospitality towards them. Isabelle particularly loved running around Canberra - the paths and the smell of eucalyptus were significant memories. Pascale loved the opportunities for bike riding and the hills; on one day, rode 120km. They thought there was no traffic in Canberra! Now that we know Montreal, we can confirm that the bike and walking tracks in Canberra are unique; also Montreal is so flat that we can understand that Pascale loved the mountains to ride up and down; and yes, the traffic is shocking in Montreal! They have visited every museum and gallery that Canberra has to offer and loved how many were free. They found the distances in Australia are bigger than they expected and the prices dearer than Canada but overall, loved their experience. 

So we are back into an RV and off exploring. RV has been named Bertha, as Tony equates it to driving a tractor on the farm at Moonamby (Mudgee). After using an RV when we visited the Grand Canyon and finding it rather challenging, we feel much more prepared this time. Coming straight from a house, we were able to bring a significant amount of food with us. We have borrowed a small, 2 burner gas cooker from the Dostaler family, which allows us to cook outside, as well as camping chairs and the all important stove-top coffee maker! With much warmer weather, we are able to cook and eat outside. 

The children are very comfortable at a table as we drive Bertha around, usually making “loom bracelets”, drawing, writing or playing on the iPads. One person can stretch out on the bed behind the front passenger, buckled in and sleep quite well. Tony is very comfortable driving Bertha and happily drives up and down roads with 18% gradients. On the other hand, I’m in the front requesting more use of the brakes. The children change sleeping locations each night but all are comfortable. 

We are making our own lunches each day, having coffee in the van at a local park somewhere each morning and most importantly, we can have ice-cream whenever we need a break! 

We have also lit a fire each evening, which does nothing more than provide something comforting to sit around! It is not cold, nor dark, so really… no need for a fire. But who doesn’t love a fire! Unfortunately our BBQ grill hasn’t fitted across the fire sites thus far; so last night instead we did the trick of bananas with chocolate, wrapped in foil and toasted. With a dollop of ice-cream, it is a whole lot of bad but a whole lot of yumminess!

Quebec City

Quebec City - Sunday, Monday and Tuesday morning 

We headed north out of Montreal and towards Quebec City. We visited the old town in Quebec City briefly in winter and were keen to return in summer. Of course, the change is dramatic. Not only is the environment almost unrecognisable, but the number of tour groups frustrated us! Quebec City is the capital of Quebec, the province. 

 Montreal is the biggest city in Quebec province but Quebec City is the capital. It has a population of 800 000 but an area of less than half of Canberra. It is located on the St Lawrence River and we learnt Quebec is actually a word from the Algonquin tribe, one of the indigenous tribes of Canada. Most assume that it is a french word. Quebec means “narrow river” which is why the French settlers set up camp there - they figured they would be able to see and stop any enemies coming up the river. It is very flat land except for one hill, on which the old town is perched - and it is up a very steep escarpment.

Our first day was a day of travel and after arriving at our van park, we unloaded our bikes and set off. One of the main tourist attractions is the Montmorency Falls. These falls are 30 metres higher than Niagara Falls, but not as wide and not nearly as much water falling over them. We all found them a little underwhelming. We enjoyed our bike ride there and the walk across the top; but probably our ice-cream and people watching was more interesting! There was a high school prom at the function centre that evening, so we enjoyed watching all the girls in their stunning dresses arrive for photos!

The Montmorency Falls, with St Lawrence River in the background. 

The next day, we drove into the city and (eventually) found a park for Bertha. We unloaded our bikes and used them to get around the old town. First stop was Changing of the Guards at the Citadel, which we thought would be a 20 minute visit. Three hours later, we left! We love it when we find an unexpected, interesting tourist attraction! We had a tour around the Citadel, which is an active military base and learnt much about the Canadian history and the three distinct periods: the French, the British and then the Canadian. For the first time since January, we also heard and met several other Australians!

Interesting, the phrase “je me souviens” is the phrase at the bottom of all number plates in Quebec province. Translating to “I remember”, we have often wondered what we are remembering. Seeing it displayed in floral format at the Citadel, we asked … it is to remember our history and our ancestors. Now we know!

Being at the Citadel much longer than expected changed all our plans. After lunch and coffee, we headed into the areas in which we explored in winter. The bikes proved to be very useful for this and allowed us to travel quickly between places. The differences between winter and summer were extreme. Much more life with people everywhere; more colour with potted flowers everywhere; outdoor tables at cafes and restaurants; and a more vibrant feeling from the shop keepers made it feel more alive. We were caught out with our parking expiring so had to leave; but it was also very hot; we needed to shop and our van park had a pool … so by 4.30, we were happy to leave. It was 6pm by the time we returned home and we headed straight to the pool which was beautiful!

We were somewhat undecided about plans after Quebec City, but felt that we wanted more time in the old town area. We decided to give QC a few more hours so headed back in there the next day. This time, we just wandered … with no agenda, we explored little streets and meandered. We discovered a few squares that we hadn’t seen before. The area felt much like the old town of Stockholm with its cobbled stones, or Rome, with architecture from the 1600’s and the small squares, with five or six streets leading into them, dotted with cafes and galleries. 

One of the best things was this enormous fresco on the side of a building. It is a pictorial history of Quebec province, featuring Jacques Cartier who first found New France, right up to modern day (ice) hockey players. It is an amazing art work and we saw it a few times. It is created so that you feel as though as you could walk right into the scene - it is all life like and life size. It was stunning. 

Lunch was in Bertha, right on the edge of the old town and the St Lawrence River. RVs are not so common in the city of Quebec so we feel that we are constantly providing entertainment for everyone! Bet our lunch was healthier and cheaper though! We left Quebec and headed north again, to the town of Baie St Paul. Rain … the whole journey. 

Visit from Mum and Dad

Over the last three weeks, we've had Mum and Dad visit the eastern provinces of Canada. They came to us for 10 days prior to their conducted tour; then hung out with us on the days the tour was in Montreal; then returned for 4 days of relaxation (actually normal family life after living it up on a cruise ship) prior to returning to Australia.

We all loved having them with us. We've eaten lunch out many times; drunk lots of alcohol; toured the sites of Montreal, including the Old Port; Notre Dame Basilica; Mont-Royal; St Joseph's Oratory (another church, but we kept it at two); the shopping areas including the underground shopping centre of Montreal (Dad loved this .......) ; mastered the Metro system; celebrated my birthday; went to Ottawa to run; and visited the Botanical Gardens. Add that to normal family life of kids off to school, meals to cook and cleaning to do and its been a hectic, fun time. Really though, looking through the photos, all we did was eat and drink! Dad's goal was to have beer at lunch time every day ... I think he managed every day except one, when he was with us!

Lunch time drinks ...

As the Dostaler family have now returned to Montreal (and wanted their house back .... fancy that!), we needed to find alternative accommodation. We found a lovely self contained cottage with a studio room downstairs, then an internal connecting staircase to a two bedroom self contained unit upstairs. It is not far from where we've been living, as the children are still at school. We've all been very comfortable together and not too squeezy. The children have all had turns having sleep overs with Gran and Pa and will be very sorry to see them go.

Having spent so much time with us, Mum and Dad are now quite familiar with our neighbourhood and our daily routines. Its been great to share stories with them and for them to be able to visualize exactly what we are talking about. They have met school teachers, friends, the Dostaler family and seen where we walk, where we shop and where we live. They understand some of the things that have frustrated us; as well as the many things that make us laugh and make Montreal such an interesting city to explore. Its been such a thrill to share the small day to day details with them.

Afternoon drinks while waiting for
 the children to finish their french lesson

Hot chocolates this time!

Cuddles ....

Airport farewell .....