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!