26^th September 2014

Sydney – Nova Scotia

Well…….here we are at our last port of call before heading home. The time has flown by and it really doesn’t feel like we’ve been travelling for four weeks. They say time flies when you’re having fun, I think we need to stop having fun……

So we’re back in Canada, and having filled in another boat load of paperwork for immigration, we’ve been granted permission to go ashore. The first thing that strikes you here is a bloody enormous fiddle (I’m talking musical instrument here and not a scam) it’s huge and reputed to be the largest in the world (I’m still talking about the fiddle, which is a musical instrument not a scam) Wow is just about all I can think of saying, and of course you have to take a picture……it would be rude to ignore it. To be honest this thing is so big that it appears in every picture we took in Sydney.

We don’t have a full day here so time to stop wittering and time to get round the town. First stop an old church which has been restored to its former gloomy glory. It’s nice to see that they’ve kept the character and not added tons of new materials. Very pleasant.

Next is the Jost House. Now this too has been restored and is crammed with artefacts and interesting ‘stuff’. The guides give us a detailed history of the house and the family who had built it, adding different parts as their needs changed. There was even a room full of old apothecary equipment, medicaments and preparations, absolutely fascinating. Best of all was the reception and farewell we were given by a complete stranger with hugs all round and a genuine sense that our presence was appreciated. Nice……..

Anyway (have you noticed I love that word?) we visit a couple more churches then it’s time to head back to the port. As this is our last stop we’ve arranged to meet up with the rest of our table for a meal in the town. We head for ‘The Governors’ and spend the next three hours doing what we’ve done best for four weeks…….eating and drinking.

And so it’s time to leave, but not before one last hunt around the souvenir market at the port. There’s a shop selling sculptures which is crammed with ‘dancing polar bears’. Now we’ve seen quite a few of these in most of the Canadian ports and they’re so cute. They really do convey a sense of joy and happiness and then the owner tells us why. Apparently the Inuit’s believe that if you are a good hunter then when you die you come back as an animal. Now if they come back as a polar bear, which of course is at the top of the food chain, they are so happy they dance. What a great philosophy 🙂

So off we set, a final port, a final sail away party and the final part of the holiday……..but it’s been great.

Thank you Canada and the USA for having us……..we’ll be back.