Roadtrip to the Zoo!

With a whole 18 hours vacation time saved up so far, it wasn't really possible to apply for any annual leave over the summer.  So we will have to be content to take mini road trips on my days off.  Thank god for 12 hour shifts with lots of days off in between!!

Our first venture was close to home - about a 25 minute drive to check out the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park.  We wanted to see us some real life Canadian animals!

After a couple of wrong turns and a bit of a scenic detour, I thought it might be a good idea to put the GPS to good use and get us to where we were heading, rather than relying on my useless memory of google maps. Turns out I was *close*, I had just missed a turn - stupid place could have put a sign post or two up for me!!

Anyway, we arrived safe and sound, paid the very affordable entry fee, and parked the car.  We walked to what appeared to be the 'starting' point, and then took a wrong turn and ended up in another car park.  Stupid place.  But no, wait, I *meant* to go that way! As we turned to head back, we saw a little rabbit hiding in the bush cleaning itself.  And we found a peacock just roaming around making a very loud peacock noise.  So after trying very unsuccessfully to convince the girls that I wasn't lost at all - I just wanted to show them a real life bunny rabbit, we started on the correct path!

First stop - the wild turkey enclosure!  We made a right spectacle of ourselves giggling at the turkeys gobbling.  Everytime Caitlin walked past one, it would gobble.  So we *had* to get that on film!

We carried along, checking out all the cool animals.  When we got to the pond area, we saw a little squirrel running along the fence post.  He was very cute, and put on a bit of a show for us running up and down the post, but as soon as I tried to get it on video, he darted up the tree.  But still, it was very exciting to finally see my first squirrel!  Yes, its the small things in life that humour me  :)

We spent a few hours walking around.  But by this time it was in the middle of the day and most of the bigger animals were sleeping.  Our only 'complaint' as such about the place was too many birds!  We were more interested in looking at the bigger animals, birds are boring....

Our next stop was Mastadon Ridge.  Not sure what the big deal about the place is, I'm sure it has some historical reference.  But the only joy for us was getting a photo at the sign post marking the halfway point between the equator and the north pole.  Oh, and lunch!

Because that didn't take nearly as much time as expected, we decided to finally check out the Tidal Bore.  Unfortunately, it was a very windy day, so we didn't really get to see the full effect of the tide changing.  So we will have to do it again on a nicer day.  But really, its a whole lot of waiting around for something thats over and done with in 3 minutes flat!  But is still pretty cool to watch how quickly the tide comes up and all that!

So, a great start to the summer and our road tripping fun.  We're now busy planning our *next* road trip.  So many things to see, so little time (and even less money!) to do it all.  :)

So much to catch up on!

Ok, my summer resolution - to get back up to date with my blog! 

We are all settling in really well, and we LOVE our new life here in Canada.  The girls survived their semester of school and are now enjoying their second summer vacation of the year!  It seems very odd having a summer vacation in the middle of the year rather than at Christmas time.  :)

6 months in to our little adventure, and I'm up to my second car!  Having no luck at obtaining finance for a nice flash (reliable) car, I resorted to paying cash for a little rust bucket bomb.  The guy I bought if off was terrible at negotiating the price down - but thankfully in my favour! He had a car advertised for $1300. After taking it for a test drive, I looked under the hood and pretended I knew what I was looking at, kicked a couple of tyres (thought that might look a bit impressive too) and hmmmed and haaaaed......

Me:  There's a bit of work to be done.  Hmmm....  I tell you what, I have $800 cash on me, so I can take it here and now for $800.

Him:  Ummm....I really didn't want to go lower than $1000.

Me:  (say nothing, say nothing, say nothing.....)

Him:  Ok, I guess that will have to do then

Me:  Huh???   I mean, ok, yeah, great, you have a deal!

Moron - i was totally prepared to go as high as $1000!  What a crap haggler *he* was!

So I got to drive my little rust bucket away for the bargain price of $800!  Woohooo!!!!

It did us well driving into Halifax and back, but I got a bit nervous driving it too far, mainly because of the different warning lights that would randomly pop on and off for no reason.  So we mainly stuck around town, and it did well getting us from A to B.  We even nicknamed it Eeyore, due to the lovely squeaky donkey sounds it would make when I had to turn the steering wheel!

However, with summer looming, and wanting to see more of Nova Scotia than just the city limits, I bit the bullet and tried again for finance for a nicer car (particularly one with air conditioning!).  After a few hundred back and forwards emails, I was finally approved for a lovely almost new 4WD! 

We have lovingly called the new car Clifford - because it's big and red!  :)

So now we can cruise the highways of Nova Scotia in airconditioned style!