Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island can be summed up in three words, 'Small and pretty'. Busy, cheap petrol, well marked highways are also applicable but not the the same extent.

Just getting to the island is an exciting experience for anyone who hasn't done it before. Confederation bridge links the the island to the mainland of New Brunswick across almost 13 kilometres of water. It is the longest bridge in the world to cover water that freezes - I guess you have to claim the longest somehow!!

 As soon as you get onto the island you begin to realise how much tourism this little place gets. The welcoming town is purely tourist shops offering everything that a tourist could ever want. The information centre was huge and interestingly for such a small place the island was divided into regions with separate driving trail names. Naturally the central area of the island where Anne of Green Gables was set was the busiest of all the regions.

Knowing the potential for limited campsites, we headed west for another part of the Island to look over the goods there. Because of a few delays in travelling across - yes the Jenkinsons were fluffing! - we arrived late and missed a site at the first provincial park we tried. Luckily there was another 5 minutes along the road, unluckily it was Friday night in a local park. "Quiet time" is meant to be between 11pm-7am, however the people across the way from us ignored that and were still happily singing and laughing loudly at 2am when I finally got up and asked them to stop.

I'm not sure that they actually understood my accent that well so I kept it simple with please stop. Most did, but that was our night shot and we were glad to be leaving the next morning. I delighted in leaving the car door open with the keys in the ignition which creates the most annoying ding-ding sound - right next to our neighbours trying to sleep in their van. Aaah, it's the little things in life that make it worthwhile. :-)

The park was called Jacques Cartier and it had a nice pink sandy beach.

 After that sleepless night we drove the small distance to the top of the island called North Cape where there was a windfarm.

 Next to the wind farm was also the longest rock reef in the world or something like that, but I think it was another of those "longest" claims - like it's the longest rock reef made from rocks that are found on PEI. Anyhow that was singularly unimpressive. The cliffs were nice though, simply because they were different.

The red cliffs of the island are another tourist attraction - gotta get 'em where you can! You can even buy T-shirts that have been dyed with the local mud - that would have saved our kids a lot of time then!!

After North Cape we drove a few kilometres across the island to the Green Gables area to look for a place to sleep. Sure enough, before lunchtime the biggest park of the area was full and saying good luck in that way that tells you they are really saying, "You should have booked - nah, nah, na, nah,nah" But luckily just down the road again at White Sands we grabbed one of only three sites left and it was REALLY quiet - ah bliss. The downside was that Jill's note regarding a $15 entrance to the Anne of Green Gables film set for a look around had had a price increase to $75 - we didn't visit.

Instead we headed for the big city of Charlottetown to get some hayfever relief for Ian who was suffering terribly. We also decided to eat a lobster dinner as that is part of the islands attraction too. Expensive but nice, we were served by an Australian waitress living in Canada. The night out was a great change to routine and we all enjoyed it.

The next day as we walked along a mosquito infested trail that cost $20 to look at some sand dunes, the lobster had its revenge! It waited until the most inopportune moment and decided it had to exit my system immediately! I still have the mosquito bites on my bum to prove it!!! Apart from that the walk was okay but not overly memorable.  The chance to photograph was good, and I had plenty of posers!

It was from here that we decided to head off the island via the ferry - a quick decision that lends itself to another story.