Tadoussac

Judging by the weather, it looks like the summer of Matt is coming to an end. But the fall season is still to come, so I´m not coming home just yet. The deluge from the remnants of Hurricance Katrina arrived in the little village of Tadoussac last night at 6:30pm. I had just arrived back at the hostel from exploring the town when the downpour started. It lasted pretty much 24 hours with few breaks. Fortunately I resisted the idea of camping last night in favour of a solid roof over my head. Tadoussac is a small village at the mouth of the Saguenay fjord where it enters the St Laurence River. The combination of fresh and salt water creates a ideal environment for attracting small marine animals and therefore larger animals, then whales, and therefore tourists chasing them in boats. I never got to see any whales but I did spot a seal from the ferry. This morning I had arranged for an afternoon of kayaking but the weather had other plans. They were predicting a gale and the driving rain in combination with fog would have made seeing anything unlikely. Nevertheless the town had a few other things worth seeing including the scenic harbour and fjord, glacial sand dunes, the oldest wooden chapel in North America and an interesting museum on the fur trade complete with all the the different kinds of animal pelts that were once so sought after.

The drive up from Quebec City took a few hours and was very beautiful, and the weather was stunning as well. Stopped at some nice towns along the way. On the way back today, it was pouring continuously so it was completely different. I missed hearing the news today so I didn´t get a chance to fill up on gas when it was at the low price of 109.5 and so tomorrow I´ll have to pay at least 134.9 unless it´s gone up again. Maybe I´ll have to park the car and ride to Newfoundland from here! :)

Well it´s off to Montreal Thursday then should be in New Brunswick on Saturday night or Sunday. Thanks for everyone who sent emails in the last day or so, will have to respond to you later.