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New Brunswick:
The province of NEW BRUNSWICK,
roughly 320km long and 260km wide, attracts less tourist
attention than its Maritime neighbors, and it's hard to
understand quite why. It's true that the forested upland
that makes up the bulk of the province is a trifle
repetitious, but the long river valleys that furrow the
landscape compensate and the funnel-shaped Bay of Fundy,
with its dramatic tides and delightful coastline, is
outstanding. Equally, in Fredericton, the capital,
the province has one of the regions most appealing towns,
a laid-back easy sort of place which, besides offering the
bonus of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, also possesses
strings of fine old villas and a good-looking cathedral.
Handsome scenery is within easy reach too – it's a short
trip south to scenic Passamaquoddy Bay, an
island-studded inlet of the Bay of Fundy that's home to
the likeable resort of St Andrews. Southeast of
Fredericton, the Saint John River snakes a tortuous route
to the Bay of Fundy at the busy port of Saint John.
Along with most of the settlements of southern New
Brunswick, Saint John was founded by United Empire
Loyalists, whose descendants, mingled with those of
British colonists, account for around sixty percent of the
province's 725,000 inhabitants. Some 130,000 people live
here in Saint John, making this the province's big city –
it's much larger than Fredericton – and although hard
times have left the place frayed at the edges the city
boasts a splendid sample of Victorian architecture. Also,
although industry has scarred the Fundy coast hereabouts,
there's still no denying the rugged charms of Saint John's
setting, and not far away are the more pristine land- and
seascapes of both the coastal Fundy Trail Parkway
and Fundy National Park.
The remaining third of
New Brunswick's population are French-speakers, the
descendants of those Acadians who settled in the region
after the deportations of 1755. To avoid further
persecution, these refugees clustered in the remote
northern parts of the province, though since the 1960s
they have become more assertive – following the example
set by their Québecois cousins – and have made Moncton,
in southeast New Brunswick, the effective capital of
modern Acadia, with a French-speaking university as their
cultural centre. Moncton is, however, of limited interest
to the passing visitor – it's a modern, brassy, breezy
sort of place – and is chiefly of use as a stepping stone
either west to Fundy National Park or east to the
beautifully remote remains of Fort Beauséjour. As
for the other Acadian districts, they are best visited on
the way to Québec. Two main roads link Fredericton with
its northern neighbor. The first – which is both more
scenically diverting and more direct – slices up the
western edge of the province along the Saint John River
Valley to French-speaking Edmundston, en route to
Rivière-du-Loup . The second cuts northeast for the long
haul up the Miramichi River Valley to the cluster
of small towns that are known collectively as Miramichi
City. Near here are the untamed coastal marshes of the
Kouchibouguac National Park and, in the northeast
corner of the province, the Acadian Peninsula,
whose pride and joy is the re-created Village
Historique Acadien, near the fishing village of
Caraquet.
SMT buses run a
reasonable province wide network of services, with daily
connections along the Saint John River Valley and up the
east coast from Moncton to Campbellton. There are also
regular buses from Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton
over to Charlottetown on PEI, via the Confederation
Bridge. The Saint John to Digby car ferry is a
useful short cut if you're heading down to southwest Nova
Scotia. |
