We spent another night back with Graham's Auntie Maureen and Uncle Pat, near Smiths Falls, and Maureen made us a fantastic curry.We were then back on the road again the next morning.This time we headed south, to Sandbanks Provincial Park, for more camping.

It was coming to the end of season, as the schools started back the next day, but the campsite was still busy.We were given a nice large plot, right opposite the beach, so we set up out home again for the next 3 nights.Graham then hired some fishing equipment for free, and spent the afternoon perfecting his fishing skills, using a lure, but he did not catch anything.After dinner, Graham made a great bonfire, as each site had facilities for this, so we sat outside and toasted marshmallows on some sticks Graham had sharpened into skewers (I knew there was a reason why I married him!)

We spent most of the next day at the beach, reading and sunbathing.We also had a swim in Lake Ontario, which was freezing.It took Graham a long time to get in, but he made it eventually.Late in the afternoon we did the Cedar Sands Forest Walk, which was also in Sandbanks Provincial Park, and followed the river between East Lake and Lake Ontario.After this we took a drive into Picton, the nearest town, to get supplies, as the local shop had closed for the season, but luckily they had left their WiFi on, so we could drive into the car park to check our emails, along with everyone else in the area!Again, after dinner, Graham made an excellent bonfire, but after a couple of hours a storm came over.We had thunder and lightning, and then the rain poured down, but our little tent survived and kept us dry.

The next day Graham spent all morning fishing, with worms this time, and caught 6 fish.They were all quite small though, so he threw them back, as it would have been too much hassle to prepare them, for so little meat.He did get quite a few people coming to see what he caught though, and luckily they mostly came along at just the right moment when he was reeling something in, so he looked more like a pro this time!We then took another drive into Picton in the afternoon to look around the shops, as Graham had worn through another pair of flip flops, I had broken another pair of sunglasses, and I had run out of books to read.Luckily we found a Dollar Store for the flip flops and sunglasses, and a charity shop for 2nd hand books.It became very windy whilst we were shopping, so when we returned to the campsite, our tent was buckling from the strong winds, as our site had no trees for protection.Graham went to ask our French Canadian neighbours if we could borrow some rope, and we fixed the tent by attaching it to the metal/wooden picnic table on our site!We then walked over to the beach to watch the kite surfers that had all come out to enjoy the strong winds.Later we sat inside our tent, out of the wind, and our neighbours brought us some soup, and offered for us to use their awning to sit in and cook in, as they had a caravan and trees to shelter them from the wind.We went over there to cook our corn on the cob, which we had just bought from the local farmers market, and stayed there all evening chatting and getting advice about Montreal, as we shall be going there soon.

Our tent survived the night of strong winds (I mean the wind from outside the tent, before anyone thinks to make a joke about this) and the weather was dry and calm in the morning for us to pack it all away.We then drove to Kingston and took a 3 hour boat trip of the 1000 Islands.The weather was cold and dull, but we braved it on the deck for most of the trip.We then walked around Kingston a little before driving to meet our couchsurfing host for the night - Carl.We went out to a great Italian restaurant called WoodHeads with Carl, his brother, Ben, and friend Holly, and had fantastic pizzas.We then went to visit some friends of Carls, who are also couchsurfers, and spent the evening chatting and drinking, whilst they made Roller Derby posters for the Kingston Roller Derby the following night.Now, for those of you who have no idea what this is, neither do I really, but I think the basics are that 2 teams of women on roller skates, wearing short skirts, skate around a ring.One team tries to overtake the other team, and they try to stop them from overtaking.If anyone else can explain this better, then please do so in a reply to this blog, as I'd really like to know more about it!

The next morning it was a beautiful sunny day so we did the lakeside walk, which goes along Lake Ontario and through the City Park and the MacDonald Memorial Park.We also saw Newlands Pavilion and Murney Tower , and stopped at the Kingston Penitentiary to go into the museum.This was housed in the House of the First Governor of the Penitentiary and was free (after an expensive boat trip and dinner out yesterday, we were needing a cheap day!)We then walked back through the town and went into the Cathedral Church of Saint George and then sat in Confederation Park, near the old railway station and steam train, and had a hotdog.This seemed like one of those things we must do in USA or Canada - going to a Hotdog stand, and covering your hotdog with various sauces and extras, ie. onions, olives, gherkins, bacon bits, I can't believe how many choices there are!

After this we just had time for a quick tour of the City Hall before getting in the car again, and driving north to Ottawa....

Maggie x