Got picked up at 8am, bright and early, to start our Moose Network tour. Meet our Canadian guide Kaleb and all the others. So we have:
German sisters Petra and Anya
German Nancy
German Kevin
Swiss German Steff
Canadian Megan
Australian Simon
Chinese Zoe
Danish Ronya
All sound great and interesting, so looking forward to the trip.

First stop:Montreal.
On the way we stopped at The Big Apple, a place that made lots of apple goodies, so had some tasty apple crumble. And did some ice breakers with the group. After a long drive, arrived at our hostel, HI Montreal and realised how French the place is, with the hostel stuff speaking primarily French. As it was late, we pretty much headed straight out for dinner. Learned about a Canadian Tradition called 'Poutine', which is basically gravy chip with cheese, but they make it fancy by using cheese curds. (Sounds and tastes like what I have after a drunken night out, but not bad all the same.)
The next day we headed out on a tour of the city, the first stop Monte Royal. Bit of a hike up the streets first to get to the start of the trail, (like San Francisco) then through a wooded area, where we saw some squirrels, runners, a mothers yoga club, before reaching the top for views over Montreal. Pretty nice for what we could see, bit foggy.
The whole way up we trailed behind; Kenny decided "Wey hey! First night of the tour so lets get drunk!" So he literally boaked about 5 times on the way up haha (how the tables have turned already!)
Next stop was Schwartz, a really old diner, that sells another Canadian Tradition, smoked meat sandwiches. Really good!! Even had mustard in it, which I don't like, but part of this trip is to open up the taste buds, so I went with it.
Next stop was seeing some of Old Montreal; churches, old streets, shops, museums etc. Kenny couldn't stick it any longer so he went back for a sleep, so headed to do some window shopping with Nancy, nice wee afternoon. But he managed to get me the chocolate I had been searching for for years, Lindt white chocolate with coconut, yum... So he's great :D

Rivière du Loup. On the way we stopped for '1000 island cruise', which is basically as it says, lots of little islands on a huge lake. Pretty cool seeing these houses on their individual islands and wondering how the hell they built them. Some even had garages for there boats, on the water. One house had a bridge that on one side was Canada and as you crossed it, you were in America, Alexander Bay of New York. If we had of got off the boat at another island on that side of the bay, we would have had to show our passports. By the time we arrived at the hostel, HI Rivière du Loup, it was evening again and raining, so night in for us. The hostel cooked us a meal, three courses with tea and coffee, so can't complain. We all learnt the hard way the necessity of rain covers for our rucksacks; being lovely weather no-one had bothered to use them. The rain and wind was so bad that when we lifted the rucksacks off the roof rack, they just dripped water. Luckily my organised packing (in ziplock bags) kept the most of mine dry, but one of the girls had to wash and dry everything she had. Rain covers on for tomorrow.

Moncton, previously voted one of the most trustworthy places on earth, how cute. Again the rain stopped us venturing too far; we unloaded our stuff at HI Moncton, then headed to a restaurant for some mussels and beer, yes Kirstie ate seafood and beer!! Blueberry beer, which actually had blueberries floating in it, yum. So maybe another turning point for me. This place has one of the highest tides in the world, so hopefully see that on the way back.
Leaving Moncton, we stopped by a waterfall called Grand Falls, that's only there in summer, and had 9/10th the volume of Niagara, so although it didn't look that big, holy crap it had some water. Even had a zip line you could ride over it!
At 10.15am, we arrived at a winery, for wine tasting!! A little early in the day for alcohol, but hey, when its free it tastes better says Kenny. We really enjoyed this, Kenny who only drank wine with me because that's all I had, actually liked the wine! They showed us where they grew the fruit, and then where and how they made the wine. Quite interesting. So we had red, white and rose. Most of them really good!! As an extra special treat just for us, they let us do a taste test session on a new white wine they had just developed. It was gorgeous!! They let us buy a bottle, even tho it hadn't been launched. Very impressed. Wish I could try every wine before I buy!
Also had a stop in Annapolis, to see Fort Ann which was an important British fort during the British settlement in Canada. Also learning a bit about the Acadians.