Hi all, back to the blogging game after a short break. Have not really done anything interesting in the time since being at Bill's farm, but it was the Easter Break so we decided to do something a bit more local since "spring is upon us"! Yeah, right! During the week prior to Easter we had cold conditions, ice rain, ice pellets (small droplets of rain frozen into a fine hail) and snow flurries! Yes, snow flurries, our back deck had a light covering of snow. So much for spring! But the weather forecast was for a fine day Good Friday, rain Saturday, clearing in the afternoon and fine Sunday and Monday.

The plan was to drive to Algonquin Provincial Park, a large Park about 3 hours north west of Ottawa. We decided to drive though the Park and stay at Huntsville, 20 minutes on the west side of the park boundary.

A last minute change had to be made as Rowie has snared a job at a coffee franchise called Tim Hortons, an institution here in Canada - we are yet to work out why! But we are all very pleased for Rowie as it will give her the opportunity to mix with people of her own age group. So it was up to the two old timers to sally forth and check out the moose and beaver and "wrastle" the bears. Something Donna was really looking forward to!

By the time we got away Good Friday we were only arriving at the East Gate of the Park at about 3.30pm. We checked out our options with the Park Rangers Station and decided, as a Day parking pass, at $16.00, was only good from 9.am until 10.00pm, we would drive straight through to Huntsville and come back to explore the park features bright and early the next day. At that time of day we didn't see the value in buying a pass to only use for an hour or so and we were not interested into doing any walks after dark. Also, the Ranger was not in the least encouraging about conditions on the many walks available within the Park. "Oh, the trails are treacherous", "It is cold and there is ice and snow on the trails", "Without proper footwear it will be difficult", etc., etc. Talk about trying to discourage tourists from spending their hard earned! But, graciously we said, "Thank you", and went on our way.

Through to Huntsville we went, found our digs for the next two nights and went for a short walk into downtown Huntsville. Found a nice cosy pub overlooking the Muskoka River and settled in for a couple of quiet Alexander Keiths Red Ales and a serve of Nachos shared between us. Very comfortable!! Interesting though, no jalapenos on the Nachos, green capsicum instead, quite bland really but refreshing(?). After an hour or two soaking up the ambiance it was time to head back to the motel for some rest before tomorrow's venture into the great Canadian outdoors.

True to the weather forecast we awoke the next morning to grey skies and rain. This did not present a problem as we had already planned to go to the Visitors Centre first in the event of inclement weather and wait out the rain, which was forecast to clear around lunch time. First off was a stop at the West Gate of the Park to get our parking permit needed for parking at the Parks facilities. Fortunately, the Ranger at this station was extremely helpful and more than encouraging about the state of the walking trails and provided relevant information required to make our visit as enjoyable and comfortable as possible. Quite the reverse of a previous visit to the opposite gate.

The Visitor Centre was very interesting with many life like dioramas depicting and describing the varied vegetation, mammals, birds and ecosystems etc contained within the Park. It was easy to soak up a couple of hours (no pun intended) as the fine soaking rain continued outside. After a light lunch consisting of "poutine" the rain stopped, as predicted. So, it was off into the wilds of Algonquin Park. Donna was keen to get amongst the bears! But first a word about poutine. Poutine is a Canadian favourite. Poutine is a bowl of french fries smothered in gravy and cheese curd. We have not yet worked out the apparent obsession with this dish and the jury is still out on the delectability of this unique Canadian delight! But hey, when in Rome...!

The many walks explore the many different ecosystems able to be viewed. The walks are also varied in length and time to suit the varying needs of the visitor. Our first walk (trail) was a 2 km loop yielding excellent views of two beaver ponds. The Park provides printed guides which explain in detail the sights able to be viewed on each of the trails. Beavers are timid creatures and are rarely seen active during the middle of the day. So it was no surprise these creatures were not posing conveniently for the ever ready camera. But we did get an understanding of the beaver dam purpose and the diligence these "busy beavers" display in preserving the dam integrity. The trail took us past two separate beaver ponds with beaver lodges visible within each pond. The trails are well marked and even though there was still some snow and ice on the trails they were quite easy to negotiate while taking care on icy slopes.

The next two trails were a 1.5 km loop through two typical northern spruce bogs and a 1 km loop through a typical hardwood forest culminating with views over Smoke Lake and surrounding hills.

As yet we had not seen any of the bountiful wildlife that abounds within the park. But, Donna did come close to getting her long awaited bear encounter. On the Hardwood Lookout Trail she came that close she scared the s*** out of one!! No, I shouldn't take the mickey. In all honesty Donna is petrified at the prospect of having a bear encounter. This heightened state of awareness enabled her to correctly identify, at first glance, a bear scat on the trail. Lucky really, I probably would have stood in it! After some appropriately soothing words, like "Don't be stupid, it can't possibly eat both of us" and "You take the lead!", I eventually got her to continue along the trail. But trying to explain that, as the recent snow and rain had obliterated all sign of foot prints the scat was probably at least a couple of days old just weren't cutting the mustard. These words of wisdom fell on ears now only tuned to listen for low growls and big black furry bodies crashing through the forest. It was not really the smoking gun, or a steaming......, ah well you get the idea!

So it was back to the motel with both a feeling of wonderment and a very slight feeling of disappointment that we had no even seen one moose all day. According to the literature, moose (or is that meeces?) are generally visible all along the Highway 60 that traverses the Park. Ah well, maybe it just wasn't our day. Then, as if on call we rounded a bend and there ahead were several cars parked on the side of the road and people out with cameras. After my recent African adventure this activity became known to us as, "wildlife ahead!". Sure enough we parked and gathered with the crowd and there were 3 moose standing and browsing in the forest - a calf and 2 cows. Not clearly visible, but as I pressed the shutter a voice in my head was saying, take the shot, this might be the only moose I see on this trip.

Great, we had actually managed to bag a moose so to speak. But we weren't done yet about 2 km further up the road two more cars parked on the side of the road and there was a very big bull moose standing calmly at the bottom of the road embankment drinking from the drain and eating some delicacy. These animals are genuinely BIG. As big as a horse, probably even taller. Quite impressive. They do get affected by parasites that make the hair fall out and this specimen was no exception.

Off we went again heading for the motel. Just outside the park boundary we caught sight of a turkey (wild variety) strutting along in the roadside cutting. This was about all the wildlife excitement for the day. One thing that struck me was the absence of bird life in the forest, nothing like the Australian bush at all. A few small fly catchers flitting about the trees, the occasional raven cawing in the distance and very occasionally a turkey buzzard circling overhead. But not much else. Maybe it is a bit cold yet for birds to appear?

Day 2 was fine and sunny as predicted. Back into the Park to do another couple of longer trails before heading home. A big turkey Tom was playing turkey (?) with the traffic and a cow and calf risked life and limb to cross the road in front of us. A bit further along another large bull moose was taking a morning paddle in a swampy area next to the road. On one of the trails we heard in the distance a woodpecker drumming out a message. After some careful stalking we managed to catch a glimpse of it in a tree drumming out a reply message to another bird further away. The final trail we completed was an interpretive trail explaining the history of timber harvest in the Park and the surrounding area. These hardy lumberjacks would spend all winter isolated in logging camps harvesting huge timber logs and storing them on the ice of the rivers and lakes and then in the spring thaw and summer they would float the logs to the Ottawa or St. Lawrence Rivers to the shipping ports for export around the world. Death was never far away and many perished in the harsh winter conditions or were swept away after clearing log jams on swollen, icy, swiftly flowing streams with temperatures just above freezing. Their worn soaking wet boots were nailed to a tree near where they were buried and for many this was the only marker that ever identified their burial place. Sometimes, if time permitted a rough rudimentary timber cross was used to identify the grave.

On the way out of the Park we visited an Outfitter to inquire about day and two day canoe trips within the Park. These look really good and quite good value for money. You can do unguided or guided or be completely outfitted with guides, camping gear, food and canoes with all safety equipment etc. at the luxury level you are comfortable with. This is evidently a great way to view wildlife. This is definitely something we will investigate in more detail in the late summer or fall (autumn) period.

For all you lead foots back in Australia you would love the speeds they travel in Canada. Country roads are signed as 80 km/hr. However, speeding fines start at 110km/hr! Guess what speed they drive? On the major highways/freeways maximum speeds are signed as 100km/hr. Some nearer Toronto are signed at 110km/hr. But this is more like the minimum. There is speeding fines applied but when you ask what speed you are safe to travel at the reply is often, "Don't be the fastest car on the road and you will be alright". Or, "If in doubt 120 km/hr is usually OK". If you are doing the speed limit you almost get run over. I guess the long distances travelled here allow for certain liberties when it comes to travelling speeds. Even in the built up areas no one travels at the designated speed limits. They drive like fuel is 20 cents a gallon. In fact, fuel is around $CAD 1.29 a litre, probably similar to Australian prices.