Six weeks in Saint John

The opportunity to visit a different country and experience a different culture, whilst doing the same thing that you do back home . . . excellent!!!

Quick Tips:

Pack lightly and don't expect anything!

Best Way To Get Around:

To get around the whole of St John, a car is definitely recommended. However, if you're just staying in uptown Saint John, it can all be covered by foot. If you want to take a taxi, they operate in zones and it seems to work well.

The Chipman Hill Suites is located in the centre of the city and are within walking distance of restaurants, bars, shops, and most cultural and recreational activities.

The Chipman Hill suites on Coburg is a beautifully restored historic building. Each suite is a fully furnished, self-contained, mini-apartment complete with a kitchenette, private bathroom, and everything you would need whilst traveling.

Perfect for a week or more in Saint John.

The Hilton Saint John is a 10-story building located on the historic Saint John waterfront. The Hotel itself is connected to Trade and Convention Centre, an Aquatic Centre, the Old City Market, Imperial Theatre, and Harbour Station. So should it rain in this beautiful little town (which may often happen), getting wet is not an issue.

The Hilton Saint John has executive and standard hotel rooms, all with private bathrooms, air conditioning, voice mail, and all the basics including an iron and ironing board.

You can dine at two on-site bars/restaurants, one of which, the Turn of the Tide, will cater beautifully for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

With the fantastic harbour views and with the hotel being within walking distance to all the nearby shops, restaurants, and most recreational activities, its location is easily the hotel's best feature!

Ah, the 'Reversing Falls', one of the more interesting little attractions of Saint John, but please DO NOT compare it to the 'Niagara Falls' . . . they’re very different indeed.

So, what are the 'Reversing Falls'? Well, they are a unique phenomenon caused by the highest tides in the world, those of the 'Bay of Fundy'. Without getting too technical, at low tide, the 'St John River' empties into the bay through a narrow rocky gorge. This steep drop causes a series of rapids and whirlpools where the river meets the bay. Now, as the bay’s tide rises to meet the river, the current of the river stops to a standstill and will actually reverse once the tide is higher than the river. After the bay’s tide slowly descends, the river resumes its natural flow and the tide drops away to reveal the rapids and whirlpools again. It is recommended to view the falls twice -- once near low tide and again near high tide.

Whilst here, it is a must to pop in and treat yourself to a beautiful meal at one of Saint John's more charming restaurants, 'The Falls Restaurant'. You will get a healthy sized meal from $7-18 each, all while enjoying some fantastic views of the river (including the 'famous' Reversing Falls).

The Falls are definitely not worth flying to Saint John for, but if you're in the city for a few days, it is a must.

If you were looking for something else to complete your day, I suggest you visit the 'Irving Nature Park', but that's another story.

A 30-hour flight, five different airports, four different planes, one lost bag, one strange lock on my bag, and a partridge in a pear tree. Well, finally I arrived into a little town known as Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.

I was met at the airport by the wonderful Cyndi Joudrey, who was kind enough to meet me there at 10:30pm and take me to the Hilton, where I really enjoyed a well deserved night’s sleep.

The following morning we were off to the airport again (it was like a bad dream!). The reason for this was to pick up the lively Mexican guides. 'Big Freddy' (Federicko) is the Global Exchange supervisor and JJ (Janderik) is the other global guide lucky enough to be selected to come to Canada.

Now, fortunately there was another reason in this little journey to the airport, and that was to reunite with my beloved luggage. Apparently it couldn't keep up with my travels and needed a little rest at the airport. The different locks on my bag was a bit of a concern though--oh well, I'm sure it happens all the time!

Since then our time has flown, visiting all the Saint John attractions and dining in as many restaurants as I have this whole year. Some of the highlights being the famous Reversing Falls, Irving Nature Park, Kings Landing, Gagetown, a Matchbox 20 concert, and a whale watching tour from St. Andrews. Now, I will be going into some of these highlights individually with more detail, so stay tuned.

Saint John has a lot of pubs, clubs, and restaurants to satisfy most peoples desires. It is not an expensive city to visit and is very accessible to all the attractions of the east Canada Maritimes.

Overall, the first week has been fantastic. Their are some major and some subtle differences between the two offices, but the people here are brilliant, which makes it an easy adaptation for me. Generally, Canadians are very similar to Australians, particularly in their sense of humour. The weather however, is completely unpredictable with four seasons in a week, including a hurricane that happened nearby on our first weekend.

Canada is a beautiful country, and with five weeks to go, I am not complaining.

Well, week 2 in Saint John has been a lot calmer. After the haze of the journey and the madness of orientation, I have settled and decided it was now time to find a bit of stability in this little town of Saint John. Hence, I was introduced to the local pubs and restaurants.

With Irish pubs, sports bars, dance clubs, live music, student nights, ladies’ nights, theme nights, etc., Saint John’s nightlife will satisfy most people. The drinks here are reasonably priced, with most costing around C$3-5. And if one were to be inclined, you could easily find enough happy hours to get you through the night.

With eating being a key part of survival, I can assure you that there will be no problem surviving here. We have eaten out most nights and I will need to put in a lot of time at the gym (or at least join a gym) when I return to the Gold Coast.

Thai, Mexican, Italian, Chinese, and, of course, seafood restaurants can all be found uptown. With this city being in the Maritimes and situated on one of the biggest harbours in Canada, the seafood here is exceptional. No matter what budget you’re travelling on, you can definitely find a way to 'survive' in Saint John!

3 Mile has about four or five different bars in the one establishment and seems to be everyone's favourite. O'Leareys is a fantastic little Irish pub that has some great live music. Rockies is a sports bar with some classic locals. D'Amico's is my favourite restaurant (Italian). And you can find the best steak at Churchill’s. While I'm at it, Alpine is a tasty local beer that should definitely be exported to Australia.

So basically this second week has consisted of making new friends, plenty of eating and drinking, and, of course, the reason I'm here – work. Tough life, hey?!

Well, without a doubt the highlight of my third week in Saint John was visiting my second province in Canada. But let’s go back to the beginning. The week started with a public holiday – that’s right, a four-day working week! Monday the 13th of Oct was Canada's Historic Thanksgiving Day. Now this is a celebration that Australia generally knows nothing about, other than it involves a turkey and a day off work! Canada's Thanksgiving actually dates back to 1578 when European settlers celebrated the fortunes of a good harvest with Indian neighbours. Now even though Saint John is not hugely populated, the city seemed a lot like a ghost town on this particular day.

The rest of the shortened week consisted of work, drinks, socialising, movies, and plenty of dining out. A great meal was had at 'Keystone Kelly's' where either a family or a group of friends can really enjoy some well-priced, well served meals in a relaxed environment. I was also luckily enough to get my hands on a bike and took the opportunity to take my own little tour of Saint John. As we approached the end of the week, myself and the other global guides prepared ourselves for a little excursion.

Halifax is the provincial capital of Nova Scotia, it is the second largest natural harbour in the world and is known best for the largest pre-atomic explosion in the world. This is a lively and deeply historic Atlantic town that was devastated by a freak hurricane only 3 weeks earlier. Its beautifully famous public gardens had been tragically torn apart. And areas of the city were without electricity for two very long weeks. And yet, this remarkable city still offers a fantastic vibe. The people are as friendly as you'll meet anywhere in the world. And combined with the restaurants, nightlife, shops, public gardens, and historic sights, Halifax becomes Atlantic Canada's MUST SEE! We were luckily enough to find some free accommodations through the family of a friend. Believe it or not, the whole city seemed to be fully booked.

Just to explain the weather -- from the minute we arrived in Halifax, it rained for most our stay, and with the cold winds from the harbour, it was the coldest I'd been in Canada to date. However, even with the chilling weather, Halifax still offered an enthusiastic atmosphere that carried us through the usually miserable conditions.

We took the option of a reasonably priced bus tour through the town, this proved a dry, well-informed tour of the city and it covered all of the highlights. We 'paid' a quick visit to the Nova Scotia Casino (where some were luckier than others), before enjoying a beautiful meal in one of the many restaurants to select from. This was followed by an excellent night at the 'Liquor Dome'. The Liquor Dome is the unofficial name for a handful of separate bars and clubs all linked together internally (quite unique).

After a slow morning, we began the four-hour drive home to Saint John, New Brunswick. And after all is said and done, my best recommendation is to make Halifax a 'definite' when you next find yourself in the Maritimes.

Now that I am past the half mark of my journey, I’m finding that I am starting to contradict myself. For example, it is difficult for me to comprehend that a whole month has passed since I left the big island of Australia. It seems only yesterday that I was preparing myself for the 30-hour journey to Atlantic Canada. On the other hand, I have seen and experienced so much that it is surreal to think that it has only been 4 weeks. I'm sure you understand!

The thought that has astonished me the most this week is that, even after a month of living here. I am still noticing a lot of differences from back home, albeit subtle ones. There are slightly different policies within the two RCI offices. The members tend to have different wants and demands with their holidays. I am constantly learning new expressions ("What's shaking, Dan?"). "Poutine" is a French meal involving fries, gravy, and cheese curds -- this should be avoided (just my opinion). When driving on the roads of New Brunswick, you're allowed to turn right at the traffic lights whilst they are still red.

On a different note, this past week, we said farewell Federico (the exchange supervisor from Mexico), which was a great shame. I think he learnt a lot during his visit to Saint John, but in return, he provided this office with a lot of advice and assistance. Besides, he kept us all entertained.

The other major highlight to week 4 was a weekend visit to Toronto! This is a huge, crazy city to say the least, with a population of 4.6 million people. Now, being the tourist that I am, I crammed in all of the major attractions. Niagara Falls and the CN tower were the highlights of the city and of my weekend adventure. The weather was shocking, which dampened (ha) the whole experience, but Toronto is a city that should be visited regardless of the weather conditions.

So as we head into the last 2 weeks of the programme, I am still excited to see as much as I can of Canada. Yet the thought of the Gold Coast going into summer can make anyone become little jealous.

After returning from Toronto on Monday morning I was taken directly to the office to begin my second to last week of the Global Exchange and remind me just why I was here. The high expense of ejoying Toronto meant that Week Five was going to be a little quieter than the others. But there is always an event to look forward to when traveling.

There was something in the air this week, &andthat something was the anticipation to Halloween. It was the lead up to the 31st of October when the sales of pumpkins increase, the spooky decorations come out of the closet (without cleaning off the cobwebs), horror movies seems to be the only thing on TV, and children are counting down the days to the ultimate sugar rush!

In Australia, the word Halloween would be lucky to be mentioned, let alone be compared to the exciting way it is celebrated up here in sunny Canada.

Costumes are a big part of this scary event with people dressing as ghosts, witches, vampires, monsters, evils, and elves. And although fairies, princesses, super heroes, and the occasional Elvis can be found, the general theme is that of horror.

The other major part of Halloween is 'Trick or Treat'. This part amuses me for two reasons. One, parents spend a lot of their time telling their children not to take anything from strangers. Then on this one particular day of the year, they kids are sent out to more or less beg for candy from strangers. Two, the other amusing part of this event is the risk each family takes by not supplying some kind of candy to the sugar hungry children. Should they not satisfy their needs, they live in fear of their house being egged, rolled, or even worse.

However, Halloween seems to be one of those holidays that no one can really explain the origin of its celebration, and yet it is celebrated so passionately. Personally I think that it is a fantastic tradition (no matter how distorted it is from its origins) that the whole family and work place can get involved in.

The other little highlight of the week that I wanted to mention is that of going to an ice hockey match. Now even though Austrlia is an extremely sporting nation, the lack of ice in our country generally means that ice hockey is not that recognized. We see glimpses of it on TV, and you may find the odd rink from town to town, but that's about it. I felt that going to a mtach in this ice hockey fanatical country was a must, and I am so glad I went.

It was the first game of the senior AAA league, fought out between the new Saint John Thundercats and the Chandler Gaillard. The atmosphere throughout the crowd and the speed of the game results in an excellent way to spend a couple of hours. Take my advice, when you have the chance go and see a game (no matter what division). Excellent.