Confederation Bridge

Location: Prince Edward Island, Canada
Address: Confederation Bridge
Date: July 2006
Website:  www.confederationbridge.com

  If you wanted to bring a car to Prince Edward Island you used to have no choice but to do it by boat.  In May 1997 the Confederation Bridge opened and allowed people to drive across to the island.  The good news is that if you wish to visit Canada's smallest province it is free to drive across.  The bad news is that you will have to pay if you ever want to leave again.

  The bridge took about three and a half years to build.  It spans 13 kilometres over the Northumberland Strait.  It starts in the province of New Brunswick and ends in PEI.  When we last checked, the toll was about $50 per vehicle to leave PEI again.

  Another option for leaving Prince Edward Island is to take the ferry.  We chose this option.  The ferry will cost you as well so don't think you are getting away without paying your fair share.  As our trip was taking us further east this option made the most sense.  We drove from Shediac, New Brunswick to Cavendish, PEI.  After a few days visit we headed east again to Wood Islands, PEI where we caught the ferry to Caribou, Nova Scotia.  It was then eastern bound once more to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

  We had crossed the Confederation Bridge in a downpour and the rain stayed with us while we were on the island.  Despite the grey skies, our ferry trip allowed us to get up on the deck and finally get some fresh sea air.   The mud in PEI is red due to its high iron-oxide content.  Our ferry set sail and we left the red mud of Prince Edward Island behind.  We vowed to return when the sun was shining to check out this province once again.  Hey,  it wouldn't even cost us anything to drive over there.

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Map of Our World
Confederation Bridge
Wood Islands to Caribou Ferry

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Post # 121

Statue Of Liberty (Splash)

Location: New York, New York, USA
Address: Liberty Island
Date: Jan 2009
Website:  www.nps.gov/stli/index.htm

In the movie Splash, Daryl Hannah plays a mermaid who goes by the name of Madison.  Tom Hanks is Allen Bauer who was saved by a mermaid after falling out of a boat when he was a boy.  Years later Allen has another boating accident and is saved once again.  The mermaid finds his wallet and decides to travel to New York in order to locate him. 

When a mermaid is on land she has legs like a human, but when she enters the water her tail returns so she can swim away.  Madison arrives in New York on Liberty Island.  She climbs over the railing like the one in the first picture above and walks past a sign like the one in the bottom left corner of the second picture.  As she walks across the grass with the skyline of Manhattan in the background she causes quite a commotion.

  It seems that even though mermaids have legs when on land, they do not instantly become clothed.  As a result Madison appears naked on the island.  The movie Splash was actually the first Disney film geared towards adults under the name Touchstone Films.

  Madison is quickly ushered inside through the doors on the front right of Lady Liberty and away from the crowds.  She is then escorted by police boat from the island wearing an extra long "I Love New York" t-shirt.  This is one way to possibly get a free souvenir that we were unwilling to try.

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Map of Our World
Statue of Liberty (Splash)

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Post # 120

Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary

Location: Karatta, Australia
Address:  Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, South Coast Road
Date: May 2012
Website:  www.hansonbay.com.au

  One place we just had to visit while on Kangaroo Island was the Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.  The sanctuary is home to a koala colony and other Australian wildlife.  When we first entered the sanctuary we spotted a short beaked echidna digging in the grass.  Once we had paid our admission fee we headed off towards Koala Walk.

  As we entered the rows of eucalyptus trees we were greeted by a group of galahs.  Galahs are also known as rose breasted cockatoos.  They are a beautiful grey and pink with a lighter coloured forehead.  They look a bit like someone has pulled a pink turtleneck up over their nose.  Galahs can be found all across Australia and have become as common as pigeons are to other parts of the world.

  Speaking of beautiful birds, we also spotted some crimson rosellas.  Crimson Rosellas are a type of parrot that is blue and red.  The ones found on Kangaroo Island are the largest in all of Australia.  Rosellas are usually found in mating pairs like the two we photographed below.

  After admiring the birds we looked up into the trees.  Looking back at us was one of the resident koalas.

  The koalas at Hanson Bay are a wild group that is free to leave at any time.  Any one of them could have easily followed us to our car and out along the driveway to explore the rest of the island. 

  Koalas are a close relative of the wombat.  They are both marsupials and both have backwards facing pouches.  Wombat pouches face backwards to keep them from filling with dirt.  Koala pouches face that way since the babies eat a substance called pap from their mother's butt.  Anyway, wombats prefer digging in the ground while koalas spend most of their day sleeping high up in the eucalyptus trees.  Despite their pouches facing in opposite directions both koala babies and kangaroo babies are called joeys.

    We had a great time spotting koalas up in the trees.  When our necks were sore it was time to look down again.  Much to our delight there was more to explore at ground level.

  Sitting underneath a branch is what we believe was a tammar wallaby.  These are the smallest of all the wallabies and are quite common on Kangaroo Island.

  Another macropod we spotted was the Kangaroo Island kangaroo.  It is similar to the western grey kangaroo but is more chocolate coloured and much stockier.  Macropod means large feet in Greek.  We also had to move our feet as the afternoon was almost over.  Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary is on the western end of Kangaroo Island near Flinders Chase National Park and we had to drive all the way to Penneshaw at the eastern end.  Anybody need a ride?

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Map of Our World
Hanson Bay Wildlife Sanctuary

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Post # 119