Republique Park to Oceanfront Camping St Andrews

At the Oceanside

This is a post covering 2 days. First the trip from Republique Park, then around the Oceanfront Kiwanis park in St Andrews NB. The second day is after the map this time.

After a pleasant couple of days at the Republique Provincial Park and the associated Jardin Botanique, we set sail for the Ocean. First we had a stop at the surprising town of Grand Falls NB. It exceeded our expectations in good ways.

As you might expect from the name, Grand Falls does have a Falls, sometimes. Water volume is pretty low right now due to the general dryness in New Brunswick (which has contributed to the wildfires you may have heard about):

There can be a LOT of water coming through here in some years

 

 

2017 volume, courtesy of Dave U

Notice the old logs at left carried down in high water years

One of those visitor maps, with pins showing where visitors came from

 

These pictures are the best we could do to show the Zip Line rides that must be pretty exciting:  

The main takeoff point

Those wires you can see against the sky are the zip lines. It's a long ways down.

 

Cathie wanted to ride the Zip, but unfortunately it wasn't open yet. :))

 

Grand Falls must be a shopping center for a large area, with a huge modern WalMart,  Marks, well-stocked grocery etc. We didn't expect the town to be so "citified".

 

Here's a map with our driving route:

St Andrews is at the red dot, near St Stephen.

We got checked in to Oceanfront Kiwanis camp ok. We've been here a number of times before, the early visits way before it became as developed as it is now. We did not expect to be greeted by rows of big rigs. Turns out there was a tour group here with their monsters:

The park is large though, with some 200 sites. Still room for some smaller rigs like our van:

  

One of the local residents saying Hello

These premium tenting sites have no privacy, but great water views

One of the things we like about this spot is access to nearby hiking and biking trails. Right now though, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are banning access to any wooded areas, including the trails here in St Andrews:

We're still enjoying it though.

Camper having some fun

 

Today we had some water viewing in the morning, still the main attraction for us. A 5 minute walk from our camp spot. This is the main channel from the town harbour out to more open water, so always some activity:

Sport fishermen heading out

Well-placed benches provided

We enjoyed our morning coffee here

 

The town has a central wharf area where most of the tours and fishing boats are based. After lunch we pedalled into town, parked the bikes, and roamed around the wharf area:

Still a working lighthouse I believe, at the harbour entrance

A small tour boat returning

 

The small boats (dinghies) allow owners to get out to their larger boats, anchored in the deeper water in the background

All this touring is thirsty work, so we splurged on a couple of small cones and did more sitting and looking:

Mochachino and Lemon cones

That's the wharf going out from the left

 

Several people enjoyed playing in the mud as the tide is partway out

Walking our bikes on the wharf

A passing couple insisted on taking a pic of us happy campers

 

We hit the weather jackpot today, sunny and cool with a light breeze, perfect for getting out and about.