The northern end of Fundy coast of New Brunswick is at the Hopewell Rocks. After passing the flower pot rocks, the road heads inland towards Moncton, the gateway to Acadia. Moncton has an interesting mixture of French and English, and features two natural attractions--the Tidal Bore and the Magnetic Hill--both of which receive a lot of tourist hype.
The Tidal Bore is much like the Reversing Rivers Rapids in Saint John, but is on the Petitcodiac River. Years ago the Tidal Bore was a very impressive high wall of water that surged in through the narrow river opening. You could see the wave pushing the river to reverse. However, a causeway built across the river has blocked the bore, and usually the river-wide wave is only a few inches high! The river still reverses, but it is not very dramatic. Around the spring equinox, when the tides are especially high, the moving wave is much more visible. Some tourists who expect more have referred to it as the Total Bore! Since the best views of the tidal bore are at Bore Park, I wonder if it has ever been called "Boring Park". Erma Bombeck, the witty American humorist, wrote after seeing the Tidal Bore: "A trickle of brown water, barely visible, slowly edged its way up the river toward us with all the excitement of a stopped-up toilet." Even after all of this, my spouse the About fishing guide and I visited the Tidal Bore twice--once in the 1970s and again in 1997. I wonder what that says about us?
The Magnetic Hill is nothing more than a wonderfully bizarre optical illusion. When we first drove into the penultimate tourist trap, Magnetic Hill Park, I thought OH NO! We've been had! There was a water park, a min-train, and a village loaded with tourist shops. Since the actual ride on the hill was only a few dollars, we decided we just HAD to experience the illusion. Staff members direct your car to the top of a gentle slope. There is always a queue due to the popularity of the attraction. When you get to the front of the line, you are told to drive slowly down the slope and swing over to the left side of the road when you get to the bottom, where there is a dip in the road. Then you put your car in neutral, and suddenly the car starts coasting backwards up the slope. Even though it is just an optical illusion, it was a fun experience! (Doesn't take much to give this southern belle a thrill!)
New Brunswick is a fascinating port of call or vacation spot. The Bay of Fundy is unlike anything I've seen elsewhere, and the effects it has on the surrounding shoreline and rivers is spectacular. If you are tired of Caribbean beaches, maybe you should consider a trip north of the border to New Brunswick.
