Canada Day 8. Plateau Mont-Royal & Parc La Fontaine

After several hours, some serious ingenuity, tweezers, several drawings, and stress my camera is back up and running!!

I started out today was heading to the east of the hostel to Parc La Fontaine. Which was a very quiet and beautiful little park that isn't really visited my tourists all that much and as such gives you a much better idea of what the locals do in their spare time!  

The lakes were a gorgeous blue and the weather was simply beautiful 

There was also a lot of wildlife! Tons of ducks and pigeons, and more squirrels than I've ever seen!

Look at this cutie!

It was a lovely way to start off the day just walking through the trees around the lakes.

After spending a good chunk of the morning at the park I set off to Plateau Mont-Royal which is basically a few streets dedicated to boutiques, restaurants and cafes. 

I'd walked past it the day before but I didn't detour as I wanted to do some other bits and pieces but it's a really lovely area and I completely get why it's a local favourite!

There was some pretty cool and vibrant graffiti artwork on the sides of several buildings in this area too

The streets are incredibly french and the atmosphere is very central european so it was really nice to spend some time here. 

it was just such a pretty area to wander around

I stumbled across a mini park down one road too which wasn't on my map but was a very pleasant surprise as the shade offered some respite from the sunshine!

Several of the cafes had traditional french cuisine and all the menus were in french! It really felt like I wasn't in North America anymore. And I understand why it's considered quite separate to the rest of Canada as theres definitely a lot of pride in their heritage here I think 

When I left the restaurant section I pottered in the local shops, and this bookstore featured an adorable, and quirky, feature! He was say there in the sunshine the whole time I walked up and down the street, and seemed quite happy to soak up the sun and have the occasional passerby stroke him

This shop stood out with its craziness, but the sweets themselves looked really good

even more artwork!

I really liked Plateau Mont Royal as every single shop had something different to offer and, not for the first time, I wish I could have bought everything! I'm definitely going to be stopping by here when I can  - it's just a lovely place to spend an hour or so people watching with a drink, or to stop by for lunch!

Canada Day 7. Downtown Montreal

So my camera isn't 100%. Far from it. But i managed to get it working for a while today so I actually have some (vaguely) interesting things for you to look at!

A lot of my cycle in Montreal and I actually think this statue is pretty fitting with the watery/icy reflection contrasting with the burnished warmth of Montreal cycling in summer!  

It really is so nice to have old buildings dotted about inconsequentially after NZ!

Did I mention Montreal are big on their bikes?

I basically just wandered into Downtown Montreal today, I popped into a handful of the beautiful churches and into a couple of the stores to window shop but my camera died halfway through the day so you're getting a bit of a random selections!

There really were some lovely churches in the heart of the city. 

And weirdly at lunch time everyone went and sat on the church grass to have their lunch!

There was a bit of a protest of the gaza strip, although I think it was more about handing out leaflets than an actual protest (all the leaflets were in french so I can't really be sure!)

One of the most beautiful churches I stopped to visit

There were also quite a few green spaces tucked between the skyscrapers which was nice - I guess Montreal tries to make the most of its summers since its winters are so snow-filled!

Montreal really is a very beautiful city - It'd be interesting to see it in winter actually since there were trees and greenery everywhere in Montreal 

And it was in the park my camera fell apart for the day. It worked out quite well though since after reading in the park I headed into a few shops so I wouldn't have taken anything very interesting!

Day 38 Look Out Rock

Today was all about making the most of the amazing walks that were right on my doorstep in Akaroa. Considering our hostel was a last resort it’s actually the perfect place to do a whole host of beautiful walks, today’s choice was the ridge walk and then the walk to Lookout Rock, in total it all took about 4 hours which was 4 hours well spent as the views were absolutely stunning. The views very nearly made up for the fact the entire walk was up hill. On the plus side coming down only took an hour, instead of the 3 it took to get up, partly because I had to run down as it was just too steep to try and walk.

I won’t ramble too much about the walk other than to say it was the perfect day for it, I have a few tan lines, and the time I spent gazing out at lookout rock will stick with me for life, not only was the air was incredibly fresh and crisp but it was almost entirely silent with only the occasional bird song piercing the quiet.

 The beginning of the walk - through a field of sheep

 The view was already stunning after climbing the first section, and the views just got better

 One curious little sheep 

 The occasional white blob on a rock or a random post was all that guided the way - not the best idea since a lot of the moss etc that grow on the boulders here is white too.. 

The fields themselves were pretty interesting as they were liberally scattered with various rocks and boulders 

 I did have a tiny scare when all the sheep, whose field I was walking through, started running at me. Turns out, the farmer was rounding in the sheep for shearing, which he explained when we followed the running sheep. His 5 adorable, and friendly dogs deserve a mention too – they were so energetic, constantly running around, bounding over all the huge boulders that dot the landscape.

 For amount a mile this was my path

 One of my favourite photos!

 I ended up doing all of these three walks as I figured  I might as well
 (also I really couldn't be bothered climbing back up this point again tomorrow)

 I didn't take any photos from the rock itself as the warning all around kind of scared me, I climbed to the edge and let my feet dangle off the edge but I didn't linger for too long!

 Instead I retreated higher to a lovely little spot where I read my book for awhile 

After my walk me and Karin went down to the harbor in the centre of Akaroa where we got to see the town at sunset, which was lovely as the French themed town positively glowed with the warm setting sun.