What are some of the “things” or activities that Nova Scotians do for fun?

ANSWER: There is never a shortage of things to do in Nova Scotia. Our attractions celebrate Nova Scotia’s best, from sports heroes to legendary musicians, and reconstructed fortress towns to seaside vineyards overlooking the world’s highest tides. We like to take day trips to festivals or farmers markets! We like to eat – fresh seafood is always in abundance and we have great beers and wines to accompany it! We have over 7,600 km of coastline so its only natural that we like to get out on the water, whether it be kayaking, canoeing, fishing, rafting or spending the day at the beach with family and friends.

Photos courtesy: Nova Scotia Tourism

What’s one thing the public probably does NOT know about Nova Scotia?

ANSWER: Although we are a Canadian province, we are not a cold destination! In fact, we are one of the most southerly locations in Canada and Nova Scotia’s weather can be summed up into one word – moderate. It rarely gets extremely hot or extremely cold. The daily temperature does fluctuate both by time of day and by your proximity to the ocean. The Gulf Stream runs just off our coastline, keep it fairly mild in comparison to other parts of Canada.

Photos courtesy: Nova Scotia Tourism

Share some aspect of Nova Scotia as regards to what it has contributed to the world.

ANSWER: The Silver Dart was a derivative of an early aircraft built by a Canadian/U.S. team, which after many successful flights in Hammond sport, New York, earlier in 1909, was dismantled and shipped to Baddeck, Nova Scotia. It was flown off the ice of Baddeck Bay, a sub-basin of Bras d’Or Lake, on 23 February 1909, making it the first controlled powered flight in Canada. The original Silver Dart was designed and built by the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA), formed under the guidance of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. Alexander Graham Bell’s legacy lives on in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, where his family summer home, Beinn Bhreagh, still exists. In fact, Dr. Bell and his wife Mabel are both buried atop Beinn Bhreagh mountain, on the estate, overlooking Bras d’Or Lake.

Bell constructed a laboratory on this property, where he conducted experiments in powered flight and hydrofoil technology, among many other things. Some of his most notable accomplishments at Beinn Bhreagh included the first manned flight of an airplane in the British Commonwealth (by the AEA Silver Dart) in 1909, plus the HD-4, a hydrofoil boat designed by Frederick Walker Baldwin and Dr. Bell, and built at Beinn Bhreagh. Designed as a submarine chaser and powered by aircraft engines, their vessel set a world watercraft speed record of 71 miles per hour (114 km/h) in 1919, which remained unbroken for many years.

The Alexander Graham Bell Museum, a unit of Parks Canada, containing a treasure trove of objects donated to Canada by Dr. Bell’s descendants, is open to the public. The Alexander Graham Bell Museum is on the Canadian Register of Historic Places.

Photo courtesy: Nova Scotia Tourism

For further information about Nova Scotia, click on: www.novascotia.com.

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It was a Sunday and we thought we’d bring our out-of-town visitors to one of the beaches here in Southern California. Although I’ve lived here in Los Angeles county since forever, I rarely go to the beach. The salty west coast beaches are pretty to look at but notoriously cold at about 65 degrees F all through the year. The coin toss of choice was Treasure Island in Laguna Beach. So we packed our tent gear, swim suits and made a quick stop at the grocery store. Leaving at 10 am, the sun was already up but surprisingly, traffic was smooth and we arrived at our destination In less than an hour. All the street parking was already taken but one of our people knew a secret spot near some swanky residential area and we parked without a problem. If you do park in the street, remember to check if there are meters in that area … the old fashioned individual meters have given way to the modern credit card meters — no fun getting a ticket while on vacation, right? Speaking of fees, some routes have unavoidable tolls. Oh California — you and your endless taxes!

Treasure Island Beach is well maintained because of a partnership between the Montage Resort and the city. I’m sure the Montage resort would have preferred to keep this pristine area just for their guests but most beaches have lateral public access (meaning people can move along the coast). No, don’t feel too bad for the hotel guests because they had their own sun bathing deck in case they didn’t want to mingle with us mortals.

There were no showers available by the sandy beach. In fact, the nearest bathroom was provided by the resort at the top of the hill. The walk downhill from the streets to the beautiful cove wasn’t bad. Good exercise for us couch potatoes. Several early birds had already pitched their tents and laid out their beach blankets but there were still enough spots to claim our territory.

The California summer temperature was about 90° fahrenheit inland but there, by the beach, it was much cooler because of the light breeze and overcast sky. But even though we didn’t have any direct sunlight the whole day, I still got sunburned from the diffused rays.

I enjoyed just observing the California beach goers. You know the song — “I wish they all could be California girls” — oh behave! They came in all shapes and sizes — chiseled vs. cellulite. From skins that were smooth and youthful to overcooked and leathery — the vegans mixed with the fast food junkies. It’s interesting how most sun bathers started out very demure — self-consciously peeling off each layer of clothing but, as the day progressed, all inhibitions were thrown by the wayside. You know the old saying — “When in Rome …” It was not surprising that phone cameras were out clicking (although there seemed to be an unwritten code not to ogle and stare too much).

Some hand-carried their bags. The others who wheeled them in had a difficulty navigating on the sand. Colorful tents, umbrellas and large beach blankets served as territorial boundaries. Life guards were constantly propping their necks like ostritches. In fact, they did rescue a teenager who got swept under by a freak mid-sized wave. Although a few ventured further out and a few more only went knee deep, the majority just paraded their colorful skimpy attire walking on the shoreline. They said that here was one of the best spots for snorkeling but I didn’t see one snorkel … much less scuba suit. What would be the point to bring your gear when the spoilsport lifeguards caution you not to go too deep. Every once in a while a helicopter would come policing the coast for sharks. Come on guys. A little drowning and a little shark attack would add so much to liven up the place. Where’s your sense of morbid adventure? Just kidding!

We only stayed for three hours but that was enough to get our fill of surf and sand to last us the rest of the year. Treasure Island is indeed a natural treasure. I guess you can say this is where our tax dollars go.

A checklist of things to bring on a short notice beach trip and some tips:

• Bring your territorial marker like a tent, umbrella, chair, or towel
• Bring succulent fruit (watermelon is a popular choice) and liquids (water, soda, beer, wine) to quench your thirst
• Bring sun protection like sun tan lotion, sun glasses, wide brim hats, airy shirts to let the wind in but keep the radiation out
• Wear sandals (you’d be crazy to wear shoes where sand can come in)
• Big wheeled carts to carry your stuff are good only for the cemented areas and not really designed for sand
• Bring toys: Water boards, football, kites, shovels and sand castle tools
• The best time to go on a weekend? Any time really. The beach bums come in different waves so prime beach spots will be abandoned and made available for the new wave of people. Do keep in mind that it opens from 6 am to 10 pm the whole year-round.
• Half of the year, dogs are only allowed before 9 am and after 6 pm (June 15 to September 10). The rest of the year there are no restrictions. You do need to keep them on a leash though.
• Unwritten etiquette: She/He may be HOT but thou shalt NOT stare. Behave!
• Watch out for hungry seagulls who poke their bills on your snack food when you go to the water.
• Traffic and parking may build up in the late afternoon during the summer months because of the famous Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters. If you do plan to go, it may cost you $75 a head.

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Australia, the “Land Down Under,” where, according to Men at Work, “the women glow, the beer does flow and men [purportedly] chunder,” is the sixth largest country, by area, on the planet, but also the smallest of our seven continents. Confused? Don’t be.

Surrounded by three oceans — Indian, Pacific and Southern — and bordered by four seas — Arafura, Coral, Tasman and Timor — Australia, the so-called island continent, was first discovered by Dutch explorers in the early 17th Century and christened New Holland, then later claimed by Great Britain as a penal colony for boatloads of miscreants — 162,000 in all — who were sentenced in the late 18th Century for misdeeds against the Crown. Over time, convicts were emancipated, shed their black and white “magpie” prison garb, joined the ranks of free settlers and began in earnest to help tame the “Wide Brown Land” and transform it into today’s 12th largest global economy.

With 21k+ miles of jaw-dropping coastline and 3m+ square miles of camera-ready land mass, Australia, the oldest, flattest and driest inhabited continent, is a mega-diverse country, a true patchwork of extremes: the untamed Outback, tropical rainforests, mountain ranges, wetlands, endless beaches, quiet towns and thriving metropolises, not to mention it’s home to the indigenous kangaroo, koala, the laughing kookaburra, platypus, wombat, 755 species of reptiles, the boomerang, didgeridoo, Nick “Crocodile“ Dundee and, most importantly, courteous motorists.

A great big place that’s far, far away, Australia is divided into six states: New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland, where this brief primer ends and the fun begins.

I fled winter back home to enjoy a brief second summer basking in the warmth of the southern hemisphere along Queensland’s Sunshine Coast — a laid-back, magical playground, just 60 mi. north of Brisbane International Airport, that stretches from Pelican Waters in the south to Tewantin in the north, and where a postcard-perfect coastline and a vibrant-colored hinterland beckon you with open arms.

For 24 days I hung my white Panama fedora on the ninth floor of the Duporth Riverside apartment complex in Maroochydore, where the Maroochy River embraces the Coral Sea. If I did nothing more than just stand still and gaze out from my balcony at the panoramic views, the trip was well worth it; but, move I did, and often.

Like the “early to bed, early to rise” locals, I kept to a leisurely pace during my sojourn and enjoyed some memorable day trips and delectable dining experiences worthy of consideration should Queensland’s Sunshine Coast be on your bucket list. And, why shouldn’t it be? Need more convincing? Join me “virtually” as I take you along on my personal discovery of the Sunshine Coast, from Mooloolaba to Maleny and exotic locales in between, via car hire, boat rentals, kayaks, a steam-powered locomotive train, afoot, and, of course, with a knife, fork, wine glass and beer bottle.

Join me soon at dawn’s early light when we’ll shove off from Habitat Noosa on an eco cruise deep inside the Everglades. And, at the end of our journey we’ll throw something on the barbie and wash it all down with a “paddle” of micro beers brewed right on the premises. Fine with you? Sweet!

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