Episode #5: New Brunswick

Coastal beauty and controversy at Kouchibouguac

Our first destination in New Brunswick was Kouchibouguac National Park (pronounced Koo-she-boo-gwack) on the province’s eastern coast. This park protects a pristine landscape of barrier islands, sweeping sand dunes, and vibrant salt marshes. Its Mi'kmaq name translates to “river of the long tides,” reflecting thousands of years of Indigenous heritage.

On the Mi'kmaq Cedar Trail

Established in 1969, the park’s creation was unfortunately marked by heavy controversy. The federal and provincial governments forcibly relocated over 1,200 Acadian and English-speaking residents, many of whose families had relied on this land for generations. Following intense local protests in the 1970s and 1980s, Parks Canada eventually revised its policies. Today, the park actively balances ecological conservation with cultural heritage, providing visitors with opportunities to explore Acadian, Mi'kmaq, and early settler histories.

While staying at this wonderful 238-square-kilometre park, we hiked two of its gentler trails. The first was the Mi’kmaq Cedar Trail (which featured lots of mosquitoes!), and the second was the beautiful Kellys Beach Boardwalk. The boardwalk structure stretches across a saltwater lagoon and lively salt marshes with plenty of marine life and shorebirds. It ends directly at a massive 25-kilometre stretch of golden sand dunes that shield the coast from ocean waves. Kellys Beach boasts some of the warmest saltwater swimming north of Virginia, and plenty of visitors were out taking advantage of the gorgeous weather.

Kellys Beach Boardwalk

25 Kilometres of sand dunes

Salt water lagoon 

Later, our travel companions, John and Teresa, set up their camping gazebo and invited us over for a lovely outdoor dinner—thankfully completely free of mosquitoes! It is amazing how easily those modern gazebos pop up in just a few minutes.

Dinner with Teresa & John in the pop up gazebo

While at Kouchibouguac, we also made great use of our outdoor griddle. We cooked up a classic breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes to mark my 74th birthday! Later that day, we used it to whip up Okonomiyaki (a savoury Japanese pancake packed with cabbage and thinly sliced beef). We are slowly but surely getting the hang of griddle cooking!

Birthday breakfast 

Shediac: History and the lobster capital

Heading further south down the coast, our next stop was Shediac. Originally a Mi'kmaq settlement, Acadians began moving into the area around 1749. Though their initial stay was interrupted by forced displacement during the French and Indian War, many Acadians eventually returned. Today, the town retains a vibrant francophone community, which makes up about 75% of the population.

Shediac holds a surprisingly prominent place in Canadian transit history:

• 1816: It became home to the first official road in New Brunswick, connecting the town to Moncton.
• 1857: The European & North American Railway established the very first railway in the Maritimes, connecting Shediac to Saint John.
• 1930s: Shediac Bay served as a vital stopover for transatlantic commercial flights, with Pan American Clippers utilizing the Pointe-du-Chêne Wharf for refueling.

Lobster Capital of the World: Lobster fishing is Shediac’s most famous modern industry, getting its initial commercial boost when William Blizzard opened one of the region's first processing plants. Today, Shediac proudly bills itself as the "Lobster Capital of the World"

Shediac's monster lobster monument

To make sure visitors don't forget it, the town features a massive, anatomically precise 90-tonne lobster monument. It welcomes over 500,000 visitors every year, making it one of the most photographed spots in Atlantic Canada.

To reinforce their claim to fame, the town hosts an annual nine-day Shediac Lobster Festival in early July, drawing over 30,000 visitors. The festival highlights include:

• Professional cooking competitions featuring local chefs.
• Lobster-eating contests.
• La Grande Table: The signature closing event where hundreds of guests dine together at a single, massive table stretched straight down Main Street.

Shediac Lobster Festival. Doesn't this look like fun!!

Sadly, the festival concluded just a few days before we arrived in town. However, we did manage to enjoy a fantastic seafood dinner at a local restaurant with John’s cousin and her partner. The food was outstanding, and the conversation was even better!

Dinner at the Blue Lobster with Teresa, John, Elyse and Stephanie

Yummmmm

Understanding the Irving legacy

You cannot travel through New Brunswick without encountering the legacy of the Irving family. As one of Canada’s wealthiest dynasties, they wield unprecedented economic and political influence here. Their relationship with locals is deeply complex—often described as a unique mix of dependency, gratitude, and resentment.

The Irvings have constructed a massive, vertically integrated empire that touches nearly every aspect of daily provincial life. They operate Canada's largest oil refinery, rank as one of the top five largest landowners in North America, and control operations spanning forestry, pulp and paper, agriculture (Cavendish Farms), shipping, shipbuilding, trucking, railways, and security. For decades, they even held a near-monopoly on local print media. Remarkably, the Irvings directly employ one in every 12 workers in the province.

Many locals view the family as a critical economic lifeline in an otherwise struggling region. Because the Irvings choose to live locally rather than fleeing to far-off tax havens, they actively reinvest back into the community—funding food banks, hospitals, public parks, and environmental projects. For thousands of New Brunswick families, an Irving paycheck has provided multi-generational stability.

On the other hand, critics point to the family's immense leverage over the provincial labor market, historically depressed regional wages, and outsized political clout. Residents have also raised concerns over industrial pollution compromising local air and water quality. Because the company is so powerful, some locals worry about professional or economic repercussions if they speak out against them. It is clearly a polarizing dynamic, but on balance, this outsider walked away with a positive view of their impact.

Natural wonders and illusions in Moncton

We took a wonderful day trip to Moncton, primarily to witness the famous tidal bore on the Petitcodiac River. This unique phenomenon is caused by the extreme tides of the nearby Bay of Fundy, which force a wave of water to rush upstream against the river’s natural current, completely reversing its flow.

The tidal bore was only a few inches as we were only a few days after a new moon. Imagine a 3' tidal bore with a full moon...

Notice the 20' to 25' high muddy shoreline

2 hours later the river is full of water thanks to the massive tide from the Bay of Fundy

The wave travels at a clip of roughly 10 to 13 kilometres per hour. Depending on the moon cycle and seasonal tides, the height of the incoming wall of water varies from a gentle two-inch ripple to a dramatic three-foot wave. As the bore passes, it transforms the empty, muddy riverbed into a deep, rushing waterway in a matter of minutes. The phenomenon is incredibly popular with river surfers and kayakers who try to ride the continuous wave for record distances. We joined hundreds of other onlookers lining the shores to watch and photograph the arrival.

While in town, we also visited Magnetic Hill, a baffling roadside optical illusion that has been a top tourist draw since the 1930s. I actually remember visiting this exact spot as a kid on a family road trip back in the early 1960s! The site creates an illusion that makes your vehicle appear to coast uphill backwards against gravity:

• The Setup: You drive your car down to the absolute bottom of the hill and shift the gear into Neutral.
• The Roll: As you take your foot off the brake, your vehicle immediately begins rolling backward, accelerating up the incline until you reach the top.
• The Reality: Despite what your eyes tell you, it is purely a gravity hill illusion. The surrounding landscape, obscured horizon line, and sloping trees trick your brain into perceiving a slight downhill grade as an uphill climb.

The Tesla screen shows we are rolling along at 22 kilometres backwards "uphill"

An Argosy travel trailer (cousin of the Airstream) converted to a food truck.

What the Magnetic Hill looked like in the 1950's (much like I remember)

Guess who?

Shediac's Parlee Beach Campground, where we stayed

Next Up: Prince Edward Island! PEI is the smallest of Canada’s ten provinces. While it has the smallest overall population, it actually boasts the highest population density in the country due to its compact landmass. Stay tuned...