The province of NEW BRUNSWICK , roughly 320km long and
260km wide, attracts less tourist attention than its Maritime
neighbours, and it's hard to understand quite why. It's true that
the forested upland that makes up the bulk of the province is a
trifle repetitious, but the long river valleys that furrow the
landscape compensate and the funnel-shaped Bay of Fundy ,
with its dramatic tides and delightful coastline, is outstanding.
Equally, in Fredericton , the capital, the province has one
of the regions most appealing towns, a laid-back easy sort of place
which, besides offering the bonus of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery,
also possesses strings of fine old villas and a good-looking
cathedral. Handsome scenery is within easy reach too - it's a short
trip south to scenic Passamaquoddy Bay , an island-studded
inlet of the Bay of Fundy that's home to the likeable resort of
St Andrews . Southeast of Fredericton, the Saint John River
snakes a tortuous route to the Bay of Fundy at the busy port of
Saint John . Along with most of the settlements of southern
New Brunswick, Saint John was founded by United Empire Loyalists,
whose descendants, mingled with those of British colonists, account
for around sixty percent of the province's 725,000 inhabitants.
Some 130,000 people live here in Saint John, making this the
province's big city - it's much larger than Fredericton - and
although hard times have left the place frayed at the edges the
city boasts a splendid sample of Victorian architecture. Also,
although industry has scarred the Fundy coast hereabouts, there's
still no denying the rugged charms of Saint John's setting, and not
far away are the more pristine land- and seascapes of both the
coastal Fundy Trail Parkway and Fundy National Park
.
The remaining third of New Brunswick's population are
French-speakers, the descendants of those Acadians who settled in
the region after the deportations of 1755. To avoid further
persecution, these refugees clustered in the remote northern parts
of the province, though since the 1960s they have become more
assertive - following the example set by their Québecois cousins -
and have made Moncton , in southeast New Brunswick, the
effective capital of modern Acadia, with a French-speaking
university as their cultural centre. Moncton is, however, of
limited interest to the passing visitor - it's a modern, brassy,
breezy sort of place - and is chiefly of use as a stepping stone
either west to Fundy National Park or east to the beautifully
remote remains of Fort Beauséjour . As for the other Acadian
districts, they are best visited on the way to Québec. Two main
roads link Fredericton with its northern neighbour. The first -
which is both more scenically diverting and more direct - slices up
the western edge of the province along the Saint John River Valley
to French-speaking Edmundston , en route to Rivière-du-Loup
. The second cuts northeast for the long haul up the Miramichi
River Valley to the cluster of small towns that are known
collectively as Miramichi City . Near here are the untamed
coastal marshes of the Kouchibouguac National Park and, in
the northeast corner of the province, the Acadian Peninsula
, whose pride and joy is the re-created Village Historique
Acadien , near the fishing village of Caraquet .
SMT buses run a reasonable provincewide network of
services, with daily connections along the Saint John River Valley
and up the east coast from Moncton to Campbellton. There are also
regular buses from Fredericton, Saint John and Moncton over to
Charlottetown on PEI, via the Confederation Bridge. The Saint John
to Digby car ferry is a useful short cut if you're heading
down to southwest Nova Scotia.