Niagara Falls

Yet another CLEE weekend away and finally a trip to Niagara Falls. It was organised by Kathy Main (who was in Batemans Bay in 2002) and her wonderful assistants. We stayed with another kind Canadian family, Christene and Mark, who were in Lismore in 2006. We had pizza and a chat on the Friday night after arriving, while the kids got acquainted and Nic got his fill of their Wii games.

We met up with the other teachers on Saturday morning and went up the Skylon Tower where we could view the falls from above and see the Niagara River that feeds them. You could also see the surrounding district, though visibility wasn't great as it was quite overcast. I’m certainly getting over my fear of heights with all these towers we're going up!
We then went to the nearby IMAX theatre to view a movie… "Niagara- Miracles, Myths and Magic." This was great and had re-enactments of people going over the falls and surviving amongst other things, all on a screen 6 stories high. On the way out there was a display of real and replicated contraptions that people had used to go over the falls. No wonder a lot of them died! Should have seen them. When we got out of the movie the day had cleared up somewhat and we had a nice walk down to a restaurant for lunch, and got to view the falls along the way. I was totally blown away by the falls - just amazing.

After lunch it was time for a boat ride on the Maid of the Mist- which takes you right up to the foot of the Horseshoe Falls. I was a little hesitant about this after seeing how close they get to the falls from the Skylon Tower. It didn't help one little bit when the skies opened up into a huge thunderstorm, complete with pouring rain, thunder and lightning, the moment we boarded the boat. Despite the raincoats they gave us, we all got totally drenched and weren't able to take too many photos of the event for fear of ruining our cameras. The experience was absolutely awesome though and the magnitude of the falls at the base was incredible. I was pretty pleased when we got safely back onto not-so-dry ground though, as were poor Jordan and Ella!!!

The rain persisted for a while but we continued with our sightseeing as we couldn't get any wetter than we were. We strolled up to the area where you can see the falls from the top cascading down and see the Maid of the Mist below. It's amazing, as you are so close to the water and can see the strength of the current.

We then moved on to the Pillitteri winery, a boutique winery in the Niagara-on-the-Lake district for a winery tour and tastings. There are lots of wineries in this area. I think Pillitteri was the first one to make ice wine in Canada. Ice wine is a sweet dessert style wine that is made using frozen grapes harvested off the vines at night at -8C so they don't defrost. It's pretty expensive and an acquired taste I think, but worth a taste.

On to a restaurant for dinner where a lot of the Canadian hosts met up with us as well.
From here some of the teachers went on to the casino or to see the falls illuminated but we felt the kids had had a big enough day!

Sunday morning Christene and Mark took us to the Niagara Glen pavilion where we joined everyone for a picnic breakfast in the botanic gardens and on the edge of the Niagara gorge. After a yummy brekky we had a walk down the gorge to see the whirlpool rapids of the Niagara River. Then we had a talk by an aboriginal wood carver who has an exhibition of totem poles in the park. He was very clever and created a huge variety of carvings of traditional and contemporary subjects. To Jordan's delight he'd also created a mini golf course!

A picnic lunch at the same pavilion and everyone said their goodbyes until the next CLEE event, before going our separate ways.

We were so close to the US border so decided to go over for a quick shop as Nic's shoes had totally fallen apart from being wet all day. There are brand name outlet shops a few km over the border. Oh, for some more time there, but alas we had a 6 hour drive home so did some speed shopping as usual and set off for the long journey home. Had a little hiccup on the way home during a stop for dinner when the kids accidentally locked the keys in the car! Fortunately the CAA were very prompt and skillful and managed to get them out in no time …and complimentary to boot.

Needless to say we had some tired campers Monday morning after such a big weekend, but it sure was a fantastic one.