So now the time has come for us to leave this fair (hm) nation and make our way to the land to the north. The day was spent faffing about, and then we boarded our Greyhound bus. Dodgy as. The bus terminal is just down the road from Times Square, but like most things in America, is run down and kinda manky. The bus was leaving at 12.40am, so we had a lovely time waiting with all the other backpackers before boarding the bus. There was even a lovely loitering man who we were sure was scoping out the bags to see who had stuff worth stealing. Nice. Also, my ‘Heaps Good’ SA t-shirt attracted the attention of one of fellow passengers, who turned out to be a guy from WA who was currently living in London.
But the bus ride. Ohhh, the bus ride. Greyhound are evil. They have wifi on their buses, but they cannot make comfortable seats. Hard as rocks and short. So short. After a very uncomfortable night, which included a delay because of a car accident, we arrived in Niagara Falls. Our accomodation was a short taxi ride away and we arrived to a very enthusiastic hostel owner, who let us check in early. Thank god. After that bus, I needed a shower and a rest like nobody’s business.
All spruiced up and slightly rested, we walked down the garish main strip (neon, neon, everywhere) and lo, at the bottom of the road, a huge roaring assualted us and then, before us, Niagara Falls appeared. Oh my word. The falls are the most amazing natural wonder. The sight of millons of millons of litres of water rushing over cliffs erases the garishness of the surrounding area. I could have stared at it for hours. Unfortunately, we’d just been on that godawful bus ride and Cassie? She tired. Ah, bed. You are so glorious.
Kids, if a hostel owner tells you that a bike ride to Niagara-on-the-Lake is a must-do experience, don’t listen to him. He insisted it would only take 1 and a half hours – four hours later, we arrived. Easy ride my ar$e. Nevertheless, we arrived just in time to partake of the Whirlpool Jetboat!
So, apparently, waterfalls have this crazy tendancy to flow into rivers…don’t know if you know that. The Niagara River has many wonders along its path, including category5 and 6 rapids and the world’s largest whirlpool. The Jetboat takes you from Niagara-on-the-Lake back down the river to the whirlpool, take you skimming over the top and then, just for fun, through the category 5 rapids. The category 6 rapids are unnegotiable, thank god – the category 5 rapids were bad enough! I think I swallowed half the river, but jeez it was fun! Of course, after that, we could not possibly ride back so we hired a taxi and pretended like we had ridden all the way back.
Needless to say, we were pretty tired after that. However, it did not stop us from hanging out with some peeps from the hostel and drinking lots of alcohol. Ohhh, Niagara Falls and your beer. I do love thee.
Did you know a bridge connects Niagara Falls, Ontario with Niagara Falls, New York? It does, and Teresa and I totally walked it! From one country to another and all it took was a bridge. Fun times. On the US side, you could get super close to the river leading in to the American Falls, and walk across a bridge to Goat Island, the land mass seperating the two falls. Goat Island has a myriad of things to see and do but T and I decided on doing Cave of the Winds only – a walk that takes you to the smaller Bridal Falls, and leads you under them! They are amazing. There is a section called the Hurricane and seriously, it is like a hurricane!
After that extravaganza, we trundled back to Canada (over a bridge! Seriously!) and went on the Maid of the Mist boat, which takes you into the amazing mist generated by the Horseshoe Falls. It was kinda awesome, but kinda lame too. Super commercial, but what can you do?
That night, it was back to Niagara-on-the-Lake, but this time via a dodgy cab company called Speedy’s. Apparently, Speedy’s is the worst-kept secret in Niagara Falls, an illegal cab company that everyone knows about but still operates. Awesome. Niagara-on-the-Lake is a gorgeous, rich village that looks like Star Hollows from Gilmore Girls. Seriously. It was amazing. We had a lovely dinner and then made our way back.
The next day, it was back to New York. As the bus was so heinous, we decided to forgo the return experience and instead purchased a train ticket. The train went during the day, but seriously we could not cope with another overnight bus trip. The train was infinitely more comfortably, but took all day. Thus, we arrived in our accomodation in Brooklyn at 11.55pm. Huzzah.
On a different note, it is amazing that a river can make all the difference in sensibility. As soon as we crossed the border, pleases and thankyous abounded. Canadians, I love you, ohhh, so much. Erin, I am so giving you a big hug when I get home! The best thing was every Canadian we met had the same distaste for Americans we did. It was amazing. Also, they knew immediately we were Australian. We’ve been getting “So, English?” from so many New Yorkers, it was nice to actually have people recognise our accent!
Hope everyone is well and happy!
xx
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