Tobermory road trip with my ladies

Today’s post is about…Tobermory! Did Annie head back to Canada already? Nope, not a chance, not until September, at least. I was stuck in a gray, melancholic Louvain-la-Neuve this weekend, where the sun has disappeared for no less than a week. Yesterday, I saw sunshine for about five minutes before the dark clouds devoured the light hastily. I was going to go to Maastricht yesterday, and was glad that I didn’t, as the weather would have completely killed the mood. Oh, and I had to go to the lab, that would be the main reason.

So I thought, why don’t I dig out and organize some photos from previous trips that I hadn’t written about? (I still haven’t gotten to Cherbourg and don’t know if I ever will write about it.) I was surprised to find that I actually never wrote about Tobermory, which happened last August during my vacation back home in Canada.

The trip was planned long before I arrived in Canada with the intention of spending a relaxing weekend with my dear ladies Florence and Candy. We chose Tobermory, a tiny place right at tip of the point between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, 273 kilometres north of Toronto. It was far enough to be away from the bustling of the city while close enough to be reached by car in a relatively short amount of time. It would be two fun days of hiking, exploration, mad photo-snapping, girl talks, and generally being in touch with nature.

Setting out from Mississauga at 7 in the morning, we got to Tobermory about two and a half hours later and there began our adventures into the wild.

As soon as we parked the car, we embarked on a journey to Flowerpot Island, a couple of kilometres off the coast of Tobermory in Georgian Bay. Flowerpot Island got its name from the two gigantic rock formations on the island, both of which look like flower pots. We passed by this cute lighthouse during the boat ride to the island.

Though a small island, there were a lot of hiking trails scattered all around with scenic views of the incredibly crystal-clear waters of Georgian Bay. It was my first trip with Mr.Nikon D5100 after its purchase, so of course I had to treat it to some lens-opening experiences (although at that time I still didn’t quite know how to use it).

Along the way we would find side paths that led to some hidden corner of the island, overlooking a vast Georgian Bay whose magnificent azure almost forms a continuum with the sky.

The hiking trails on Flowerpot Island, shown above, were fairly smooth, and it was quite easy to navigate around the island, at least compared to the trails in Bruce Peninsula National Park the next day. Of course the ladies and I chose to challenge the most difficult trail out of the three, and it was absolutely worth all the effort!

God’s creation is so beautifully awe-inspiring, and truly being so close to nature further teaches us how to find grace and beauty in even the smallest things. Every petal on every flower, every branch on every tree, every dewdrop on every leaf – everything has been so exquisitely placed, so delicately arranged. Nature is the one thing that still gives me some hope in this world. The Earth is so wonderful – how could we not see that?

Dark clouds set upon this known, mysterious island in the distance, as if it’s about to send down a furious thunderstorm any minute. It did rain on the first day of our trip, quite severely at night, actually, but that didn’t dim our enthusiasm. After all, company with friends made up for all the gloom brought about by the rainy weather!

Before we left Flowerpot Island, we lingered around the rocky beach to take pictures of anything and everything we found interesting. This seagull was very cooperative when I was observing it. Maybe it didn’t know there were people around looking at it. Maybe it did, and it liked the attention. It just stood there and chilled for the longest time before diving into the water and swimming away.

 
On the second day of our trip, the ladies and I headed to Bruce Peninsula National Park, as I had briefly mentioned earlier, to find a place known as “the Grotto”, recommended to us by a guy we met on Flowerpot Island. We never actually found out what the Grotto really IS; we kind of just assumed that it was either that enormous cave-like hole near the water, or the cliffs next to it where the gigantic waves would hit every two seconds.

I gotta say, though, that wave-watching became one of our favourite activities along the road. There were occasions where we sat down and just listened to the splashing waves against the rocks for a good half an hour, enjoying the calm breeze and absorbing the rare peace drifting in the air. It was therapeutic, I’d imagine especially for Florence and Candy as it was their weekend of relaxation from long weeks of full-time work. For me, the soft, lulling sounds of the waters incited a sudden gush of inspiration, which materialized into this note after I got home.

I was sitting really high up on a cliff…really, it was high, believe me. We HAD to climb up there though. The view was just so magical. I felt like I would like to have wings right then and there so I could step off the cliffs and hover above Georgian Bay, gliding into the horizon.

This is my favourite photo of me taken during the trip, strangely as it doesn’t actually show my face. Florence’s pro photography skills makes it look so dramatic though, with the converging clouds and the rocks all seemingly pointing towards a clueless me, who was probably trying to figure out how to set my camera to the right setting…

The ladies and me – Florence, Candy, and Annie! I love them to bits and pieces and I hope we’ll be able to do something like this again in the future (perhaps not before Florence becomes Mrs.Kan though…teehee! ;))