A Canada Road Trip has been on my bucket list since I was little, but I’ve never managed to make it happen—until now! Canada is a huge country, and a cross Canada road trip is a massive undertaking. It deserved time and, ideally, a vehicle that wouldn’t break down on us. We converted Gimli, our overlanding vehicle, in Canada. So, obviously, a Canadian road trip seemed like the right place to start!
A road trip across Canada would allow us to work out any kinks with the vehicle while being able to speak the language (except for Quebec), find spare parts (most parts come from the UK) and still be within our comfort zone, feeling like we were still at home (at the furthest point, we were 6500km away from home)! Okay…so maybe our plan had a few flaws, but I’ll use any excuse to talk Randy into an adventure!
In April 2022 we left home to road trip Canada and explore this beautiful country that we’re so lucky to call home.
As usual, I had some very specific ideas about what our drive across Canada would look like. We live in Alberta, which isn’t in the middle of the country, but it’s also not on the coast. I had decided that if we were road tripping across Canada, we absolutely HAD to do it right. For me, this meant driving the country from coast to coast.
When we left home for our across Canada road trip, we started by driving west—in the opposite direction of our destination, the East Coast. But really, the entire adventure was the destination, so it didn’t seem that wrong to go west first.
Our grand plan is to spend the next decade or more driving Gimli (our blue Land Rover Defender) around the world. Once we drove it out of the driveway, it wasn’t coming back any time soon. Kacela realized that it likely wouldn’t be home again for as long as she still lived in our house. That was a crazy realization and made us all a little sad. Luckily, we’ve got loads of time to share experiences before that happens.
The drive didn’t start with an early morning, and everyone excited to get on the road. Instead, it was a rather late start. We “only” had 10 weeks, and I wanted to take advantage of every possible day we had. So, we left in the afternoon after I’d finished work. The plan was to leave as soon as I finished, but it took longer to get organized and hit the road. At least we didn’t have much planned for day one other than to just leave the house!
During our trip, I decided we should stop at as many of the “world’s largest” items as we could find. For some reason, Canada is full of them. The “World’s Largest Beaver” is just off the highway in Beaverlodge, 45 minutes from our house. So, of course, we had to stop and take a picture with the beaver!
British Columbia
Our time in Northern BC was spent visiting friends and sleeping in hotels rather than in Gimli. It was a late spring, and the snow was stubbornly staying on the ground. If you’ve had the pleasure of experiencing spring in Northern Canada, you’ll know that it’s typically something to be avoided at all costs! It’s either cold and frozen, or warm and a big, brown, muddy mess. Neither scenario is ideal for living out of a vehicle.
We started a bit soft, which didn’t change much throughout our drive across Canada. We didn’t sleep in the vehicle one single time in Northern BC (or anywhere in BC, actually). It was hotels all the way. The only time we put the roof up was to show it to our friends.
We stopped to see the “World’s Largest Tree Crusher” because why not? and soaked up the sun at a few stunning roadside stops. Northern BC is an underrated part of Canada. I’d love to spend some time properly camping in Gimli in this part of the world, but that’ll have to wait until we (someday) drive the Dempster Highway. And we definitely won’t be doing it in the spring.
Ferry from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy
Our first time-sensitive destination was Prince Rupert. We had booked an overnight ferry from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy. I was looking forward to this, although many people thought we were crazy. We took the ferry from Juneau to Prince Rupert years ago, and this felt a bit like the completion of that trip. The scenery was spectacular, and our room was pretty decent, too, all things considered!
We woke up on the ferry on Kacela’s birthday. She wasn’t thrilled to be on the ferry for her birthday, but we managed to see a whale, which helped. Plus, we enjoyed a fresh sushi dinner that night in Port Hardy, which also helped to make up for it!
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island deserved more time than we gave it. However, it’s somewhere we visit frequently, so it was really only a footnote on our Canada road trip. We drove past the World’s Largest Burl (but didn’t stop; it just seemed a bit silly!) and saw the World’s Tallest Totem Pole in Alert Bay and the World’s Largest Hockey Stick in Duncan. Apparently, a larger hockey stick is being built somewhere in the US, so Duncan will lose the title. I’m not sure who decided it was something they wanted to compete with. The World’s Tallest Totem Pole? Sure, I can get behind that…it was incredibly cool. But the world’s largest hockey stick? Only in Canada…or so I thought 🙂
We also found a friendly black bear on the side of the road and got completely soaked hiking to Elk Falls Suspension Bridge. Kacela was petrified of the suspension bridge, and rightfully so! It was all chain link and quite a long drop to the bottom. Watching her overcome her fear and take those first few steps to walk across the bridge was rewarding. This is what travel is all about: pushing us out of our comfort zone and stretching our boundaries.
This desire to push beyond our comfort zone doesn’t typically include randomly dropping $100 on the trail. But Randy got to practice stretching his boundaries too, when he lost two $50 bills from his pocket during the hike. I hope whoever picked them up did something fun with them!
Victoria
After spending a night with family in Qualicum, we spent the better part of a week at the Empress Hotel in Victoria. So far, our accommodation had been getting better and better. I knew we’d hit our peak at the Empress. It was only downhill from here…how on earth were we going to get comfortable being uncomfortable in the Defender after the Empress? I figured the best way was to book 2 more Fairmont hotels during the trip. Then we’d have something to look forward to, and it would give me an excuse to save money by camping (or staying with family!).
I was in Victoria for a conference, so I didn’t see much of the city outside the hotel. However, Randy & the girls got to explore Victoria and meet up with family and friends while I worked. They were able to use our folding bikes a few times and always managed to “show park” Gimli right out front. I think Gimli liked the attention!
We also visited Butchart Gardens and enjoyed afternoon tea with my Grandpa. Of course, it rained on us! But it was still pretty magical.
Victoria is the official “Mile 0” of the Trans-Canada Highway, so we took Gimli for a tire dip in the Pacific Ocean. Calais missed it because she stayed back at the hotel with friends. She was a bit disappointed, and it seemed a bit strange that we tire-dipped without her! We brought my friend’s daughter along, so we had a substitute!
Gimli Has Problems Part 1
During our time on the island, Gimli started making a strange noise, which seemed to keep getting worse. Randy had greased everything in Qualicum, but that didn’t fix the problem. He was worried it was the new overdrive he’d installed just before leaving home. So, he took the opportunity to use his cousin’s driveway in Victoria and removed the overdrive. Unfortunately, this didn’t fix the problem!
Now, we had no overdrive, and we still had a noisy vehicle!
We made it off Vancouver Island and drove the ~650km to my mom’s house in Trail without any issues. Gimli was still making the strange noise, but it didn’t seem to be getting any worse. The next day we were driving over the top of the Salmo-Creston mountain pass and Gimli suddenly “clunked”. It was a big, loud, scary clunk that made Randy panic. He coasted, in neutral, the whole way from the summit to Creston, worried some serious damage was being done.
After making it safely to a gas station in Creston, Randy decided he wasn’t willing to risk driving Gimli any further. I had an appointment in Calgary the next morning, so we NEEDED to find a solution ASAP. After a bit of research, we found a Uhaul and trailer that could take us and Gimli. But it was in Trail, where we’d JUST come from! So, we rented a car in Creston, drove back to Trail, picked up the UHaul and drove back to Creston with Calais & me in the rental car and Randy & Kacela in the UHaul (with another rental car on the trailer to deliver to the dealer in Creston!).
We got the rental car unloaded, loaded up Gimli, and drove out of Creston MANY hours after we started! At least the girls were still smiling 🙂
Even with Gimli on the trailer we managed to stop for a few “mandatory” photos on the drive, including the World’s Largest Truck in Sparwood and the “Welcome to Alberta” sign. We finally rolled into Randy’s brother’s place around 11 pm. It was the longest day of the whole Canada road trip!
Alberta
By 7:30 am the next morning, Randy was already on his way with the UHaul to bring Gimli to TRS Auto in Calgary. It didn’t take long for them to diagnose the problem: a broken drive shaft. This was probably the best possible outcome as it meant no actual damage was done to the vehicle, it just sounded terrible!
Luckily for us, the Defender community is incredible. Our friend’s Landy, Maddy, was parked at the TRS shop with a brand new, super fancy drive shaft. Thankfully, they didn’t have any immediate plans with Maddy, so it became our “organ donor”. We were able to take the brand new drive shaft from Maddy, install it on Gimli, and order a(nother) new drive shaft to be reinstalled on Maddy a few weeks later. We didn’t have to wait for parts and could get back on the road in a few days. Thanks Maddy!!
Although the “minor” breakdown only took a few days, it messed up our plans. We ended up spending the extra days in Calgary visiting with friends and family. Randy & the girls went skiing, we all visited the UNESCO heritage site “Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump” (and learned the story behind the name is false), and us girls went for afternoon tea with Baba and the cousins. The cousins also introduced us to “Hamilton The Musical”, which became the go-to music for the entire trip, and beyond!
The extra time in Calgary meant we had to miss out on something else. We missed visiting friends in Lethbridge and Western Saskatchewan because we just didn’t have time to fit it in. We also missed Writing On Stone Provincial Park, which is a UNESCO site that seems to keep evading us. But we simply can’t do it all.
As we pulled out of Calgary, it felt like a shift in our adventure. Until that point, we’d mostly stayed with family, and we had a schedule we needed to follow. Once we left Calgary, we had no definitive plans, and our next scheduled “stop” was still a few weeks out.
We did have time to fit in a quick visit to Dinosaur Provincial Park, another UNESCO heritage site in Alberta. And we also managed photo ops at the World’s Largest Chess Piece and the World’s Largest TeePee both in Medicine Hat. We were driving by anyways, it just made sense to take a picture and tick them off the list!
Saskatchewan
What can I say about Saskatchewan? It’s an “in-between” kind of place. There’s not much along the Trans Canada highway, and we’d already done many of the “cool” things to do during our Defender Road Trip in 2021.
During our Road trip across Canada, we only spent ONE night in Saskatchewan. Although we didn’t do the province justice on this trip, at least we had previously spent some time there with Gimli!
The most important thing that happened in Saskatchewan is that we had our first night of the trip camping in Gimli! It was at a small campground near Swift Current, right along the highway, and not really notable otherwise. It’s a bit sad that it took us almost 2 weeks into our journey before we finally slept in the vehicle! (And…I didn’t even take a photo of this momentous occasion…whoops!! Blame it on Saskatchewan!)
Manitoba
We managed to spend a bit more time in Manitoba than in Saskatchewan, but this is only because we had family to visit and we needed to drive through Randy’s hometown (because we really couldn’t drive across the country without driving through our hometowns).
The most direct route from Swift Current to Roblin (Randy’s hometown) doesn’t actually have a “Welcome to Manitoba” sign on the highway. So, we HAD to detour a bit to get a photo with the sign. There’s no way we were going to drive across Canada without getting a photo with each provincial sign 🙂
We spent a lot of time driving in Manitoba because we never seemed to take the most direct route. This was partly because we wanted to visit as many National Parks and National Historic Sites as possible during the trip, so we figured we should at least drive through Riding Mountain National Park. I’m not sure it was worth it to be honest. We didn’t stop because there was still plenty of snow on the ground, and nothing was open yet. It was really a box check, and probably an unnecessary detour.
One worthwhile detour (partly because it was only slightly out of the way) was the World’s Largest Coca-Cola can in Portage la Prairie. It’s made out of concrete, so I’m not sure it really counts. But it was a fun spot to take photos and play around a bit.
Family Time
Apart from randomly driving around to tick boxes, our time in Manitoba was mainly about family visits. We spent the first night with Uncle John and Aunty Joanne, had lunch the next day with Aunt Carole and Uncle Rick, and then supper with Uncle Richard and Aunty Linda! We were well-fed and well-cared for in Manitoba.
The only touristy thing we did in Winnipeg was visit the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, followed by a snack at The Forks. I highly recommend a stop here if you’re going to be in Winnipeg. It’s incredibly well done and presented at a level the girls were able to grasp. It sparked lots of meaningful conversation, and we had plenty of conversation time in the vehicle on our drive across Northern Ontario!
We also technically made it to the halfway point in our journey, the Center of Canada (from an East-West perspective anyway!). It’s hard for me to believe that this place in the middle of Manitoba is the Center of Canada. We still had SO MUCH MORE driving to do after this!
Ontario
As we crossed into Ontario, the landscape changed from wet and flooded farmland to forested Canadian Shield. The change was more drastic than I expected. Even though the scenery was different, the road was the same: open, expansive, and void of vehicles!
We enjoyed our first wild camping spot in Thunder Bay near the monument for Terry Fox. It wasn’t anything special, just a parking lot. The parking lot had a pit toilet (not our favourite, but significantly better than having no toilet!) and was relatively quiet, so we’ll call it a win. We were able to visit the monument first thing in the morning, before the crowds (if there are any crowds in this part of the world in the early spring!)
We found our second wild camping spot along the shore of Lake Superior at Pancake Bay. The initial place we wanted to stop at was already occupied by a French couple in a Land Cruiser. We asked if they were okay if we pulled in beside them, and they said “no”. Clearly, they’re not Defender owners…dang Toyota drivers! I was a bit put off by this as I can’t imagine ever saying no to a request like this, but since we asked, we figured we should probably move on. Thankfully, we did!
The second spot we found was WAY BETTER!! It ended up being our FAVOURITE campsite of the whole trip. We made a campfire on the beach, and the girls played in the sand, even though it was a bit cold. Unfortunately, we were only able to stay one night. As we left, Kacela decided she was determined to return someday.
Southern Ontario
Southern Ontario was full of more visiting with friends and family! Honestly, sometimes it feels like all we did was bounce from one house to the next, all the way across the country! And, I don’t say this as a negative thing, we’re incredibly blessed to have so many people to stop and visit.
After a quick pit stop in Sudbury at the world’s largest Nickel, we continued onto Barrie for a night at the KOA campground. It was the most expensive campground we’ve ever stayed at—almost $80/night, and we didn’t even need the hookups! It was worth it, though, as we got to have breakfast with Meagan, one of my besties from Optometry school. The girls enjoyed playing with her boys, and I enjoyed catching up with my friend!
Then, it was off to Hamilton to stay with my Auntie Val and Uncle Lawrence. We ended up dropping off the girls, starting some laundry, and then heading down the road for dinner with our friends, Paul and Dawn, in Guelph. My Aunt thought we were crazy to drive so far for dinner, but when you’ve already driven across the country, what’s an hour’s drive to see friends?
The next day, we were up early to meet our besties from home (who were visiting family in Ontario). The girls were SO excited to hang out with the Giles kids for the morning and share a tiny bit of their Canada road trip with their friends. It’s always fun to find a little bit of home on the road, and it helps us connect our life “on the road” with our life at home.
We spent the rest of the time visiting with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins. We sat in the garden, walked in the sunshine to enjoy the cherry blossoms, and ate outside. It felt like spring for the first time since Victoria. I’m not sure why the prairies have to be so far behind!
After Hamilton, we drove to Toronto to pick up new latches for the Wolf Pack lids. The plastic ones kept breaking, so we needed a better solution. We managed to sneak in a visit with Randy’s friend Dave and got to snuggle his new baby! Then, we drove to Ottawa with a whiny bearing—although we didn’t know that’s what it was at the time.
Ottawa & Gimli Troubles Part 2
By the time we got to Ottawa, Randy was beginning to worry about the vehicle…again. He hopped on Facebook and found the Ottawa Valley Land Rovers group. Through the group, he was able to find a garage that diagnosed the issue quickly, a problem with the idler pulley bearing, but they didn’t have the parts to fix it. Luckily, the group’s admin happened to have a spare bearing in his garage. Not only did he let Randy have the bearing, he also let him use his garage and all his tools to replace it. Honestly, the Land Rover community is incredible. This was the second time we’d been saved in a hurry in a matter of a few weeks.
By this point, we were hoping this would be the last issue…but unfortunately for us, Gimli still had more problems to come 🙁
Although our time in Ottawa was slightly distracted by the bearing issue, we still managed to have an incredible time. We spoiled ourselves at the Fairmont Château Laurier and I wondered if we would ever get the hang of staying in the vehicle. The weather would’ve been great for camping…but there’s really nowhere to camp in Ottawa
I think we made up for not sleeping in Gimli by using our folding bikes (is that a stretch? I don’t think so!). Rideau Canal has a fantastic bike path along both sides, and the weather was perfect for bike riding. The trees were starting to bud, and the tulips were in bloom. It was so pretty. Ottawa is a surprisingly bike friendly city, and we were happy to take advantage of this.
Canadian Parliament
What would a trip to Ottawa be without visiting the Parliament Buildings? And really, what would a Canada road trip be driving past the Parliament Buildings?
I really wanted a pic of Gimli in front of the Parliament Buildings. But, since the “Freedom Convoy” and their protests were still occasionally happening, the street in front of Parliament was barricaded. As we were wandering around the front lawn, we saw a random car drive down the street. It had accidentally turned the wrong way. So clearly the road wasn’t completely blocked off. Randy asked one of the security guards if he could drive down the street for a photo. The guard told him that it wasn’t technically allowed, but as long as he didn’t stop, he wouldn’t do anything about it.
So, Randy went back to the hotel to grab Gimli, and I waited out front with my phone ready for the drive-by photo op. Luckily, we were staying close by, so it didn’t take him long. Once I snapped a few pics, he hurried back to the hotel, and I wandered behind. I think it was worth it!
Ottawa is an incredible city to visit, especially in the spring. We ate some delicious poutine, visited the Canadian History Museum, and enjoyed wandering the streets and soaking it all in. If it weren’t for Quebec City up next, this may have been one of my favourite stops!
Québec
The girls go to summer camp in Québec every year, but they’ve only ever visited Montreal and Camp Ouareau. We opted to skip Montreal this trip and head straight for Québec City (and the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac!). Québec is truly a magical city. It’s full of character and charm and perfect for just wandering and taking it all in.
Calais’ best friend from summer camp lives near Québec City, and they picked her up as soon as we arrived. She went off to spend the afternoon with Maude as her tour guide, and the rest of us explored without her. The hotel offered a FREE guided walk (although, like I always tell the girls, with the price of the hotel, it was actually INCLUDED and not free!). This gave us a good feel for the city, and we made it to a few hidden corners we wouldn’t have found otherwise.
After an exhausting (for Kacela anyway) group walking tour, we went off in search of great poutine to re-fortify ourselves. Because poutine makes everything better! We found some bad poutine and some good poutine. I guess it’s not guaranteed that everything will be good just because you are in Québec! I think the poutine we found in Ottawa was better than the best in Québec City…and our favourite is still at the little roadside restaurant on the way to summer camp. But I’ll never say no to poutine!
Kacela and I were up early the next morning and got the chance to do one of my favourite things when travelling: wandering the streets as the city woke up. It was magical to experience the peaceful, quiet streets in an area of the city that can get completely packed with tourists. The Petit Champlain is one of those absolute MUST-dos when visiting Québec City. We wandered it again in the afternoon with all the crowds, and that has a different charm. I’m glad we were able to experience it both ways!
Gimli’s Strut Fiasco Part 1
With all the weight on the roof, especially with the folding bikes, we decided we needed stronger struts for the roof conversion. Randy figured out what we needed and had them shipped to the Fairmont. When he went to pick Calais up from her friend’s house, he attempted to change the roof struts on Gimli. It was NOT successful…so he packed them back up and started to worry about how we’d get them changed!
With our family back together, we enjoyed relaxing around the hotel. I figured, if we’re spending the money, we might as well enjoy the hotel for the hotel too!
We had initially planned to drive from Québec, through Labrador, and swing back West from Newfoundland to New Brunswick. However, once I started researching everything we wanted to do, I discovered that many things wouldn’t be open if we went that way. We were all a bit disappointed as driving through Labrador is the kind of adventure Gimli’s made for. However, it wasn’t worth sacrificing many other sites just for the drive.
So, from Québec City, we made our way to New Brunswick.
New Brunswick
Our first stop in New Brunswick was to see the incredible waterfalls of Grand Falls. However, the waterfall wasn’t going to be our entertainment this stop.
Not long after arriving a lady slipped and dropped her cell phone into a big rock pile. Randy tried to reach in and find it but without any luck. Two other men came over to help. They eventually ended up retrieving the cell phone, but it was a complicated endeavour. One of the men had our kitchen tongs in hand while the other 2 men (Randy included) held him by his feet and lowered him into the crevice. It was an impressive rescue mission…I sure hope that cell phone was worth it!
Gimli’s Strut Fiasco Part 2
We spent our first night in New Brunswick parked at our first (and only) Walmart parking lot. Randy & I decided it was a good time to try to change the struts again. The girls played in the field beside us while we grunted, swore, pushed and pulled…with NO LUCK! We got the old, weaker strut off, but no matter what we did, we couldn’t muster up enough force to get the new, stronger strut on. We bent the bed (just a little bit), broke the piece that connects the strut to the tent, and eventually ended up sleeping with 3 of the 4 struts holding up the roof. Let’s just say our Walmart camping adventure was memorable for all the wrong reasons!
From Grand Falls, we continued through New Brunswick. We stopped to visit friends in Miramichi before camping in Shediac (still with only 3 of the 4 struts holding up the roof) and the World’s Largest Lobster.
The other “must-do” on our New Brunswick list was Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park. But we were still too early in the season, and it wasn’t open yet! Luckily, nothing in this part of the world is very far away, so we moved on and planned to return later in the trip.
Nova Scotia
Of course, our first stop in Nova Scotia was the Welcome to Nova Scotia sign. Even though it was pouring rain, we stopped for the mandatory photo op!
Joggins Fossil Cliffs
Then, despite the rain, we spent the day at Joggins Fossil Cliffs, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The beach is in the Bay of Fundy, and the tide fluctuates wildly. They offer guided tours, but these have to occur around the tide schedule. Luckily for us, we FINALLY timed something properly (by accident!) and arrived at the Joggins Fossil Cliff Centre in time to join the day’s guided tour.
The tour was excellent! Our guide taught us so much about the cliffs and their discovery. We saw the coal seams and found fossils on the beach. They didn’t let us keep the fossils, which was fine because we didn’t have anywhere to keep them anyway! But it was really cool to go fossil hunting and find some pretty amazing fossils!
Halifax
After an afternoon exploring in the rain, we decided we were fed up with being wet and booked a hotel in Halifax for a few days. I told you we were soft!! My excuse is that the cities aren’t made for being in the Defender—it’s so much easier to stay in a hotel!
We used Halifax as a home base to visit Peggy’s Cove. It’s an incredibly cute little town with the famous lighthouse perched on the edge of the ocean. The girls loved clambering over the smooth rocks along the seaside. They’d read a fable in one of their school books about the dangers of the “dark rocks” (the wet ones), and it scared them enough to keep them on the safety of the dry rocks. It was a lot easier for me to let them explore when I wasn’t worried they were going to make a wrong step and get swept out to sea! The warning is always better when it comes from a fairy tale and not from mom 🙂
We completed our Peggy’s Cove adventure with lobster by the sea. The place was packed in the middle of May; I can’t imagine what it would be like in the summer!
We stopped to meet our new friend Chris on our way back to Halifax from Peggy’s Cove. He’s the friendly Land Rover owner who offered to store Gimli for us while we went home for the summer before putting it on the boat to Europe. It was reassuring to see he was a real person with a real place to store Gimli! We made some plans and headed on our way feeling pretty confident.
The rest of the time in Halifax was devoted to laundry, schoolwork and the occasional lobster roll.
Gimli’s Strut Fiasco Resolved
While we were in Halifax, Randy bought the “right” ratchet strap and finally changed out the struts on the Alucab roof. This was a HUGE relief! We were finally able to put the roof up easily while fully loaded. This made setting up camp significantly faster and easier…not that we did it much on this Canadian road trip! It also made us feel a lot better sleeping inside, I wasn’t worried the roof was going to come down and crush my head.
Since the weather had warmed up a bit and the roof struts were now properly upgraded and functioning, we vowed to do more camping. We were pretty successful during our circumnavigation of Nova Scotia.
Lunenburg
Lunenburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, therefore, a necessary stop, was one of the highlights of our time in Nova Scotia. We spent 2 nights at a little campground perched up on the hill above the town. It was the perfect base! We joined a walking tour, much to Kacela’s dismay, and learned a bit about the history of one of Canada’s oldest cities. It took us past some of the oldest buildings in North America. Which, compared to Europe, aren’t very old. But for Canada, they’re ancient! The houses, many still with the original design, are painted in bright, vivid colours. They’re stunning, and learning about them during the walking tour was the perfect way to see them!
We also saw the Bluenose II schooner in Lunenburg harbour and compared it to the image on the Canadian dime.
