We took small roads south directly to the Interstate 104 which leads in 4 lanes towards West. Short before the town Moncton we crossed the „border“ to New Brunswick. You feel the chances by having different coloured route signs, everything indicated in two languages (englisch / french) and towns and villages having more a real center.

Moncton is the economical center of Southeast New Brunswick. But we didn´t like the town (absolutely no parking places and little flair). After filling the fridge we drove sothwest to Saint John.

(69.000 people) - originally the Maliseet - Indians lived hear.

The first impression you get by approaching the city is negative - smoking chimneys of huge industrial units. St. John is a busy economical center of the region and mainly one giant controls all this: the Irving company - a mulitoperational in petrochemical, paper, wood, and many more. 8% of New Brunswicker are working in this concern. The founder (Mr. Irving) born in 1899 started his career as a simple car seller.

The old center is a juwel. Still the old houses from the 19th. Century and 3 sides surrounded by water. The harbour is naturally protected and quite busy and to very big rivers (Saint John and Kennebecasis) flow through the harbour towards the Bay of Fundy.

We found a nice place to stay in front of the (still closed) campground which is situated in the beautiful Rockwood Park. The down town is walking distance (30min).

Very nice is also the old harbour area (totally renovated and converted into a shopping mall / museum / restaurants / cafes),

Direction north always along the giant river. We only took small roads directly on the border of the river.

First stop was still in Saint John city at the famous „Reversing Falls“. A unique natural phenomena. The giant river flows through a narrow rock passage and down a fall. When the high tide starts the flow reverses (because the tiddal hight can be up to 8m) and the water fall reverses. When low tide starts double the wate volume runs down the fall - enormous whirlpools are created and you can see the forces of this water masses.

The drive along the river vallee is just beautiful (many villages and lot of cultivated land).

The river flows slow and often forms big lakes.

Pictures of the "Reversing Falls":

Also along the river St.John. To be seen: The town of Woodstock with the historical centre (and the charming Cafe „Fusion“), Hartland with the world longest covered wooded bridge (390 m) and Florenceville (see below).

This tiny town (1.500 inhabitants) is hosting the headquarters of the worlds third biggest potatoe fries manufactorer. This company owned privately by the family McCain (who are from Florenceville and still live here) has 15.000 people and 60 production units world wide. You immediately realise the wealth of this town - big houses and huge gardens around.

We parked in front of the sports hall and stood here also overnight. Every 15 minutes another car came to see our exotic vehicle. Also Andy Munro a corporal of the „Royal Mounties“ and James Banks a local potatoe farmer. After he realised that we had interest in the local business he offered to show us around. We went up the hill were the McCains live, where the management of the company lives (great houses with even greater view) and than on the other side of the hill to his farm. He and his brother and brother inlaw owns a 600 ha farm. They grow 1/3 potatoes - 1/3 grain - 1/3 soya and sell 70% of the potatoes to McCain. He gave us 1 sack of potatoes as a gift and we offered him an Austrian „Marillenschnaps“. Again we only can say thousand thanks James for your excellent hospitality - again very special you Canadians.

The town Grand Falls is named after the spectacular Saint John falls. Grand Falls is one of the oldest settlements in New Brunswick and in 1686 already mentioned by a French priest. Before the Europeans came here already a Native settlement was there and belonged to the Malecite Indians with the name of Chicanekapeag (means the „Great Destroyer“). The pittouresque and lively town is an important economical center and host also one of the McCain factories. It is also a touristic center - thanks to the powerful (23 m hight) waterfall and the deep and narrow gorge. Visitors can see this spectacle from different sides. Especially in the evenings the light and colours are beautiful.

Since 1928 a hydro-electric power station exist.

A short movie about the impressive Grand Falls:

Today morning we wanted to leave Grand Falls towards Quebec. 5 km behind the town we heard a well known signal (beep......beep ..... beep...) and the flash light at the dash board signals „STOP IMMEDIATELY“.  We had to find quickly a place to stay - in the meantime the engine went into emergency mode - means only 10 - 20 % power available. We consulted the Volvo manuals and the result was - „engine oil pressure zero!“. We checked the oil level - it was sufficient. So we called Volvo and they suspected that the pressure gauge is malfunctioning. They promised to sent an email with the exact specs and (since no Internet receiption was nearby) Rita had to go and search for an WLAN.

In the meantime I tried to find this bloody switch - to hell with it. After long search and two further phone calls to Germany I found it.
Rita found no WLAN but aservice station (Kenworth) which has specalised on truck repair and parts gave access to the Internet and also ordered the part immediately. But still we had to wait until next day - at least our bed is always with us.

Since this part seams to be failing quite frequently I do not understand why Volvo didn´t recommend to take a spare and why they are not changing this product. I am happy with the service guys of Volvo Stuttgart but I am not happy with quality of Volvo.

West of Edmundston we crossed the border to Quebec - further report please see under "Quebec"