Mt Tremblant

(Dear English readers, please scroll down to find the ‘click’ for English translation)

在加拿大, Thanksgiving (感恩节，多为感恩上帝赐予丰收）是公共假期。（澳洲没这个假期）

今年，碰上了周末，我们本要上渥太华见见Ed弟弟一家。刚好他们定了Mt Tremblant 的住宿，我们就要多一间，一起上Mt Tremblant 渡假。

Mt Tremblant 位于魁北克省，是著名的旅游胜地。约二十多年前，当它还是个不食人间烟火的山上小镇时，有眼光的著名闲娱发展商看上了它。在过去二十多年来，投资了庞大资金，把它摇身变成滑雪天堂。因风景优美，近几年，人们也爱在春天上去避暑，在秋天上去看秋叶纷飞。

Mt Tremblant 离多伦多约七个小时车程。离渥太华或蒙特利尔较近，只两个小时车程。要不是Ed弟弟一家上去，Ed也懒得驾驶这么长的路程。我们抵达时，已是傍晚。

第二天，我们去受保护的森林公园徒步。 它五颜六色的满山秋叶，看得令我窒息，惊叹大自然的神妙。我一向来都很喜欢秋天，喜欢看那秋叶悄悄地凋落，喜欢听那踏在秋叶上沙沙的声音。虽然，墨尔本也有四季。可它没加拿大的四季那么显著。加上，它的气候干燥，秋天时，树叶干了，就落了，没机会变色。加拿大雨量较多，树叶会慢慢地一步一步地转色 – 绿，橙，红，紫，黄，褐等都有。这可是我第一次见到这种叹为观止的风景。

第三天，我们踏脚车去Mt Tremblant 的市中心。我这个城市女孩（给自己藉口！） 骑脚车很不行，看到人多车多就喊救命。还好Ed很有耐心，后来我才比较‘顺手’，也可以较欣赏一路凉风和秋叶纷飞。市中心有很多餐厅，店铺，娱乐场等，可想而知在这个感恩节假期有多人山人海。它欧式的建筑虽宏伟，我和Ed则嫌它旅客太多。去那主要是给四岁半的William （Ed的侄子）玩。还好，坐揽车上山顶时，还可以见到风景。

最后一天，我和Ed吃了早餐就要开车回多伦多。收拾好心情，玩得也累了，盼望回温暖的家。怎知，我们的车轮子受不了这样长途奔波，半路完蛋。还好，我们有紧急备有的轮胎，可是不可以跑高速公路，只可抄小路。所以，我们十个小时后才回到家 ！

回到家时，我俩累坏了 ！ 但难得有机会和家人相聚, 小小麻烦算不了什么。 加上，Mt Tremblant 的风景也值一游。

Last weekend was Thanksgiving, a public holiday in Canada. Our initial plan was to go to Ottawa to visit Ed’s brother and his family. However, he had booked holiday accommodation in Mt Tremblant in the same weekend. Since this was the case, Ed and I decided to go Mt Tremblant with them.

Mt Tremblant is a famous ski area located in Quebec province. About 20 years ago, this little alpine village had been spotted by the biggest promoter of alpine resorts, IntraWest. This company since threw hundreds millions of dollars to develop it into a magnificent world class tourist and skiers hotspot.

Mt Tremblant is about 7 hours drive from Toronto, and about two hours drive from Ottawa. If it was not his brother already booked accommodation, Ed would not want to drive such long distance just for a holiday. It was already evening when we arrived.

The next day, we went to its provincial park for a hike. The spectacular and breathtaking autumn leave colours was the highlight. I love autumn, especially love seeing the leaves falling from the trees, love listening to the sounds created through walking on the fallen leaves. Nonetheless, this was the first time I ever saw this sort of colourful autumn scenery. Although Melbourne has four seasons, the changes are not as prominent as the four seasons in Canada. In addition, Melbourne weather is very dry, trees are not as nourished as the trees in Canada. Hence, their leaves tend to fall before they have a chance to change to different colours.

On the third day, we biked to Mt Tremblant village center. However, there was a real problem because I am very ‘clumsy’ in bike, or another word is I don’t really know how to ride properly (don’t ask me why on the earth there are people who don’t know how to ride a bike!). Thanksfully, Ed had been very patient with me. Slowly, I got more confident in it and able to enjoy the wonderful scenery along the way.

The village center was full packed by tourists due to the long weekend Thanksgiving holiday. The village is characterised by European style buildings and have many restaurants, cafes, shops and children’s playground. Nonetheless, Ed and I did not quite like the sort of crowded touristy spot. William (Ed’s nephew) had a ball though, so it worked out well and it was worth to have a look anyway. We also took out the cable car to the top of hill to check out the scenery.

O n the last day, Ed and I had to leave as soon as after breakfast because of the long drive home. However, one of the tyres punctured half way in the highway ! Luckily, we pulled to side and changed to a spare tyre safely. We thought it might caused by a small leak and eventually punctured due to long and fast driving in highway. Spare tyre was not safe to drive on highway, we had to drive on smaller roads and it took us about 10 hours to return home !!!

We were absolutely exhausted ! Thinking positively, the time together with family and the scenery still worth the trouble.