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Woke up at 4am in order to hit the road at 4:30 am today. Our ferry from Port-aux-Basque left at 11:45, you had to arrive at least 2 hours early and we were about 4 hours away. We hadn't considered the 2 hours early part when booking. But not a big deal...or so I thought.
We left in the dark of night and drove with other transport trucks on the highway. I didn't get too much sleep but I was awake and ready to be moose alert. Good thing.
At 7:15 or so, the sun had risen and we were 55 km from the ferry, and a moose chose to run out from the ditch across the road. I noticed it across the road coming our way and I slammed on the brakes. If that moose had run straight across the road we would have been out of luck, but it took a bit of an angle, so I was able to stop just before we collided. I screamed and made a noise I could never duplicate. I most definitely frightened a sleeping Laurel, who woke up to my screams and a moose at the front left corner of the car.
Never in my life have a felt so close to death. Moose are big, I know that. But when it is less than 5 feet in front of you all you see are the flailing limbs of a moose trying to avoid the car. I was rattled. I still am rattled. But I'm grateful I didn't swerve into the ditch, and I'm glad no other cars were around so there was no collision of any sort. I wish I had a dash cam, because I don't think anyone will ever understand how close the moose was and how scared we were. No wonder moose collisions kill people every year. We would not have had a chance if it landed on us.
We made it to the ferry very early, had breakfast at the terminal and waited/napped in the car. Then we loaded and were on our way as of 12:15! On this boat we paid the extra $13 for a seat and it's a pretty great life. Only people who booked seats have an access card to our area and we have full recliners and foot rests at our window seat. We are scheduled to arrive in Sydney around 5! In the meantime I'll watch some videos, nap and enjoy the soft serve ice cream right across from our chairs!
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