Canada in good company as Bay of Fundy falls short in "New 7 Wonders" vote

Admit it. You spent the entire weekend pouting because the Bay of Fundy was left off that new list of the "New 7 Wonders" of nature in the world.

Yeah, I didn't think so.

It was an interesting campaign, this latest version of the age-old New 7 Wonders polling. There were 28 finalists from around the world, and there were pleas from all over for folks to get out and vote. The premieres of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which share the Bay of Fundy and its magnificent, powerful tides, pleaded for votes last week.

But it wasn't enough. On Friday, the New 7 Wonders folks announced the (provisional) seven finalists: Table Mountain in South Africa, Halong Bay in Vietnam, Iguazu Falls in Argentina and Brazil (see photo below left), the Puerto Princesa underground river in the Philippines, Jeju Island in South Korea, Komodo park in Indonesia and the Amazon basin.

All pretty good candidates, although I can't quite see Table Mountain in the top group when you consider what was left off: The Galapagos Islands, The Great Barrier Reef, The Grand Canyon, Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Australia, Mt. Kilimanjaro and the Matterhorn, among others.

Polling was done by the New 7 Wonders Group out of Zurich, and it was based on text messages and Internet voting. Which means the whole thing was open to bloc voting and all kinds of strange stuff, versus being a panel of experts or, even better, a mix of the two.

It's interesting that there aren't any finalists in Europe or North America, and that's probably just as well considering how much those two continents tend to dominate the world in so many other matters.

Still, I have to think it's a just a little goofy. And I read this morning that a couple of countries, including the Maldives, withdrew their entries and accused organizers of forcing them to pay "surprise feees" of up to $500,000.

Hmmm, is The New 7 Wonders office in Zurich anywhere near FIFA?

Maybe we in North America or Canada should start our own 7 Wonders campaign. I'd be curious to know what folks think are the 7 natural wonders of our great country.

Certainly, you'd have to give a nod to the Rockies, Niagara Falls and the rainforests of Vancouver Island, not to mention Miss Congeniality- the Bay of Fundy. That's four. Toss in the Nahanni River, Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland (see photo at right) and the Saguenay river fjords in Quebec, plus a personal fave that I've never seen but would like to - The Athabasca Sand Dunes in north Saskatchewan, and you're in great shape for a contest?

Down south in the states? The Grand Canyon for sure, also Yosemite, the Florida Keys, The Grand Tetons, Yellowstone National Park and maybe the Mississippi River, plus at least one of Zion or Arches National Parks down in the Utah/Arizona area with all those red rocks and crazy shapes. Once again, excellent material to work with.