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Heading north from Clifton Hill, the Niagara Parkway follows the course of the river as does the parallel Niagara River Recreation Trail , a combined cycle and walking track. After about 3km, both reach the Great Gorge Adventure (May-Oct daily dawn to dusk; $5), where an elevator and then a tunnel lead to a boardwalk beside the Whirlpool Rapids, the point at which the river fizzes violently as it curves round the bend. From here, it's 1.3km more to the brightly painted Spanish Aero Car (April-Dec daily from 9am (sometimes 10am) to dusk; $5.50), a cable-car ride across the gorge that's as near as you'll come to emulating Blondin's antics, and another 1.5km to Niagara Helicopter Rides , 3731 Victoria Ave (tel 905/357-5672), who offer a nine-minute excursion over the Falls for $85 per person - $304 for four. You don't need to book, as the six-seater helicopters whizz in and out with unnerving frequency from 9am until sunset - weather permitting. Pressing on, next up along the parkway is the Niagara Glen Nature Area (daily dawn to dusk; free), where paths lead down from the clifftop to the bottom of the gorge. It's a hot and sticky trek in the height of the summer and strenuous at any time of the year, but rewarding for all that - here at least you get a sense of what the region was like before all the tourist hullabaloo. Nearby, about 800m further along the road is the Niagara Parks Commission's pride and joy, the immensely popular Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens (daily dawn to dusk; free), whose immaculate flower beds are at their best from late May to September. The rhododendrons are, for instance, in full bloom from mid-May to June, while roses are a special highlight from mid-June to September. The gardens also contain a huge, climate-controlled Butterfly Conservatory (daily: May-Sept 9am-9pm, Oct-April 9am-6pm; $8) that houses over 2000 exotic butterflies in a tropical rainforest setting. About 3km further on, Queenston Heights Park marks the original location of the Falls, before the force of the water - as it adjusts to the hundred-metre differential between the water levels of lakes Erie and Ontario - eroded the riverbed to its present point, 11km upstream. Soaring above the park, there's a grandiloquent monument to Sir Isaac Brock, the Guernsey-born general who was killed here in the War of 1812, leading a head-on charge against the Americans. From beside the park, the parkway begins a curving descent down to the little village of QUEENSTON , whose importance as a transit centre disappeared when the Falls were bypassed by the Welland Canal, running west of the river between lakes Erie and Ontario and completed in 1829. In the village, on Partition Street, the Laura Secord Homestead (May-Aug daily 10am-5pm; $1.75) is a reconstruction of the simple timber-frame house of Massachusetts-born Laura Ingersoll Secord (1775-1868). Secord's dedication to the imperial interest was such that she ran 30km through the woods to warn the British army of a surprise attack planned by the Americans in the War of 1812.
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