Good bye Newfoundland

After a week we finally left Gros Morne.  This is definitely a place we would like to return to.  We headed straight for a big centre.  For almost 3 weeks we have not been in a big city-centre and have had to shop at little grocery stores or co-ops where we paid $4.00 for a loaf of bread and $4.00 for a dozen eggs. Vegetables are also expensive so have been eating more canned vegetables and spaghetti type foods.  It was great to shop at a Dominion's (President's Choice equivalent) and stock up on all the things that had run low.  We spent over $170. But our cupboards are full again!  We were in Corner Brook and had planned to camp there and do some exploring.  There were caves there that looked interesting.  So after shopping and then going out for lunch we headed to our campsite.  It was a Kinsmen park and the write up sounded nice.  It had laundry and after the last few rainy hikes I needed to do some laundry.  We got to the campground and were assigned our site.  In a field, in a row of trailers.  It claimed to have wooded sites but they were for full hookups and they were all full.  It was the most disgusting campsite yet.  The garbage in our site was full, rotting and smelly.  In the site beside us, the garbage  had been dumped out and was spread everywhere and the crows were feeding on it.  I wanted to leave, but Gerry suggested we go sight seeing and then just come back to sleep.  So I agreed but we decided to check out the laundry and washrooms on the way out.  Then I lost it.  Garbage cans overflowing and filthy bathroom and laundry.  I would not use it, even with my new lowered standards. So I told  Gerry I could not stay there.  I went back to the office and although they had a no refund policy, I got my money back. We moved further south to the site we had picked out for the next night.  It was a lovely provincial campsite, and our site was right by the water.  We booked in for 2 nights. Unfortunately,  it was very windy there.  We put the kitchen tent up to dry, thinking the wind would dry it quickly and went off to shower.  When we got back the tent was literally twisted inside out.  One of the poles was totally broken from the twisting.  So maybe not such a good idea.  The next day, we hiked a mountain to a beautiful view point.   I have to say Newfoundland spends a lot of money on their trails. We have hiked miles and miles of boardwalks and climbed stairs in the middle of nowhere.  This hike was about 300 metres up and there were 814 stairs (I counted on the way down),  as well as just normal path leading up. I kept thinking about the people who built these stairs and how far they had to carry the wood to do it. I was very impressed. In the afternoon we went for a drive along the coast. It was very rugged and beautiful.  We met  a local who encouraged us to head to the point of the Pennisula.  Which we did.  It was further than we had planned to go, but so worth it. You'll just have to see the pictures when we get back.  On the way back it was late, and dark and rainy making for a long, tiring day.  Our last day in Newfoundland was  a bit of a drag. As we were driving to Port aux Basques the check engine light on the van came on.  We consulted the manual and decided we could drive it if Gerry took it easy.  We headed straight for a garage I had contacted when we reached Port aux Basques. We got there at 11:30.  The mechanic  thought he could squeeze us in between 12:30 and 1:30. He finally looked at the van at 4:00.  What did we do all that time? We sat in the van waiting. So it wasn't a great day.  But he deemed the van was ok to drive. ( I was driving it anyway  - no way I was missing our ferry). But he suggested we get it checked out as soon as we got to Nova Scotia.  The next day we caught the ferry.  It was a good ride back.  It took 7 hours and cost $250. We  were sad to leave Newfoundland.  We loved the coastal scenery, the hiking and the people.  We did not love the rain, wind and fog which I think are pretty common in Newfoundland.  But now we are looking forward to new adventures in Nova Scotia.  Here we go....

The never ending saga of Newfoundland

We were in Twillingate and we decided to check the weather and if it was nice, stay one more night at Dildo Run Provincial park, and if not push on.  The forecast was calling for thunder showers later in the day so we did a couple of shorter hikes.  We did get rained on, with thunder and lightning on our last hike. Clearly, it was time to push on to Grand Falls - Windsor and take a B&B.  We are tired of camping in the rain. On a sad note we found out that a friend, Vic Alaric passed away.  He was a great man, father and had a wonderful faith.  He will be missed by many, but we know he is resting in God's arms now.  At this point we had decided that we wanted to go to Labrador, so we headed north, through Gros Morne.  We spent one night there and did a couple of hikes, one to a beautiful waterfall, and then moved on.  We went to the northern tip of Newfoundland, to a place called St Anthony's.  There we visited a Viking village that was used over 1,000 years ago.  It was quite interesting and well done.  Then we did a couple of smaller hikes.  In one we climbed 476 stairs to a look out.  From there we saw our third iceberg.  It was the biggest one yet.  So when we got down we went to a boat tour company to ask if we would see the iceberg if we took their tour. The answer, sadly, was no. It was too far away. We got up the next morning to pouring rain and high winds and headed to the ferry terminal for Labrador.  Along the way we stopped at Flower's cove and hiked 1/2 km to see some Thrombolites, which are living organisms created 65 billion to 350 million years ago.  They can only be seen in Flowers Cove Newfoundland and Western Australia. So even though we got soaking wet, even with rain gear, it was worth it.  We got to our campground, by the terminal and I just abut cried.  It was a field, surrounded by a chain link fence and the units were lined up , like a sales lot for trailers.  The only thing going for it was that it had a rec building and the bathrooms were very clean.  So we spent the rest of the day in the rec hall, reading, working the Internet and watching a bit of TV.  The next morning our ferry was scheduled to depart at 10:30.  We arrived by 9:00 and were at the front of the line( surprise, surprise),  We were watching the flags and the waves and I said to Gerry I'm not sure I want to sail in that.  The wind was so strong there were whitecaps on the water and the seagulls trying to fly into the wind were either standing still or flying backwards.  That was kind of funny to watch.  Sure enough when it came time to sail, they announced that the sailing time would be delayed, and in 2 hours, they would make a decision.  This continued all day until they decided to cancel the sailing at 7:30 pm. So we spent another day in the van.  Made lunch and supper in there. We played a lot of crib, but that wasn't much fun because Gerry had a lucky streak on and kept beating me, and laughing about it to boot! While I got a refund for the ferry, Gerry went back to Stalag 13, as I called the campground, and paid for another night..  We could have tried for Labrador the next day, but it was still quite windy and it was such a gong show, with all the people trying to cross, we decided to pass on Labrador and return to Gros Morne.
Gros Morne is the most beautiful part of the western coast.  We spent a week there hiking and sightseeing. One  hike of note is Gros Morne Mountain.  It is 16 km hike and you climb 800 metres.  It was supposed to be nice that day, but less than 1/2 hour into the hike it started to rain.  We pushed on though and the rain came and went all day, as well as the fog.  It was a tough hike, took us 7 hours and I won't lie to you, there were a  few tears on the way down.  (By me, not Gerry) But as I always tell my kids -what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  They never believe me and when I was hiking I thought it was a load of crap as well. But  now,  I'm glad I did it. Another interesting, easy hike was  the Tablelands hike.  We had a GPS, supplied by the park, and it gave us information while we hiked. The Tablelands formed when the continental plates overlapped because of extreme pressure, millions of years ago. When the plates that were overlapped, fell back into place it left a mantle that originated in Africa. That's why the rock is so different than the surrounding rock. Our last hike in Gros Morne was to an area called the Green Gardens.  It was a 13 km hike and followed the coastline for part of the time.  We were hiking to the second camp, but we were walking along the side of a steep mountain with a narrow path.  I became increasingly uncomfortable, so I turned around and Gerry went to the next point.  While I was waiting for Gerry at the first camp the clouds became increasingly dark and it started thundering and lightning .  Sure enough we got rained on really hard on the way back.  But there was nothing to do but keep on hiking.  Me, in my raincoat, and Gerry in his garbage bag.  (Editor's note: Gerry has since allowed me to buy him a $29 rain jacket. He was advocating buying 20 extra large hefty garbage bags for $10). We did several other hikes, in between the rain, trying to make the best of it, but everything in the camper feels wet, and we have mold growing on the bottom of our
ttablecloth.  We are almost finished with Newfoundland, so stay tuned.

Icebergs, puffins cont'd

Our first Pennisula after, St John's, was the Baccalieu.  I had thought of skipping it but a tourist information guide assured us it was very pretty. And it was, but not spectacular .  They did have interesting names for their village like Cupids, Heart's delight, Heart's desire and Dildo. We did that in one day and then stayed at that "lovely"campground I told you about in my last blog.  Then we moved on to Bonavista Penisula.  I would say this would be one of Gerry's and my favourites in Newfoundland.  We got into a Provincial campground and started sightseeing.  Emily, the bathrooms were so clean at this campground that we stopped and thanked the custodian on the way out.  Told him how nice it was to stay there.  We did one hike called the Skerwink hike along the coast.  It was quite foggy in parts so the pictures weren't great.  But it would clear enough so that you could get a glimpse of what you were missing.  We were kind of hiking along with another couple but they turned back, fed up with the fog.  We kept on and the fog cleared and it was beautiful.  There was a lookout that was quite a steep climb to get to but so worth it when we did.   The next morning we got up and drove to Elliston,  home of the Puffins.  We got to the tourist information office, half an hour before it opened  (of course).  Once it did open we got directions to the Puffin Island.  It was pretty neat.  There are tons of these birds a stones throw from where we were standing.  They were on a separate Island and they do fly over to where the tourists are,  but they didn't the day we were there.  But they were close enough to see quite clearly.  Elliston is also the root cellar capital of the world, and quite proud of it.  As we were leaving the guide working at the Island asked us if we wanted a tour of a root cellar.  We didn't really, but she seemed so excited we said yes.  It was pretty much like we expected, but it didn't take up too much time and it made her happy.  Needless to say we did not visit the other 137 root cellars in Elliston.  From there we went to Dungeon Provincial Park where there are some very interesting rock formations.  It was beautiful, but there was no one there except for  Gerry and I.  We also visited another Lighthouse and in the distance we saw our first iceberg.  This has been  Gerry's dream but we keep getting mixed messages; you're too early, you're too late, they weren't that good this year, this was the best year right up until last week.  We don't know what to believe.  So we were quite excited to see one, even if it was quite small. From there we went to  a fisheries museum that we heard was quite interesting. When we got there we were told there would be typical Newfoundland music in half an hour.  We decided to take it in.  When we got there, there were 3 old guys up front; one on a guitar, one on an accordion and one singer/percussion.  We sat in the very back but there were only 5 of us so they made us all move up to the front.  Those of you who know us from church will know how much we LOVED that !  They had a song book and the idea was to pick out songs and everyone sing along.  Those of you who know Gerry know how much he LOVED that.  But it was too awkward to leave!  Partway through the old guy singing invited me to come up and play the sticks along with them, and of course Gerry is pushing me to do it. Being the good sport I am, I went up.  I guess I did OK because I got invited to play a second song with this broomstick with some noise makers  on it and then a tin can on top.  What could top that in one day?  The next 3 days we booked into the Terra Nova National  Campground.  It was the long weekend, but not for Newfundland.  However we have found that the campgrounds fill up quickly on weekends, so it is best to have reservations and stay in one place.  We arrived and it was hot. I really wanted to get the laundry done so I did that while Gerry went for a hike. That seemed to be the end of our nice weather.  For the next few days it pretty much rained non stop. We did manage to get one 10 km hike in, but it was pretty flat and not that scenic.  The next day was pretty much a van day.  The van is not that big when you have to spend all day in it as well as cook your meals.  But we managed. We are getting very good at moving around in the van; like an orchestrated dance at times. The day we left Terra Nova it was cool and overcast.  We are starting to think our nice days are over.  We headed to Twillingate, another beautiful Penisula in Gerry's and my opinion.  We did a 6 km hike along the coast.  Lots of up and down and foggy at points but pretty nice.  We saw our second iceberg, again far off in the distance.  Then we drove to the Auk Island winery.  This is the only winery in Newfoundland. It was very interesting.  They use grapes from Quebec and then frozen berries from the Island.  We were able to sample as much as we wanted.  We ended up buying a case and shipping it home (well to Barb & Rogers's trusting that it will still be intact when we get home).  It only cost $10.00 for shipping when you bought a case. They had interesting combinations.  We will share when we get home, I promise.  I can no longer read what I am typing so time to publish and start a new post...

Whales, icebergs and puffins!

Newfoundland is a beautiful province but getting here was a bit tortuous.  We had to book the ferry ahead of time.  It only goes 3 times a week and always at night,  so we booked our spot and we're told to be at the terminal by 3:00 , even though the ferry didn't leave until 5:00.  Typical us, we were there by 2:00 and third car in our line up. We wanted to get on the ferry early as we had not been able to secure a berth and were told there were a few reclining chairs on level 8. Loading is much like the Vancouver ferry.  They didn't start loading after 4:00 and cars got on first.  They even loaded RV's in a different line before us! Needles to say I was getting quite perturbed. We were one of the last to load!  I raced up to level 8 and secured 2 seats for Gerry and I.  It turned out we didn't really need to worry.  I would say 95% if the people get berths and there is a theatre with reclining chairs that seats hundreds.  The lounge we were in was small, about 30 seats and was only half full.  There was a TV in there where they showed movies until about 11:30 and then turned it off so it was nice and quiet and dark.  You still don't get a great sleep though .  About 2 hours into the trip our name was called and we were told we could have a berth but we decided to pass.  The trip had already cost $565 and the berth was another $200 with taxes. Gerry promised me a motel the first night we were in Newfoundland and that seemed to be a more attractive and cheaper option ( and it was).
The first day and a half was very foggy and we could see very little. We did go to a bird reserve on the southern tip of the Avalon Pennisula.  We got to the interpretive centre and decided to pass on the 1 1/2 km hike to the bird island, figuring we would not see anything.  But the guide at the interpretive centre assured us it was worth the walk.  And it was.  It was very foggy and we could hardly see each other but I could hear Gerry gagging all the way because there were sheep all over leaving their presents and it stank!  When we got to bird Island I couldn't believe all the birds !  Plus there was only one other couple there.  We tend to be early starters and get there before crowds which is nice.  Sometimes we get there before things open and that is a bit of a pain.
Because of the fog we decided to skip the rest of the coast and headed inland to Witless Bay, on the Eastern side of Newfoundland, about 50 km south of St John's.  We stayed at a Provincial park there and did a coule of hikes along the East Coast trail. The one hike we did along the coast was really nice. We started off fairly early and as we were hiking I noticed spray in the water. I asked Gerry if they were whales and they were.  It was awesome! We saw at least a dozen or so.  But wouldn't you know it - every time Gerry took his camera out to take a picture, they disappeared.  He'd put his camera away and they would start all over again!  I think he did finally manage to get one.  We saw lots of beautiful coves and coastal scenery - high cliffs with water splashg against the rocks below.  It was also a record hot day in the area we were in and so humid.  I'm sure I lost 10 pounds in sweat! We have been very lucky with the weather.  When we get rain, it is usually at night and it cools things off a bit.  But we have had some pretty hot days. We did a couple of smaller hikes along the East coast trail and then moved on to St. John's.  We visited Cape Spear which is the most eastern point in North America.  So I guess technically, we are heading home now.  We got a picture in front of a sign that declared this, but alas, no toe dipping as the cliffs were too high.  As we were touring Cape Spear the fog started to role in and then rain so we called it a day and went back to our campground to do laundry and grocery shopping. Newfoundland is not a good place to be a vegetarian. Vegetables are very expensive and not that fresh. We are eating more canned food here.  The next day was beautiful again and we headed to Signal Hill.  We got there before it was open but we could see the trail around the hill so we took it.  It was quite a long hike around the hill, but very scenic.  There was even a part where  you had to hang on to a cable while traversing a very narrow strip of path.  Lots of stairs up and then down as well.Gerry gots lots of pictures of st John's harbour .  Visited Cabot tower where Marconi sent the first transatlantic signal.  We then headed out of St John's to the north tip of the Pennisula and did a couple of smaller East coast trail hikes.  All in all a good day.
The next couple of days were spent exploring the coast of Newfoundland.  They have these pennisulas that jut out from highway 1.  Each one is unique and beautiful in it's own way, but the roads are terrible!  Usually the speed limit is 80 but Gerry doesn't even do that, and cars are passing us, like we are standing still. We did a couple of small hikes and met a couple who were travelling the opposite direction we were.  As we were trading hiking and must see places we saw a whale out in the distance, just meandering along a fish line. Again, very beautiful.  That night we camped at the Bellevue Beach campground. In Newfoundland there are not a lot of campgrounds in certain areas, and very few recommended by the NFLD tourist industry.  This one was not in the book, but it was getting late so we decided to take it.  We paid $32 for the night and they only had pit toilets!  We should have known we were in trouble when we saw the gate system at the registration.  There was a rope strung across the road, and there was a hole in the registrant building. When you were allowed to enter or leave the lady would release the rope and you would drive over it and then she would tighten it.  They did have showers and flush toilets but they were locked by the rope lady and you had to pay $3.00 to use them.  The campsites were so tight that the picnic table of the site beside us was 2 feet from our van.  No privacy  whatsoever. This is the worst site we have been in since landing in Newfoundland,  most of
them, even the one in St John's are more like what we are used to; semi private and lots of room.  The bathrooms are varying degrees of clean though. Yes Emily I am fixated on bathrooms!
This is getting long so I will close and continue.  I haven't told you about the puffins yet . . .

Cape Breton rocks!

We arrived in Nova Scotia on Saturday morning. We caught the 8:00 ferry from PEI. Of course the first place we visited was the welcome centre where we got lots of  information - information overload!  The tourist information hostess suggested we make a reservation for the night and then proceeded to phone 3 places before she found us a spot. She assured us it was nice campsite. We got there and there was at least 100 trailers parked side by side. We could only get an unserviced site and we were given several sites to choose from.  Not one of them was level! We ended up buying firewood so we could level the camper. (We do have some, but we didn't have enough!)  The site we chose was nice in that we had a great view of the ocean and the sunset was spectacular, but there was no privacy.  For that many sites they had 1 bathroom with 6 stalls and 3 showers for the women.  That place was busy and pretty gross by the end of the day.  I went for a swim and then stood in line for a shower.  When I got out there were at least 6 women lined up waiting.   I tell you both Woodall's and the provincial campsite books they give you are sure misleading.  I have given up looking forward to a campsite.  It only makes me want to cry when I get there.  Woodall's gave this a 10* for the washrooms!  Having said that we stayed at the nicest private campground yet since we started this trip. Nice private sites and clean, clean washrooms.  Gerry and I both made a point of telling the owners how nice their campsite was.  Unfortunately we could only stay the one night. After our problems getting a site for Saturday night we didn't sleep well, worrying about the next few days, so on Sunday morning we stopped at a visitors centre and made reservations for the next 3 nights. (One was the really nice one, one was the dive we are in tonight and one was the National Park which was average or below at best.)  With that out of the way, we were able to enjoy the Cabot trail and enjoy it we did!  I would have to say that the Cabot trail is the most stunning area we have been to so far.  On Sunday we planned to go whale watching at 1:30 pm.  We only had to travel 80 km from our campsite to the whale watching village and having left at 9 figured we had lots of time. Wrong!  I came to accept that we were not going to make it.  We stopped for a couple of short hikes (less than 2 km each) but we stopped so many times at lookouts for Gerry to get pictures that we pulled into the parking lot at 1:15.  The last half hour was tense as I wanted to push on through but Gerry kept stopping and saying"just a quick picture honey".  As he was roaring down the mountain into the fishing village I was in the back packing a bit of lunch.  Did I mention the Cabot trail is very windy and up and down?  Sadly when we got there we found out the tour had been cancelled  because of high winds.  Plus we found out that we might not have been able to get on because we didn't have reservations.  Anyway we moved on and went to visit a Buddhist Monastery that was close by. It was ok, nothing special.  After that we did a couple of short hikes in the park.  Very enjoyable. That night we stayed at the best private campsite yet!  The only problem was the Internet and cell service was spotty.  The next morning we phoned another whale watching site on the East side of the island and yes they were sailing and yes they had room.  So we headed north abut 1/2 hour and had the most amazing ride!  We saw tones of pilot whales, seals, birds and beautiful scenic inlets.  Gerry has it all recorded on camera trust me!  That day we still had time to do a coastal hike which was also very scenic! The Cabot trail has lots of coloured rock, lots of deciduous trees, beautiful beaches and lots of waves spraying against the rocks.  I have not been quilting because there is so much to see.  Also they have a lot of  roundabouts here; sometimes  2 in a row.  I think the first three roundabouts we were on we got off at the wrong spot.  Gerry blamed me because I took my eyes off the road so I stopped quilting for a while.  I have made some other navigational errors as well.  For example, today as we were driving to our destination, I noticed that none of the towns listed were on my map, but I kept quiet.  All of a sudden the road ended.  I told Gerry this but he thought  I was joking.   I was not.  There was a small cable ferry to cross an inlet.  I figured out where we were, and it wasn't that much of a detour, but again, I don't know how I missed the turn off. For our 3rd and final night in Nova Scotia and the Cabot trail we stayed in another "nice" campsite according to the books and tourist information guides. (It was not). The only saving grace was that the town of Bedeck had a Ceilidh night so we went. Music is such an important part of their culture, I really wanted to see this. It was very informal; a fiddle player and a piano player but very enjoyable!  Both players were very talented.  They were basically jamming, but the fiddler explained a lot about the Gaelic culture and way of life in between songs. It started raining while we were at the concert and
continued to rain and rain all night.  There is something very comforting about being in a dry camp
er and listening to the rain pelting on the van.
Wednesday we were scheduled to leave for Newfoundland.  We made the reservations on Saturday when we landed in Nova Scotia and plotted out our rough plans.   It is a 16 hour ferry ride fromNorth  Sydeny to Argentina, NFLD. The ferry leaves 3 times a week and it is always at night I.e. 5 pm.  We were able to get a reservation for the ferry but not for a berth.  As it is the ferry ride will cost us $565. A berth would be another $200.  Not looking forward to that but Gerry has promised me a hotel when we land in Newfoundland and I am looking forward to that!
I am at an Internet cafe so will publish this while I can. Stay tuned for Newfoundland!