http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=211651657169317628289.0004acb0cefb4eb379f47&msa=0&ll=55.429013,-55.458984&spn=21.817378,68.642578The ferry left North Sydney at 10:45PM Monday and arrived in Argentia at 2:15PM Tuesday. Our berths were very tiny, but comfortable with a private bathroom and even a shower. Steve and I booked early and were very glad to have a window, however Richard and Linde didn't and felt a bit claustrophobic. We awoke the next morning to the fog horn and for the rest of the crossing could not see anything beyond the wake of the boat. Once we landed the fog was gone, and we drove on to St. John for the night.
Newfoundland - Wet, Wild, Wonderful and Windy!!!
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| I took my life in my hands for this pic-the wind was at it's worst |
Okay, if you are out in the Atlantic Ocean it's going to be windy, especially given the unsettled conditions in this part of the world lately. But we're not sure how they tell hurricane conditions from normal conditions. At Signal Hill and Cape Spear in St. John, we had to hang on to the railings so the wind didn't blow us over the cliffs. It acually pushed us up the stairs and made coming down harder than going up. The sea was wild with huge rollers that crashed and thundered on the jagged rocks and wild rocky cliffs. The power of it all was overwhelming, wonderful and thrilling!
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| Cape Spear-Our furthest point East |
Wet - because there is water everywhere, inlets, bays, fiords, rivers, marshes, swamps, and lakes. The lakes are called Ponds - Triangle Pond, Big Pond, Three Corner Pond, Dildo Pond etc. I guess a lake is not very impressive when you live in the Atlantic Ocean. And rocks - rocks everywhere: in the ponds, in the rivers, on the shore, in the marshes, on the hillsides, in the towns, along the roads. Some lakes looked as though someone had purposely put rocks all around the edges and then threw a few into the middle to finish off the 'landscaping'. That is why Newfoundland got it's nickname "The Rock".
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| Huge seas at Cape Spear |
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| One of little villages |
Newfoundland is wonderful of course, because of it's beauty, but mainly because of it's people. I can't presume to know a group of people in one week, but in our experience, Newfoundlanders are special. We found them very friendly and helpful and fiercely proud of their home. Not that this is so different from anywhere else, but we were astounded by the extent of their helpfulness. For instance, we were looking at an ice berg in one little harbour, when a man and his wife drove up and asked if we were local. When we said no, he said he could show us an ice berg that would put this one to shame. So he lead us to another little harbour in the next village about 5 miles away and told us to park in someone's yard, walk into someone else's front yard so we could see the big ice berg. The man whose yard we walked into came up on the hill with us as well, and though he was speaking English, it was like another language. We were amazed as much by these people as by the ice bergs. The other characteristics we liked about Newfie's was their sense of humour and love of music. We took in a show in Rocky Harbour by a band called Anchor's Aweigh, and a restaurant in Viking Village had a man with a guitar and an accordian, and the ferry back to the mainland also had a man with a guitar. All three shows were filled with humour and great Atlantic music.
On Tuesday, after Signal Hill and cape Spear, we took our pictures at Mile Zero of the Trans-Canada Highway, and then made our way to Gander, through spectacular scenery of lakes, fiords, cliffs, rocks, and forest. The lakes are royal blue. The forests-short evergreens that are very wind blown and wild. Goldenrod grows everywhere as well as some white wildflowers. The scenes are breathtaking everywhere you look.
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| Twillingate |
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| Twillingate Lighthouse |
On Wednesday we headed up to Twillingate. We stopped at Boyd's Cove to go to the Beothuk Museum. These are a native people that have dissappeared because of hostilities with Europeans and the illnesses the Europeans brought. They are doing DNA testing to see if by some chance any of them remain. The guides in the museum were so knowledgable they made the people come to life. Some of the stories made me get all teary -eyed! A bit of serendipity - one of the guides told us about the iceberg in Moreton Harbour, which is where we met the man who led us to the village of Valley Pond, where we saw the biggest iceberg. We saw some more icebergs in Twillingate, which had been blown out of the harbour by the time we got there.
Then back down the penninsula to Grand Falls for the night.