Icebergs, Gremlins, and The Big Rock

Map of Newfoundland (from postcard).  Note: Labrador is not to scale.

We have really enjoyed our travels the past 6 weeks (especially here in Newfoundland) and are now on our way to St. John’s on the east coast.  We have been here once before (back in 2006 when we drove across Labrador and then down the west coast of Newfoundland – but we did not see much since it was at the end of the season in early October and everything was closing up).  This year’s trip had been our last planned one here and we had set aside 7 weeks to see it – but this is such a special place that we are already planning to come back here in a couple of years.

Since Newfoundland is mostly unknown in the states, here are a few facts:

• It is part of the Canadian province called Newfoundland and Labrador (NL).  Labrador is part of the mainland of Canada and Newfoundland is a very big island off the coast of Labrador – it is almost as big as the state of Ohio and the driving distance from the farthest little community in the northwest (Quirpon – pronounced kar-poon) to Cape Race in the southeast is 1,138 kilometers (711 miles).
• To get to the island you sail from Nova Scotia on some of the largest ice-breaking ferries in the world (1,200 passengers and 350 cars) - either to Channel-Port aux Basques in the southwest (~110 miles (5 ½ hours)) or to Argentia in the southeast (~325 miles (14 hours)).  The cost one way to take our 50 foot long RV (truck + 5th wheel) is about $375 on the short route and $850 on the long route.
• Nova Scotia is on Atlantic Time (1 hour ahead of Eastern Time) and Newfoundland is on their own time zone – a half hour ahead of Atlantic Time.
• It is very rocky here (and is often referred to as The Big Rock).  It is also hilly in many places with mountains on the west coast that are the northernmost part of the Appalachian Mountains.  The Long Range Mountains in Gros Morne National Park are the oldest in the world.
• There are about 500,000 people living here on the island and about half live in the Avalon area which surrounds St. John’s (the capital).
• Life in Newfoundland has been (and still is) based upon fishing.  All around the island are countless little fishing communities nestled around protected harbours.
•  A moratorium on cod fishing was issued in 1992 and many of the fishing communities are having a really tough time economically.   To give you an idea of the economic conditions  (not only in small communities, but even in larger ones), one of the rental car agents (about 25 years old) said that 85 out of his high school graduating class of 180 are now working in Alberta in the oil industry.
• There are about 10,000 moose here and we have seen about 10-15 of them so far.  While driving one must always be looking out for them, since hitting one (over 1,000 pounds) can be devastating.
• There are very few roads in the interior – the main one from Channel Port aux Basques to St. John’s is Hwy 1 – Trans Canada Highway – referred to as TCH.  This is a very good highway with most of it being limited access and two-lane with many intermittent passing zones.  Once you get on some of the side roads, however,  it is a different story – many potholes and multiple patches and dips (heaves) in places – so driving can be fun (looking for moose, potholes, and the beautiful scenery all at the same time).
• In all of our travels in Canada, the people here in the Atlantic Maritimes (especially in Newfoundland) are the most friendly that we have met.  A lot of people found out how great the people are during the 9/11 disaster when people in the small community of Gander (population of about 10,000) and the surrounding communities volunteered their time, food, homes, etc. out of the kindness of their hearts to help the 6,595 stranded passengers and crews of the 38 planes that were diverted here for a few days.

Before heading for Newfoundland, we spent a week in the Boston area parked in the driveway of fellow New Horizons 5th wheel owners in Lexington.   While there, we took photos of numerous lighthouses; visited with one of Jan’s schoolmates from childhood in Richmond, Indiana; went to some of the numerous historic sites; visited the John F. Kennedy birthplace and Presidential Library and Museum; and also enjoyed seeing some wildlife in a couple of National Wildlife Refuges.  There is so much to see and do here that we plan to spend a few more days on our way back in September.

After spending 2 days at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine we headed for Canada.  This time the customs agents asked us to open all of our truck and trailer compartments and then they searched thru things for about 15 minutes, but of course, did not find anything.  After clearing customs and about 40 miles before reaching the large city of Moncton, the gremlins that had left us alone for well over a year decided to visit us again.  One of the trailer tires blew out caused by the wheel bearings disintegrating and the resultant wobbling tire rubbing against the bracket holding the brake calipers.  There was no way to have someone tow us in (we would have been loaded onto a low bed truck and would have been too tall to go under the overpasses in front and behind us).  So, we took off the bad tire and drove the last 40 miles very carefully on 3 trailer tires into a campground in Moncton.  The next day, Jan removed the bad bearings, had new ones pressed into the wheel hub, got a new tire, and we were back on our way.  Fortunately, we had spare bearings with us.

 After a quick drive thru Nova Scotia and a very good ferry ride (short route), we arrived in Newfoundland and toured the southwest part of the island (mainly taking photos of lighthouses).   We even rented a car and drove to Burgeo on the south coast and took a small ferry to the small remote island of Ramea to see the lighthouse there and also spend the night at a B&B.  The return ferry to the mainland in the morning had electrical problems, but fortunately was fixed in time for the afternoon trip (otherwise we would have had to spend 2 extra nights on the island).

Then it was on to the far northwest part of Newfoundland to the Iceberg Festival in St. Anthony.  While there, we saw some icebergs, enjoyed the concert given by Ennis (a Newfoundland sister music group), attended a couple of ‘kitchen parties’ (an evening of music including visitations by mummers [veiled people in outrageous costumes]), and got to meet 2 big Newfoundland dogs.   In addition, we visited L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site – the only authenticated Viking landing location in North America.  And then we finally fulfilled one of our bucket list items and spent our first night in a lightkeepers house at the lighthouse on the farthest north point in Newfoundland (the Cape Bauld lighthouse Inn on Quirpon Island).   What a delightful evening we had visiting with the other guests and the staff at this isolated lighthouse!

Then going back down the west coast we visited the beautiful Gros Morne National Park and hiked in over 1 1/2 miles on a fabulous sunny day to take a boat ride thru the very scenic Western Brook Pond fjord with its high cliff sides.  This was a salt water fjord, but glaciers 10,000 years ago blocked the entrance and now it is a fresh water pond.  Side notes: a lot of the lakes up here are called ‘ponds’; bodies of water smaller than bays (but larger than coves) are called ‘bights’; and narrow bodies of water between 2 islands or an island and the mainland are called ‘tickles’ (probably named that because crossing one of these when the tides are rushing in or out can be a ticklish proposition).

One of the long side trips we made in a rental car was driving down frpm Grand Falls-Windsor to the central south coast to Harbour Breton to photo some lighthouses.  We enjoyed the beautiful scenery (including some great fjords), but did not like some of the roads (especially one gravel road that we should not have gone on (but made it back OK)).  After this trip we drove up to Twillingate on the north shore and spent a few days there.  While there we enjoyed a very funny dinner theatre production and 2 nights of really great music; took photos of lighthouses; and rode a ferry over to Fogo Island for a day to visit the communities of Fogo, Seldom, & Tilting.  Twillingate is definitely one of destinations on our return trip in a couple of years.

We are already starting to feel like we don’t want to leave the Big Rock even though we still have 3 more weeks to go before heading to Nova Scotia.  To extend the time here and see more places, we have decided to drive the 500 miles from the St. John’s area back to Channel Port aux Basques and take the short ferry ride (instead of the long ride) back to Nova Scotia.

So far, the weather has been great (lots of sunny days) and cool - in St. Anthony it would drop to 4 (upper 30’s F) at night and some days would not rise above 10 (50 F).  The hottest it has been so far has been around 27 (80 F).   However, our great weather may be changing now to a lot of cloudy, rainy days, with lots of fog as we near the eastern shores (St. John’s is noted for fog).  We really wish that we could send of the cool weather from up here down to all of you that are trying to withstand such high temps.

Hope this update finds you all doing well.

Cape Bauld lighthouse - on Quirpon Island

Iceberg along west coast of Newfoundland

Large iceberg (it was estimated that about 130 feet of it is below the water line).  This is one that we went around on a boat ride.

Moose near St. Anthony

Eastern Point lighthouse - near Gloucester - near Boston

Boston Harbor lighthouse - Oldest lighthouse in the US, however, it was later reconstructed.  The Sandy Hook lighthouse in New Jersey is the oldest one that is still standing as originally constructed.

Scituate lighthouse (south of Boston) - the 5th oldest lighthouse in New England

The beginning of the Western Brook Pond fjord in Gros Morne National Park

Blue Denim Falls on the cliff walls of Western Brook Pond fjord

Sebastian - A Newfoundland dog - weighs about 130 pounds and requires a lot of grooming.  Great water rescue dog and helped fishermen with their nets etc.

Harbour Breton lighthouse (central south coast of Newfoundland)

View of coastline at Long Point (near Twillingate)

Gardens along the roads.  Since it is so rocky near the coastline, there is not much topsoil - so people have their gardens inland along the roads (the fences are to keep the moose out).  There are also countless stacks of firewood along the roadside where it is stored (since they don't have the room in the tighly packed coastal communities).

Typical stream bed strewn with rocks

Rose Blanche lighthouse along southern coastline