Back to the Mainland and Home

We have been home for a few days and I suddenly realized I did not "finish" the Travel Blog so here it is all in one post.

It was a nice sunny day for our seven hour ferry ride from Port aux Basques NL to North Sydney NS. The ferry departed at 11:45 am so we had lots of time to get breakfast and pick up a sandwich to eat for lunch on the ferry. Departing Newfoundland involves going through an agricultural inspection where they search your car for soil and plants. If it is dirty enough, you get a free car wash. I thought for sure we would get one but were disappointed. The thousands of bugs plastered on the front of the SUV must have been deemed protein and not dirt.

This was a slightly smaller ferry than we had for the long crossing on the way there but still fairly substantial at 600 ft LOA.

Leaving Port aux Basques....

We were in the First Class seating area so had a nice comfy seat and view for the crossing. There was just a bit of a cross roll as the wind was on the beam.

We arrived on time and got to our B&B by 6:30 pm. Just a lovely property on the bay with nice grounds and a classic sailboat (in need of restoration) sitting on the back lawn. We were given "The Captain's Room" (how did they know?) which included the parlour that came in handy after the bugs arrived at sunset.

We then looked for supper and found few choices. The top rated lobster place was fully booked and the number 2 was closed on Sunday. It was getting late and we had to settle for second rate pizza.

Upon returning, we met a couple of other guests and had a great time comparing travel stories over a beer.

From here it was a two day dash back to Niagara-on-the-Lake. Two fairly long driving days with an overnight on Orono Maine which turned out to be a cute little town with a nice bar/restaurant for supper. My last chance for lobster and they had a delicious lobster roll on the menu.

We arrived home a little after 7:00 pm on Tuesday July 9th. Total distance 7,200 km. Lots of fun memories of Newfoundland and Cape Breton. Another 3,900 shutter actuations on the cameras.

Thanks for taking the time to follow along and we hope that if you haven't been to Newfoundland, try to get there some day. Very friendly people, a little different lifestyle and some great scenery. Definitely a special place in Canada.

Last Day on The Rock

We awoke in Rocky Harbour to some sunny skies and relatively warm humid temperatures (about 20C which has been warmer than lately). It was time to pack up and vacate our cottage. By the time we had packed and were checking out, the overcast skies returned and shortly it started to drizzle.

Our route today was to Port aux Basques to catch the ferry off the island tomorrow morning.

As we were leaving Gros Morne National Park, I did manage to do a quick hike into a waterfall I was wanting to photograph. Luckily the rain let up and I was able to capture a couple of good photos.

It stopped raining by the time we got to Deer Lake and then the temperature suddenly increased. I think I saw 30C very briefly but it did settle uout at around 27C for most of the drive to Port aux Basques. We stopped in Corner Brook for a Vietnamese lunch.

From Corner Brook on, I think I saw a maximum of four vehicles heading in our direction on the Trans Canada Highway! The cruise control was engaged continuously for two hours.

As we neared Port aux Basques, the temperature suddenly dropped to about 16C. We checked into our hotel and went for a short walk around the harbour.

They have a bunch of brightly coloured kiosk shops at the harbour but all but one were closed. We were told that everyone had closed shop and headed inland to enjoy warmer temperatures.

There are not many restaurants here so we decided to eat at our hotel. I finally got to enjoy a mooseburger. Quite tasty!

Gros Morne Day 3 - Western Brook Pond Tour

Finally a day here with no rain or fog! We had booked a boat tour of Western Brooke Pond which is a fjord in the Long Range Mountains, the northern most part of the Appalachian Range. The fjord was carved by a glacier and isolated from the sea by crustal rebounding.

Access to the boat tour requires a 3 km hike along a nice wide path. The fjord looks pretty impressive as you approach the boat dock.

We were on the 90 passenger boat and the tour took us up one side and back on the other, about a 30 km trip.

The cliff walls are up to 600 metres high and there are many waterfalls emptying into the pristine lake. Some really nice views.

After our walk back out, we stopped at the Berry Hill Trail for a short steep hike up to a panoramic viewpoint or "look-off" as they call them here.

That's Gros Morne Mountain in the distance. Unfortunately the weather over the last couple of days have prevented us from doing the hike to the top.

It is our last day here so we treated ourselves to a nice supper at Java Jack's. We were greeted by a cute Berner.

We both had their special, Lobster Linguini featuring a whole lobster incorporated in the meal.

This was the first evening where there was a bit of clear sky so I headed down to the harbour to see if I could capture a sunset. It wasn't fantastic but here are a few views.

Gros Morne Day 2

Another day of misty rain greeted us but the forecast was for it to gradually clear throughout the day. The highlands were still shrouded in fog so we decided to sightsee the park attractions along the coast. We drove north as far as Arches Provincial Park and then picked our way south back to Rocky Harbour.

Arches Provincial Park is a bit north of Gros Morne National Park and features some seaside rock arch formations that have been created by wave action eroding the shore.

Heading south, we stopped in Cow Head, a small photogenic fishing village.

Next stop was at Broom Point Fishing Premesis. It was staffed by a Park Ranger who provided lots of information on what it was like to be a coastal fisherman in the 1960's, the last time the property was seasonally occupied.

The next stop was the shipwreck site of the SS Ethie, a coastal supply ship that blew ashore 100 years ago. Surprisingly, no one perished.

From there we drove to Green Point Geological Site and some astounding sedimentary rock formations tipped up at a 70 degree angle. Apparently a very significant geological site.

Just adjacent to this site, was a little coastal fishing operation. I wandered over there and talked to one of the fishermen. They were just finishing up their lobster harvest. He had 1000 traps and had caught 25,000 lb of lobster this season!

The sun was finally trying to poke out through the clouds along the coast. We stopped at a short hiking trail and stretched our legs with a couple km walk around a pond and through some of the densest forest I have ever seen. There is no way a human could walk between the trees.

The last stop was at the Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse that marks the entrance to Rocky Harbour. There were a few walking trails around the bluffs.

Tonight we went to a Kitchen Party at the local pub. It was a lot of fun and I got to play an ugly stick.