Posts made in August, 2015
Twillingate – A Whale of a Time
On August 4th, we reluctantly left Gros Morne Park. I could have spent much more time there and was sad to be leaving. We drove to Twillingate and found the RV park. Again, another back in. This one was more difficult because we had limited maneuvering space and we had to back in between very large trees. A fellow RVer came over and helped because I couldn’t be in both mirrors at the same time. We did it but it did take a bit of time. It was a lovely spot close to the ocean where I could take Lucy up a hill and then we sat on a bench at the top and drank in the view. For some reason I am finding the Atlantic Ocean to smell differently from the Pacific Ocean. The Atlantic Ocean smells briny to me where the Pacific smells like seaweed. I don’t think I am alone in that. In the evening we took a drive around the area and accidentally drove up to a lighthouse that was perched up at the top of a cliff. I have some photos of it that I took from the ocean looking up but I had forgotten my camera so didn’t get any pics from the land side looking down. I booked a boat tour for the next morning. When we woke up, it was drizzly and foggy. We weren’t sure if the boat trip would still go but packed up our rain gear and headed off to the boat. As we were standing on the wharf, it suddenly cleared off. Amazing! Captain Cecil took us out the bay and found the humpback whales fishing. Lots of great photos. I learned to put my camera in sports mode so that it would snap a pic every few seconds and that’s the only way I could capture them. We would have been happy even if we hadn’t seen whales. It was just great to be out on the water. The boat passed by the tall cliffs with the lighthouse. Twillingate is also a special spot. Lots of older homes. Everyone is putting vinyl siding on their houses and removing the clapboard. It changes the look to something more cosmopolitan and seems to take away a lot of the charm. We were really craving a restaurant meal for some reason so decided to risk it again. Off we...
Read MoreShoal Brook – Water’s Edge
We booked August 2nd and 3rd to spend some more time in Gros Morne Park. After a very relaxing afternoon at the River of Ponds, where we had much needed downtime, we headed back to Gros Morne and a spot right on the ocean at Waters Edge in Shoal Brook. It was another back in. Don will soon be a pro. Beautiful. Right on Bonne Bay near Woody Point. After unhooking, we drove up to the Discovery Centre to find out more about the guided hike to the Tablelands the next morning. That side of Gros Morne Park is pretty spectacular. We did a quick run through Woody Point and then back to the rig for dinner. The next morning we made the 20 minute drive to the parking lot and headed off to explore another absolutely fascinating geological location. It was weird to think we were walking on ancient ocean floor. It looked like the moon. After our hike, we drove to Trout River and then back to explore Woody Point. We had been thinking it would be nice to eat out and that’s when I discovered that it probably would not be a good thing for me to eat out. Too much seafood on the menus and the possibility of cross contamination so much to Don’s dismay, we had to go back to cook our own food. we spent our last afternoon in Gros M9rne sitting behind our rig on the ocean watching the local fishermen going for mackerel and cod right from the beach. Once again the water was not potable. The source was a dam up on the mountain and it could be accessed by moose and other critters. So many boil water advisories on that side of Newfoundland. Once again, once I find better wifi, I will upload the...
Read MoreRiver of Ponds
It was only a four hour drive to the RV park so we took the long way through Roddington, the moose capital of Newfoundland. Sure enough, as we were dodging potholes in the road, three moose crossed the road in front of us. Fortunately we were going slow enough and didn’t hit them. Moose are a major problem on Newfoundland roads. There are a lot of people killed every year. Moose are also destroying the environment because they eat so much and killing trees. Their presence is really changing Gros Morne’s forests and hunting is now allowed within park boundaries. We’ve only seen five moose so far. One very large moose was standing in the ditch and looked like a statue. I didn’t realize it was a live moose until we had passed it and it turned its head to watch us go by. We dropped Ronald, the hitchhiker, off, hoping he would quickly get a ride, and went to our second back in site. It was really pretty at River of Ponds and even though it was kind of cold and foggy, there were some kids playing in the pond. We were unable to hook up to the “drinking” water, though. A lot of the drinking water is not treated and comes from ponds that can be accessed by critters large and small. People are really paranoid about another Walkerton so everyone says to boil the water. We don’t hook up to those water sources because we don’t want to contaminate our water hose or our water lines in the 5th wheel. We have enough water onboard to handle one or two nights without being hooked up. There was a nice hike through the woods and we thought it might take us around the lake but it eventually just disappeared several feet from the shore. Kind of disappointing. We found out in the morning it was just a moose trail. There were moose droppings right behind where we were parked. I also saw a vole running along the edge of our parking spot. We had a much needed restful afternoon. We have read so many books on this trip. Inspector Banks became a familiar character through his murder mysteries. There is no TV reception, cell reception is intermittent, sometimes there are no radio stations – not even CBC – and even if the RV parks advertise wifi (or...
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