River 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...
Read MoreVeggies
Ok, that’s a strange title but here’s the reason. All along the roads all the way up the West coast of Newfoundland, you see the roadside gardens. Potatoes, turnips, sometimes lettuce and carrots are planted. We were told some people drive 50 miles to tend their little roadside gardens. When the roads were built, the richest peat soils were stirred up by the heavy equipment and that makes it the best spots to have these small gardens. The small communities across Newfoundland have very interesting grocery stores. The stores we went into in the smaller communities didn’t have very much in the way of fresh vegetables for sale. Actually, nothing that I could bring myself to buy. The pop coolers contained the veggies. What can I say except that I wouldn’t keep those veggies – they would be in my compost bin really quickly. And there they were, for sale! Kids who get to go to the bigger city grocery stores must be amazed to see the selection of veggies you can buy. All of the smaller stores had large chest freezers lined up down the aisle, with labels carefully stuck on the lids showing what was inside. Everything was frozen. I can understand why that had to be done. There just wasn’t the population to purchase the fresh foods and to stop waste. I have to say, though, I won’t look at potatoes the same anymore. That’s about all I could...
Read MoreGros Morne – Not enough time…
We spent the 25th to 30th in Gros Morne park. What can I say about it. Only one word works and that word is “WOW”! We stayed in Rocky Harbour at the Gros Morne RV Park. On the 26th we did several shorter hikes visiting Norris Point, Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse, Green Point and several others. Don refused to come with me for an 8 hour hike up Gros Morne Mountain and he didn’t want me to do it by myself so I made him hike as many trails as I could find. The 27th found us hiking the 3km boardwalk to Western Brook Pond to take the 2 hour boat tour through the ancient landlocked fjords. Amazing! The water doesn’t conduct electricity. Truly an enjoyable way to spend 2 hours. 3km back to the parking lot. Unfortunately Lucy had to stay back in the rig as dogs were not allowed on the boat but she got her long walks in the morning and afternoon. The 28th was spent on another boat tour around Bonne Bay. We were fortunate to see a minke whale. I couldn’t snap a photo fast enough to catch it with my camera but I got some great shots of the ocean. 🙂 Life in Newfoundland certainly was no picnic back in the day. When we were passing by Woody Point, the guide who grew up there said the houses were insulated with sawdust or old clothing – anything to keep the cold out. He told us that at one point in time, the Newfoundland government was offering to provide a ram to the smaller remote communities so they could raise sheep. One of the residents of Woody Point heard about the program and wrote to ask for a ram. The response was that the community was to small to be given a ram. He wrote back and said that it wasn’t for the people but for the sheep. A little local humour there. On our “last” day in Gros Morne we decided that we wanted to come back to hike the Tablelands (30 km behind us) and visit Trout River and Woody Point so we booked a 2 night stay for after our visit to the far northern tip of the “West Coast” as it is referred to here. We drove to Cow Head with a couple of hiking trails in mind and also...
Read MoreTriple Falls
I am trying to catch up on my posts. On July 30th, we left Rocky Harbour and headed north for our spot at Triple Falls RV, just outside of St. Anthony’s. We unhooked and drove into St. Anthony’s to see what there was to see. St. Anthony’s is kind of a funky place. We make a habit of stopping in at all the Tourist Info Centres we find and have collected quite the massive selection of brochures and maps. It really helps to choose what you want to see. Triple Falls was our first back in site but it was spacious and flat and Don looked like a real pro backing in. The next day we were up early for the drive to L’Anse aux Meadows, the landing site of the Vikings. Boy did we luck out! On our way out the door to begin our guided tour, the guide pointed out a cow moose in the meadow. She blended right in to the vegetation. Our guide was a local man who was around 12 years old when the site was being excavated and the archaeologists stayed with his family. As a child he had played on the mounds where the buildings were located. Local lore was that First Nations people had lived there so it was a real surprise to find out that it was a Viking settlement. It was certainly an educational experience that was made even more interesting coming from someone who was there when the discoveries were made. We were left at the recreated Viking settlement and enjoyed the costumed docents. What was a surprise to me (and it shouldn’t have been), was that women had spent time at the settlement. It was such a harsh environment and they came across in an open boat using oars and sails and helped to establish a small settlement that was surrounded by hostile local people who eventually made life so difficult for them that they were driven away after a few years. The Viking loom and the drop spindle were strikingly similar to the Navajo loom and drop spindle. Iron was found in the peat bog and that is what the Vikings used to make the replacement nails to repair their boats. We hiked around the site and then headed to Norstead, another Viking settlement and saw the ship that had been built. The Vikings had come...
Read MorePort aux Basque
The ferry was leaving at 11:45am and we had to be at the terminal 2 hours ahead or we would lose our reservation. It certainly was a very different experience than taking the ferry to or from Vancouver Island. We had to not only book our space for our vehicle on the ferry, but we also booked reserved seating. When we arrived, our ID’s were checked and we were issued boarding passes and key cards for the reserved seating. When we left the terminal to go to Timmy’s for coffee, we had to show our ID and boarding passes to get back in. It took about an hour to get the ferry loaded. They take great care in placing each vehicle. We put the critters in the rig. It would be a 5 hour crossing. Lucy spent the time in her crate but Kitty was in the back of the rig with her litter box. Lucy spends most of the day sleeping so 5 hours in her crate in the rig wouldn’t bother her too much. Then we headed up to our reserved seating. Once you leave the vehicle deck, you can’t go back down. I don’t know how I managed it, but our reserved seats were right in front of the windows. We did have to sit backwards to the direction we were going in but at least we were comfortable. I should have brought up my blanket because it was cold. The ferry rocked and rolled its way across to Newfoundland. Once off the ferry, Lynn’s dad came to meet us at the Tourist Info Centre. He led us down to his house in Port aux Basque where we tucked ourselves into the empty lot next to his house. What a pretty spot right across from the ocean. We discovered Canadian Tire was in Port aux Basque and because our truck was due for an oil change, we decided we had better get it done instead of trying to find another Canadian Tire somewhere else. The technician told us we needed a CV universal joint on the front driver’s side. Luckily one was in stock so we took care of that right away. We could have had a bad experience driving across Newfoundland if we hadn’t. Lynn took us on the boardwalks around the bays. The vegetation is truly amazing. Wild flag irises, bakeapples, Pitcher plants, all...
Read MoreArm of Gold
We stayed three nights at the Arm of Gold waiting for our reservation for the Newfoundland ferry. We had to book it a week ahead and the 22nd was the soonest we could get it. The Arm of Gold was highly recommended to us by several people. Bras d’Or is a pretty spot. There were always lots of RVs coming and going. There was a very pretty little walking trail down to the water and a big field where I could let Lucy run free. I did that until I found the dead rat in the grass and decided that I didn’t want her to roll around in that grass anymore! We took one day to drive the Cabot Trail and we were lucky that most of the way was clear. Our first stop was the Alexander Graham Bell Historical site. The films and exhibits were really informative. The Silver Dart was on display. We spent quite a bit of time there. Going down the far end of the loop, we ran into fog so thick that we could only see about five feet in front of the truck. It is beautiful scenery and I was glad we weren’t hauling the rig behind us. The towns along the way didn’t look like they were thriving. There were several funky little craft shops and it seemed like they were trying to turn it into an “art” drive. We spent another day at Fort Louisbourg. That was really enjoyable. Brandon had emphasized that we had to get there early so we could buy the bread so that is what we did. Glad we did, too, because the bread was really delicious. The docents did their best to stay in their 1744 characters. We got to see the black powder firing squad and the cannon fire. It is amazing that it all is a recreation and was well worth the trip. Our Discovery pass for the National Parks and Historical Sites of Canada has paid off. Pics will come with free wifi access....
Read More