Newfoundland Chapter 4

This morning we headed to Cape Spear National Historic Site, the most easterly point in North America (52 degrees West Longitude). Once again we were distracted by whales offshore, three Humpbacks this time but mostly normal spouts and occasionally we could see the whales snout as they surfaced, presumably with a mouth full of Capelin. From there we went to the Geo Center, an underground tourist attraction that describes the geology of Newfoundland and Labrador. It was much more interesting than it sounds and Carl bought a 400 million year old Trilobite fossil in the gift shop. Carl is a weird shopper. Remember the Walrus vertebrae he bought in Alaska? After the Geo Center, Sandy went shopping on Water Street in downtown St. John’s and Carl went to the Railway Museum then walked the narrow streets taking pictures of interesting buildings and doorways. We then headed for the Seafood Shop and bought a three and a half pound lobster for dinner. Life is indeed GOOD!

Today was a little bit of sightseeing and a lot of chores. Sandy cleaned and vacuumed and then we took the coach to the campground dump station then to get the propane tank filled. With that taken care of we went into St. John’s to an Internet Café and caught up on our email including getting an email to Butter from our friends Don & Sandy.

After that we fortified ourselves with fries from a Ziggy’s Peelgood truck on Water Street then headed off on a walking tour of the historic downtown area, interspersed with some shopping.

Mostly a driving day today; first stop in 150 miles is Glovertown, NL to pick up our mail. Not too much mail of interest but fun to get mail none the less. Another 40 miles brought us to Gander where we visited the Aviation Museum and saw an exhibit dedicated to Sept 11^th. On that day 47 airliners enroute to the US were diverted due to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. This town of about 3,500 people suddenly had 6,500 visitors! Every school gym and Lion’s hall was used as a shelter and hundreds of citizens turned out to cook and care for the stranded passengers. They took passengers to their homes to shower and send email to worried relatives and cooked countless thousands of meals. After Gander we turned off of the TransCanada highway heading for Twillingate. This was about the worst 70 miles of road we had driven, including Alaska; potholes and frost heaves everywhere. We finally arrived at the campground and after we got set up we were asked to move to another site. Since the new site was much bigger we didn’t mind the effort to pack up and move 150 feet!

Another foggy Newfoundland morning greeted us but the forecast rain fell through the night and had stopped by morning. We headed first to the lighthouse, anticipating it might be even foggier there. Indeed it was. The lighthouse is on a 200 foot cliff at the tip of a slim peninsula. We could hear but not see the ocean below. It was only 3 miles from the campground so we planned to return when (if) the fog lifted. We next stopped at the Twillingate Museum, one of the better local museums we have visited in Newfoundland. Lots of interesting artifacts from the late 19^th and early 20^th century. We left when the tour bus arrived and disgorged about 40 people into the tiny museum. Next stop was the Durrell Museum a few miles down the road. Not nearly as interesting as the Twillingate Museum except for one display-the Polar Bear. On March 8, 2002 a 486 pound polar bear wandered off the pack ice into town. The wildlife officials couldn’t tranquilize the bear so it had to be shot when it got too close to people (a crowd of over 300 people had formed to see the bear-that’s about 1/3 of the area population). Although Polar Bears come off the ice in Newfoundland occasionally, this was the first in the Twillingate area since 1927. Much to the surprise of the residents, two days later another bear wandered ashore. This time it was tranquilized and sent back to Labrador.

We then drove to the end of the road and hiked across the mossy fields spotted with stunted Spruce trees. In less than a mile we came to a beautiful spot overlooking the jagged rock formations in the ocean. On the way back to town we stopped at a pretty cove with three fishing shacks, called “stages” here. As we got out of the car with our cameras to snap some pictures, a man walked across the street and introduced himself. He was the owner of the stages, a retired fisherman. His name was Melvin. He encouraged us to take pictures, showed us inside the stage, his squid fishing jigs and photos of the area in the past. He talked about the demise of the cod fish stocks and showed us a picture of him hauling in a cod trap with 20,000 pounds of fish in 1956. He said the fish were so plentiful back then that many days they couldn’t fish because the plant lacked the capacity to process the fish. An interesting character, Melvin had us sign his guest book and gave us his address and asked us to send him a postcard from home. Next stop was a fish store where we got some fish & chips for lunch, then headed back to the lighthouse where the visibility was now excellent. Unfortunately the icebergs are all gone. Hopefully we’ll see more in St. Anthony which is closer to Labrador.

After dinner we went to a concert by a local musician named Steven Rogers. This talented young man played the keyboard, acoustic guitar and button accordion and sang song from gospel to Irish to Portugese waltzes, including familiar tunes and song he wrote himself. The performance space was a former church, now museum. We sat in the pews along with about 60 other people. A fun evening of local entertainment and a bargain for $7 CDN each.

Bright sunshine today so we headed for the lighthouse point to hike the trails along the cliffs. The air was crystal clear so the offshore rocks and islands could be seen crisply. Magnificent views in every direction. The trail was very steep at the start with several flights of steps built into the cliff face. Unfortunately, as it got flatter, it got wetter. When we got to the 200 yard wide meadow between the cliff and shoreline it became impassible with soft mud and several inches of standing water. Oh well, back up the hill and stairs to the top.

After lunch at the coach we went for a boat ride. Twillingate is the Iceberg Capital of the world – but only until June 30^th. There were no icebergs left in the area and whales were scarce as well. We did catch a fleeting glimpse of a Minke whale but otherwise it was a pleasant boat ride on a calm sunny day. In the evening we cleaned up the coach and did laundry.

We started the day with a run. We headed towards the nearby cove and up a trail along the cliff. After about a mile, much of it uphill, we headed back, marveling at the view. Even with the wisps of fog, Sandy said, “This might be the most beautiful place we have ever run!”

After breakfast we went to the local Internet Café, Bergs and Bytes, to catch up on email then back to the coach for lunch. We’ll be missing the wonderful Lowell Folk Festival this weekend, but we did get to experience the Twillingate Fish, Fun and Folk Festival. The parade, which featured both Twillingate fire engines and some very creative floats, was followed by the craft and concession show in the arena at 2:30. The evening consisted of the community supper at 6:00, a concert of local entertainment at 8 and a beach bonfire at 10. The supper was OK though the advertised “selection of salads” consisted of three kinds of potato salad and two kinds of macaroni salad. The concert was fun, featuring a family of talented musicians including a 14 year old step dancing, keyboard playing singer and a 13 year old drummer. Very talented folks. Unfortunately the acoustics in the arena were terrible and the vocals sounded muddy. It was also hot and humid. During the intermission they had a “Screech In” ceremony. This is a traditional Newfoundland ceremony where people from away became honorary Newfoundlanders by taking an oath in a Newfie accent, kissing a cod and drinking a straight shot of Screech Rum. The bonfire was on the beach near our campground where we had run this morning. We walked down and watched for twenty minutes as about a dozen young boys threw spruce branches and small trees into the bonfire. With that we say goodbye to Twillingate and head to our next destination in western Newfoundland. We were glad we extended our stay for the festival and one day of the festival was just right.

Today was mostly a driving day. We got rolling about 10 AM, heading for Rocky Harbor on the Newfoundland west coast. The road was mostly smooth but the wind blew at about 20 mph so the coach got a little skitterish at times when it was a cross wind. We stopped for lunch on the shore of Sandy Lake and took a short walk on the beach to stretch our legs. We then stopped for gas and some food shopping in Deer Lake. We got into the campground at 5 PM. Butter traveled well today; no hyperventilation, drooling or throwing up. She just sat and sulked under the dinette table. At the campground, most of the adjacent RVs have dogs so Butter can keep busy watching.

Rocky Harbor is right in the middle of Gros Morne National Park and we will be back here in five days to explore the park. We used this overnight stop to break up what would have been a 475 mile drive up the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. As long as we were here, we went to the visitor’s center to get maps, hiking and campground info. After supper we drove through two of the campgrounds and decided where we would camp when we returned. This park is magnificent with mountains rising straight out of the ocean and fjords that cut deeply into the coastline. We are eager to come back here though the Northern peninsula has lots to offer as well.