Newfoundland – Part I

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July 9, 2019 – July 20, 2019

The ferry arrived to the island of Newfoundland just as the sun was rising. It had been a long night, neither of us really sleeping much on the ferry despite the ample leg room and comfortable, semi-reclining chairs. We had originally thought that we would get a campsite close to the ferry for the day and then head the next morning to Stephenville in order to take Piper to the vet, but as we drove off the ferry, Derek said he felt pretty good, so we drove the 165 km to Stephenville.

Our first view of Newfoundland from the ferry……this is just a small peninsula of a very large island.

The vet examined Piper and determined that she would need to be put under and have the tooth extracted. We set up an appointment for the following day. As it turns out, X-rays showed that Piper actually had 3 broken teeth; two back molars and one small tooth in the lower jaw. Surgery went well, and after paying the equivalent of many (oh so many kms worth) tanks of diesel, we helped our drug-drowsy doggy into the truck and began our tour of Newfoundland.

We hadn’t planned on visiting the town of Burgeo (the 150 km road to the town ends at the coast requiring backtracking to get anywhere else in Newfoundland), but friendly locals in Stephenville convinced us that the side trip would be worth it.

Caribou in the tundra-like environs on the way to Burgeo.
Approaching Burgeo and the coast.
The vista at Burgeo.
There, apparently, are 365 islands within 5 miles of Burgeo, one for each day of the year. How fun would it be to have a canoe or a kayak here!
The town was larger than we had expected, although in this picture you can only see a few of the homes. There is a ferry here that one can take to remote communities along the south coast of Newfoundland.
Sandbanks Provincial Park, just west of Burgeo. What a paradise!
We were told that swimming here is not a good idea…the water is cold, and there are sharks!
The water was crystal clear.
There were several kilometres of hiking paths along the shore, but you did need to keep an eye on the tide schedules as some trails disappeared at high tide.

Next, we headed to Blow Me Down Provincial Park….love some of the place names on the east coast of Canada.

Another caribou. We kept seeing roadside warning signs to watch for moose, and every local we talked to warned us about moose along the highway, but all we kept seeing were caribou……maybe these “Newfoundland moose sightings” are some kind of Newfoundlander joke played on tourists….
The first view point of the hike that took off from the provincial camping site.
The end of the trail.
Harbour on the coast near Blow Me Down Provincial Park
The rugged west coast of Newfoundland. Again, look at how clear that water is!
Hiking outside of the provincial park
We did a short but scenic hike at Bottle Cove.
The dam at Bishop Fall’s. A local told us about a flood event where the water was flowing over the infrastructure seen in this picture, damaging, beyond repair, many of the nearby homes.
The lupins were in bloom all over the island.

We spent a couple of days in Twillingate hoping that we might see an iceberg float by, but we were a little too late in the season. We did go to a dinner theatre where locals sang and performed comedy skits while we dined on our choice of cod, lobster, salmon or chicken. The owner of the theatre had been a construction contractor in Alberta for many years, and upon his return to Twillingate, had vowed to create jobs in his home town community. There is now a dinner theatre, a fish market, water side rental cottages and heli-tours, all as a result of this one man’s initiative. They also sell 50/50 tickets over the tourist season at the dinner theatre, the proceeds of which are used to purchase Christmas hampers for locals in need…last year, despite the tickets being delayed due to a printing error, they raised close to $20,000 to help make Christmas a little happier for many people. Amazing the effect one determined individual can have on a community.

We drove to Newtown, know as the Venice of Newfoundland, as the town is built on a series of islands.
The church and cemetery at Newtown….I love this picture!
We camped at Terra Nova National Park on our way to the capital, St. John’s. This is a pod that you could rent within the park to spend an evening in luxury…we, of course, spent the evening in our camper near by. It was very rainy so we opted out of any of the several hikes in the park and continued on to St. John’s.

We made our way to St. John’s, a wonderful little city full of brightly coloured character homes. There we visited Signal Hill, a Park’s Canada Historic Site. Fortifications were built here in the mid 17th century and the final battle of the Seven Years War between the French and the British took place in this location in 1762.

Construction of the Cabot Tower on Signal Hill began in 1897 to commemorate the 400 year anniversary of the landing of John Cabot.
More Park’s Canada red chairs. It was incredibly windy while we were here.
Looking down on the harbour and the city of St. John’s.
The lighthouse across “the narrows” at the entrance to the harbour. We were able to see whales in the ocean below.
Derek and Piper on the hiking path’s around Signal hill, with the Cabot Tower and the harbour in the background.
We did quite a long loop trail, and to get back to our vehicle we walked in and among these colourful homes and shops along the harbour.

We both really enjoyed St. John’s. It is a friendly, historic city with great hiking right within the city. We had decent weather while we were there, however we did talk to a young woman who had moved to the city recently from Ontario, and she told us that the summers are very short and that the winters can be harsh. We felt fortunate to have seen this beautiful city in the sunshine, and we could have stayed a few more days, but more of Newfoundland was waiting to be enjoyed and so we packed up and headed south.

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