Pictures from Flowers cove

Pictures from St Anthony

pictures from west Newfoundland

Tipical fishing harbor we're seeing many of these and they are all beautiful.
An old abanded light house above Rocky Harbor, We had a long hike to reach it passing a garden deep in the woods on the way.
Lobster traps along the road, lots of them especially on the west coast.

June 23,
We left Rocky Harbour at Gros Morne national Park and headed north to iceberg country on Saturday June 13th. The ride up the coast of the Gulf of St Lawrence was another of those with a picture around every corner. The land is unspoiled here, just clear, blue water behind a rocky coast with a fishing village sprinkled in now and then for interest. We’re in moose country now and they are making an appearance every now and then along the road. If they step back into the forest there is no way you could see them as the trees are sooo thick. The people plant gardens along the roads anywhere they can find a spot. The soil looks dark and rich, they are all fenced in to keep the moose from enjoying their work.
It was a 5 hour drive from Rocky Harbour to St Anthony where we stayed at Triple Falls RV Park. We went to Fishing Point to view icebergs and we weren’t disappointed. There were several big ones right out there in front of us. There are three names for icebergs around here. A bergy bit is about the size of a car, while a growler is the size of a house and a genuine berg can rise 200 feet out of the water. Only 1/10 of an iceberg is visible above the water, makes it hard to imagine what they look like if we could see all. We were told the locals go out and gather up chunks when they break apart, to use in their drinks. Imagine drinking 10,000 year old water. Some of the bergs are a bluish color, caused by melting and re freezing, others are stark white. They have the water bottled in the gift shop.
The clerk at the gift shop said the whales were making appearances in the harbour and we should come back tomorrow. They are chasing small fish called capelin. We ate dinner there at the lighthouse keepers house, now a restaurant, recommended by Frommer’s and a list of other publications. Our other choice for dinner would have been a celebration of the icebergs which was held in a sod building just down from Lightkeepers. I called for the menu, it was traditional Newfoundland food, Jigs dinner, which is salt beef and cabbage with a few other veggies thrown in, and moose stew, rice and a shrimp casserole. I had been pre warned about the Jigs dinner so I think we made the right choice. We went back the next morning hoping to see whales but the fog was too thick to see anything.
Our trip to L’Anse au Meadows was a step into the Viking world, where we walked on the land the Vikings settled over 1000 years agio. They have excavated the old sites and built replicas where costumed Vikings show us a bit of life 1000 years agio. Norm donned a helmet and shield, see picture. Life sure must have been tough on this rock in the winter! In the summer they lived on the bountiful cod, seal, and whale.
On to Roddickton, the “Moose Capitol of the World” where the main industry has been lumber, however with the close of the pulpwood plants the lumber industry has come to a standstill. The municipal building had a very nice display of the area attractions along with a stuffed moose, one of two we saw at the “Moose Capitol of the World”. The town is trying to turn to tourism for the economy since the large lumber mill burned. We hiked to an underground salmon pool, where we watched salmon, swimming upstream, disappear in an underground tunnel through the rock and reappear in about ¼ mile where there was another pool and the stream went underground again. There were fly fishermen trying their luck at catching one of the 5 they can bag for the season.
We met Wilson, a friendly local who directed us to our parking spot for the next two nights at the ice hockey rink. He said most people here live off the land, on moose fish, berries, and gardens, and they pay 200 dollars for the right to cut 8 cords of wood per family for heat.
We observed teenagers swimming in a stream, and ask Wilson if it was common to swim in 55-60 degree weather. I thought it was just boys being boys trying to impress the girls, but we were gone for several hours and they were still swimming when we returned. Wilson said the ice just went out of that stream 2 weeks prior, but that was common for them to be swimming. Again I say these are a hardy bunch!
On the way to Conche we drove through a marble vein and the road was made of marble stones, they no longer mine the marble but it is said to be very fine quality marble. We spoke with a fisherman at the dock and he pointed out a whale in the harbour. He offered to take us out in his boat but we declined. The Newfoundland people are super friendly, and down to earth!
We are heading west now to take the ferry to Labrador.
Hugs to you all
Lois

June 11, 2009
We’ve moved up the road about 85 miles to Kippens, where we will explore Port Au Port Peninsula for 2 days. Right out of the campground we found an Alpaca farm with lovely yarn and hand made crafts. The gal in the store said her husband is a fisherman and all of his catch goes to Boston. The lobster fisherman are having a rough year because of the recession, only getting 2.50 per pound and on top of that the catch is down, hardly making it worth going out. Their season is over next week and some of them are pulling their traps in now.
It’s a rainy day and there is a Walmart in Stephensville where we stocked up on groceries. I’ve heard comments about Walmart being here and all their money going to the states, however there aren’t many stores to shop in and I’m sure some are very happy to have it here.
June 13
We’re on the move again, this time to Rocky Harbour in Gros Morne National Park.
We got a better deal if we stayed for the week so this will be our home until Sat the 20th.
Sadly, Diane and Bob will be leaving us after 3 days here as their time is limited and in order to see as much as possible they are heading east and not going to Labradore or St Anthonys to see the icebergs. Hopefully they will see some at Twillingate.
The lobster pound in town supplied us with fresh meat and we cooked out almost every night. The price of lobster here is 4.99 per pound, I tried the cod. They insisted we buy some pork fat and Nufie flour to fry the cod in. It was good.
We toured Corner Brook area with Diane and Bob. It is a fair size city with some industry. There is a huge paper mill there I hope we can tour on the way back through. We took scenic route 450 out along Humber Arm stopping at Blow Me Down Provincial Park for some more spectacular scenery. I’m glad we didn’t try to camp here as the sites are too tight for us. Everywhere we go we are enjoying these small fish camps with there brightly colored buildings and crab and lobster pots setting outside.
The next day, another road trip to Trout River where we saw hand knitted mittens and socks hanging on lines for sale. I might have bought some socks but they are far too heavy for Florida!
We stopped at Bakers Beach and prospected for colorful stones. Norm has a vase filled with shells from Baja California on his desk and plans to put one with Newfoundland rocks beside it. There is also a fishing camp there and we stopped to ask a fellow working on his rope if they ever sold their catch there. He said no, they had brought all the traps in yesterday and are done for the season. He ask us to stay and chat awhile as he had nothing more pressing to do. He invited us into is shed and showed us a claw from a 16 lb lobster; and took us to another shed where he had half the bones of a Minkie Whale on display, another fisherman had the other half. He then invited us into his summer home, he also has a home n Rocky Harbour, to see pictures of other big lobsters and a caribou herd in Labrador. We ask if he had ever been to Pennsylvania and he said he hasn’t been very far from home. We really enjoyed our visit with this genuine friendly native Newfoundlander.
Tomorrow we move North, I just heard from Bob and Diane and they have seen house size icebergs and one moose. We saw our first moose yesterday when we drove north to Cow Head. It was just munching on trees by the side of the road, when we moved a little closer it slowly moved into the thick woods. We also took a hike to an old light house there. We walked through the woods to the top of a mountain and deep in the woods there was a small garden. The view at the top was worth the walk!
Take care
Check out the pics
Lois

pictures from Newfoundland

Rose Blanche Light
This is a typical fishing village in Newfoundland Rose Blanche.

Norm and Mickey on our lonf hike to the Gulf of St Lawrence.

Ferry from Sydney Nova Scotia to Port aux Basques Newfoundland

The Jokers on the ferry

The view comming into Newfoundland (rymes with understand)

Frank driving on the ferry