Brigus and Port de Grave

Friday,July 8, 2011

It was a beautiful day, 23 degrees, sunny, definitely shorts weather. Today was going to be a lazy day, but then around noon I decided I should load up my bike and go into Holyrood for a bike ride. From what we could see Newfoundland didn't have much flat land, so I have not been for many bike rides at all.  I did manage a 25 km ride along the coastline to Chapel Cove and back.  There is something about me wanting to get to the end of every road.  In Chapel Cove I found Point road which was a gravel road and then basically turned into a laneway.

Have no idea if it was someone's property or crown land, but oh well the way the Newfoundlanders are they would invite you in for tea if they saw you out walking around their property, so I certainly was not worried.  It was so beautiful and peaceful overlooking Conception Bay and Bell Island.  This was once a farm with all the old wooden fences, I absolutely loved it.  I sat for a few minutes and just enjoyed the serenity. There were a couple of long hefty hills that I could not make it up, so I got a walk in as well.  But you know what goes up must come down, my poor brakes sure took a work out.  I really wasn't seeking a thrill of going 50 kms an hour down a windy hill with no shoulders.  Biking is such a good way to explore, you can see so much and really take it all in.  I did make it back all in one piece, my legs a little more wobbly than when I started.  When I got back to camp Doug was relaxing, he had been fishing in the pond at our camp. Some pictures from my bike ride.

After resting my wobbly legs for an hour I suggested we take a drive up to Brigus and Port de Grave two small communities a fellow camper told us about.  What a treat that was.  Brigus was a wonderful little community, originally settled in 1612.  A very old town, with stone fences around many of the properties.  It was lovely just strolling around this quaint little community. Brigus was the home of Captain Bartlett who commanded Admiral Robert Peary's ship during the first expedition to the North Pole in 1909.  In 1860 a tunnel was carved out of the rock in front of Captain Bartlett's house to provide deep water access to his sailing ships. Quite a feat for that time period.

We then moseyed onto Port de Grave which took us totally by surprise, it was probably the largest fishing port we have  seen in our travels.  We watched them unload tons of caplin from a boat into huge bins with dry ice and then into a tractor trailer. 

We finally arrive back to camp around 7:30 and enjoy a nice refreshment with Terry and Nancy as we talk about our day.  We did not get a chance to cook our hamburgers, Gerard who is camped 3 sites down arrives and asked if we wanted some fresh snow crab, sure why not.  Terry and Doug go down and bring back 13 snow crab, we could not believe it. What a great evening, good company and nice a supper of cheese, crackers and snow crab accompanied by a nice glass of wine.

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Re-connecting with the friends we met in St. Barbe

Thursday, July 7, 2011

We were just going to have a “stay at home day” but then Terry and Nancy one of the couples we met at St. Barbe’s while waiting for the ferry to Labrador called and asked where we were camped they were now in the area.  They camped right beside us.  It was so nice to see them again.

We exchanged lots of stories of the sites we've seen and places we’ve been, it was great.  They needed to get a propane tank refilled so we offered to drive them into St. John’s so they didn’t have to take their camper in.  On the way into town we called Janie and Dave the other couple we met in St. Barbes that live in Paradise, just outside of St. John’s and arrange to meet up with them, like we promised.  We had time to drive down to the harbour and see the Terry Fox mile zero, and take them up to Signal Hill, before we head to Costco. We find Dave and Janies house no problem.  We have a few refreshments and go down the street to grab some supper, yes another Codfish dinner, and then back to their house. 

We had another fun visit with our 4 new friends.  It was awesome!  The next few days not much will be happening, we will have to rest up for when Amanda arrives on the 16^th.  Those 2 weeks I’m sure will be a whirlwind.

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Touring St. John's

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Today was moving day.  After breakfast we packed up and headed 5 kms down the road to try boondocking.  Well that lasted all of 5 minutes!  OMG I opened the door to the trailer to see how level we were and a gazillion black flies followed me in.  You gotta be kidding me.  We were not expecting to have black flies, we were not bothered by them at the Blue Fin.  We just looked at each other and said OK we’re outta here.  The black flies will have to feed on some other tourists.  Back we go to the Blue Fin…no black flies there! Oh boy are we turning into softies!!   One good thing about Elbroko, it so easy and quick to get setup.  After lunch we head into St. John’s to Costco to get the pictures printed for my cousins.  While we are there we might as well be tourists and check out downtown.  St. John’s is one of the oldest cities in North America and is closer to Europe than any other city in North America. 

We find a parking spot right by the Harbour and start walking along the Harbour.

There are several fishing boats docked, one large one from Baffin Island, and lots of containers being loaded on ships.  You have a good view of Signal Hill and Quidi Vidi from the Harbour. 
We walk along Water Street, which used to be the main shopping area until all the malls sprung up.  I thought it was actually doing well, considering most downtowns are pretty much deserted.  There are still lots of shops, restaurants and pubs to keep tourists busy.  Of course we have to go to George street which is pretty much pubs from end to end.  Unfortunately they are no longer the “Newfie” pubs, playing the Island music, not that we saw anyway.  We were hoping to sit and listen to some Newfoundland music and enjoy a refreshment or two. So I’m outta there, I leave Doug to rest while I head up and down the hills to explore the city. I haven’t been mountain climbing for a day or two.  St. John’s downtown is mostly all Saltbox style row houses that have been restored and colourfully painted. 

I love to see the old churches, and do find a couple that are still open as it is getting later in the afternoon.  St. Andrews United Church had a lovely large pipe organ surrounded by beautiful dark wood. The church was re-built in 1894 after the great fire destroyed the original one.

Down the street I came across St. John the Baptist Anglican Cathedral. A page meets you at the door and welcomes you to look around and take pictures.  It is absolutely beautiful.  Construction on this church began in 1847 and the cornerstone laid in 1849.  It was partially destroyed in the great fire of 1892, however what could be saved was restored including the 

sculptured arches.  That was really all I had time for, so I tried to find my way back to Doug.  He is quite happy sitting in the pub sipping on a couple of cold ones and apparently getting lots of tourist information from the waitress. I will definitely have to come back and check out a few more of the old buildings and go the “The Rooms” a museum which houses the provincial archives and artifacts.

Don't Be a Stranger!

Today was another great day!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

  

We decided to stay at the Blue Fin again today, it was raining a bit this morning, can you imagine….more rain!  We did a few loads of laundry, updated the blog and then decided we would try and find some more relatives.

Linda helped me by tracking down phone numbers for Delilah and Daphne cousins I had not seen since the early 60’s.  Delilah came to Ontario and lived with us when she was 16.  After a year or so she longed for her Newfoundland home, and returned.  We were never able to catch up with her on the last several visits to the Island that we had as a family.  But it sure was great seeing her again and meeting her husband Cecil and her son Wade.

Cecil, Delilah, Emerson, Me

Today was their 40^th anniversary and they were more than happy to spend the evening with us.  She called her brother Emerson to come down and visit with us as well.  I couldn’t believe how much he reminded me of our Uncle Shirley.  

Delilah and Emerson my cousins

Doug and I had to listen so closely to catch all the conversation.  We followed enough of it to have another awesome visit.  We had not planned on staying for supper but the afternoon just slipped away and they would not hear of us leaving before we ate. We finally tried some Mary Brown’s Chicken.  We have seen these all across the Island and had wanted to try it.  I promised to come back on Monday or Tuesday when she is off, and drop off a bunch of Mom’s old pictures that I will get printed and give to her.  I know she is one of the very young ones in several of the pictures.  Emerson was going to escort us out to the edge of town and said we should take a detour and stop in to see Daphne, Delilah and Emerson’s sister.  She was so surprised to see us as well, no one is ever expecting to have long lost relatives from Ontario stop in.  It is so overwhelming re-connecting with relatives that you have not seen for a long time. Doug is quite comfortable meeting everyone and enjoys every minute of our visits. 

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Happy Independence Day to our American Friends

Monday, July 4, 2011

  

Overlooking Conception Bay South

Two sunny days in a row, this can’t be!  It started out at 18 degrees and climbed to 21.  I actually got to wear shorts today. 

Overlooking Foxtrap

We needed to stop at the RV place and ask them about our hot water heater, which has given us a bit of a problem.  Hopefully it is all straightened out and I’m back to showering in the trailer.  We also had to go into the Home Hardware in Foxtrap today, we have a few visitors we don’t really like so it’s time to send them packing. Apparently it is not unusual to have ants, they can walk right up the hydro cord.  Our new neighbours gave us some tips and some other stuff to try.   We ran into my cousins at Home Hardware and had another great visit right in the store.  I love listening to the Newfoundlanders talk, their accents and the phrases they use are great, everyone is “My Love”, or "My Son", phrases like “yes b’y” “yes my son”,” shockin’ dat is, shockin b’y”, “stay where your at and I’ll come where you are to” are some phrases often heard.

View from our campsite

It is so amazing when you’re camping how friendly and helpful your fellow campers are.  It all starts with “What part of Ontario are you from?”  Next thing you know we are all enjoying happy hour together, which lasts longer than hour. I’m not sure why it is referred to as Happy Hour when it’s always way longer than an hour. A couple from Minnesota, a couple from Bracebridge and a couple from Saskatchewan, met a number of years ago wintering in Arizona. They have become good friends and are touring Newfoundland together.

We had a lot of good laughs and few refreshments together.  They will be moving on towards Gander tomorrow and we will be moving on to try boondocking just down the road, on a nice little pond.  We just gotta try it.  We have been casing the site out every time we drive past it.  We even stopped to talk to the previous occupants.  They said there is no problem camping along any of the ponds as long as there is room for you to get your rig in, LOL. (Our rig, yeah, we have just a tiny little rig compared to some of the monstrosities out there) Apparently it is all crown land and you see campers parked all along them.  Our friend lent us his generator so we will still be able to use all of our appliances just not all at once!  We can fill up our freshwater tank before we leave the Blue Fin.  So it should all be good. We really don’t spend a lot of time at the campsite, there are way too many roads in Newfoundland that we need to explore.  We can always come back to the Blue Fin.

Earlier today we went to the Salmonier Nature reserve and walked through the park.  We had to really search for most of the animals they were all snoozing under a log or partially hidden in the tree stumps or long grass.  They had done a great job of keeping the animals in their natural habitat and had a boardwalk through the entire park for us visitors to walk on. 

It clouded over in the evening and looked like rain. Doug managed to get our Cod cooked on the outside stove with no problem.  We even had some leftovers to share with the neighbours.  We heard last night there is an iceberg around St. Anthony that is the size of 3 football fields, we may just have to go back!  Unless it makes its way down toward Twillingate in the next 2 weeks.  That would be so awesome….stay tuned.

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Cape Spear and Signal Hill

Sunday, July 3, 2011

A beautiful sunny day, starting out at 10 and climbed to 22 degrees.  Silly me didn’t even wear shorts, only capris, not sure what I was thinking.  I guess after the awful weather we’ve had any thing that resembled summer clothes got shoved to the very back of the closet and the sweaters and longjohns front and centre.  We were headed to Cape Spear the most easterly point in North America.  The trip over was a very nice drive, up and over the hills and winding through a couple of small towns.  The coastline is absolutely beautiful.  I just love to watch the waves crashing the rocks, they are so powerful and the water along the edge a beautiful emerald green colour.

We walked along the paths that lead to the lighthouse and spy some more whales.  Boy, we’ve been lucky spotting whales it has been awesome.  We watch them for quite a while cruising along the shore.  There appeared to be a mother and her calf and a couple of other whales.  There are several whale watching boats from St. John’s harbour going past searching for whales. There are tons of trails to walk along, which will be on the list of things to do when Amanda arrives on the 16^th.  The lighthouse was built in 1836 and is one of the oldest surviving lighthouses in Newfoundland.  A gun battery was installed at Cape Spear during WW II to defend the entrance to St. John’s harbour.

Barracks and underground passages leading to the bunkers were built for the use by the troops.  We spent a few hours at Cape Spear and then head over to Signal Hill.  All the times I’ve been to Newfoundland and I have never been to the most visited spot on the Island.  I guess we were always here to visit relatives not to sight see.  There is just a small parking lot at the top of the hill so we had to circle around a few times before we found a spot.

We decided to take our lunch and sit on the wall overlooking the ocean at the Cabot Tower.  What a great spot to sit and have lunch while enjoying the amazing scenery, and the gorgeous day.  Signal Hill rises 525 ft above the narrow approach to St. John’s Harbour.  This was the site of many battles between the English and French for control of Newfoundland and Labrador and it’s fisheries. 

The Cabot Tower was built in 1897 to commemorate the 400^th anniversary of John Cabot’s discovery of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The tower contains an exhibit about the history of communications and signaling and has a great view of St. John’s.

In 1901 the first transatlantic wireless message was received by Guglielmo Marconi.  There are also several batteries built during the 18^th and 19^th centuries.


Lots more hiking trails that I’m saving to do with Amanda.  We can be mountain goats together.

We took a drive through Quidi Vidi Village and Pippy Park campground.  We haven’t decided yet if we will move into the city for a few days.  Cities really aren’t our thing.  That being said it is time for us to get out of St. John’s.  Hemi has been parked long enough, rigamortis will be setting in soon.  We decide to drive north of St. John’s to Torbay, through Flatrock around to Pouch Cove.

I wanted to go to Cape St. Francis the very tip of the peninsula, but when we headed up the gravel road it was very loose gravel, quite steep and very bumpy. We don’t want to push Hemi too much she still has to get Elbroko back to Baden. We carry on to the little village of Bauline which appeared to still have some of the smaller fishing boats.  

We then went down to Portugal Cove.  This is where we will catch the ferry over to Bell Island next week.  They actually have 2 smaller car ferries that run every 30 minutes so we will not have a problem getting over and back whenever we have finished being a tourist on the island.  Just as we were leaving the wharf we spotted more whales.  There was one right in close to shore, it was awesome.  There was even a turnoff for us this time we didn’t have to worry about obstructing traffic.  

These whales were smaller so I would imagine they are Minke whales.  They were just playing and rolling around and one even waved at me with his flipper.  Just down the road in St. Phillips we saw schools of Capelin.  They were there by the millions!  We were standing on the wharf so we could see them really well.  It certainly gave us a different view of them than when we had in Harbour Breton. We finally make it back to camp around 7:30 just in time to get our supper warmed up and enjoy a nice cup of tea before bed.

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Visiting cousins at camp

Saturday, July 2^nd, 2011

Carson and Linda

Today we are going to my cousins camp to visit for the afternoon.  We were treating everyone to a nice steak dinner so we had to go grocery shopping.  Their campground is a seasonal park and you know everyone.   

The word was out that Linda and Carson were having company from Ontario. We asked directions but of course we got them messed up and had to circle around again.  We thought we could sneak by the person who gaves us the directions so he wouldn’t know how brain dead we are, but oh no, he caught us and lead us to their camp.  

We had an awesome day playing horseshoes, even though Doug and I haven’t played for a long time.  Washers is the same idea but tossing a washer and a horseshoe are two completely different things.  Doug thought that perhaps the horse was still attached to his shoes as he had a hard time reaching the pit.  Linda and I came in 3^rd of about 8 teams, not bad for not playing for so many years.  We enjoyed visiting with everyone and hearing a few tunes on the squeezebox. The Newfoundlanders are so genuine and make you feel so welcome.  What a great day.

Don't Be a Stranger!