Tag: NL

Parking lot camping (part deux) worked well. We both slept peacefully and no local ‘boy racers’ spoiled the tranquility of the place. However, it got cold. 1°C at 5:30am this morning. Propane furnace to the rescue!

We managed to get ready and be on our way before 9:00am which was nice as today will include some driving. First we headed East towards Deer Lake where we stopped for fuel and to clean the windshield of dead bugs.

Leaving Deer Lake we headed North on Hwy 430 along the ‘Viking Trail’ toward Gros Morne National Park. We turned West onto Hwy 431 towards Woody Point. This road used to be the primary road North to St Anthony, and users were required to take a ferry across Bonne Bay from Woody Point to Norris Point. Today, Hwy 430 bypasses these towns and removes the need for the ferry.

Lovely communities along the West Arm of Bonne Bay and a fishery still operates in Woody Point.

It is at Woody Point that the road turns sharply inland towards the Tablelands mountains. These are massive flattop igneous rock mountains made of some of the oldest rocks known to exist on the planet. There is still some snow clinging to the sides near the tops; however, that is all that adorns these mountains as they appear completely devoid of any plant life. Quite a sight to behold.

We stopped to walk part of the Green Garden Trail up to the top of a rise allowing us a wonderful vista out towards the Gulf of St Lawrence. In all we hiked for about an hour before returning to the van and driving to the Tablelands Trailhead.

After a light lunch we hiked along the Tablelands trail learning more about these mountains and the various rock types. We completed our walk just as a large busload of Ontarian retiree tourists arrived.

From Tablelands we headed East again back to Woody Point and then back to Hwy 430 and here we turned North to drive deeper into Gros Morne Park.

We took a short detour into Norris Point and looked back across the West Arm of Bonne Bay at Woody Point from earlier. Barb found an ice cream shop and we each enjoyed a small cone before heading back onto Hwy 430 for a short drive to our stop for the night at Green Point Campground.

The campground is operated by Parks Canada but is relatively small and as such quiet. Sheltered amongst the Spruce and Birch trees from the West wind we have a nice grassy site where there seem to be no bugs! We enjoyed a drink outdoors in the late afternoon sunshine before the clouds arrived and we retreated into the van for dinner and a quiet evening.

Tomorrow we ride in a boat!

This day started at 8:00pm yesterday when we checked in at the Marine Atlantic ferry port in North Sydney, NS. We had booked passage on the 11:15pm overnight ferry to Newfoundland. We did this in February of this year and this was the only ferry sailing today that had any availability! If you plan on traveling to Newfoundland by ferry, heed this advice and book 4-6 months in advance, especially if you are traveling in the Summer months.

Transport Canada does not permit travelers to remain in their vehicles during the crossing and as such the ferry has cabins or fully reclining ‘sleeping chairs’ that can be booked. We were waitlisted in February for a cabin. Fingers-crossed that our names are called for a cabin that someone didn’t show up for.

Ferry loading is uneventful and takes almost 2 full hours. These ferries are huge, here is what Google tells me the vehicle capacity of the ferry we are taking is:

Marine Atlantic’s MV Highlanders Ro-Pax ferry has a total vehicle capacity of 2,840 lane meters. This translates to a maximum of 570 standard passenger vehicles or 190 lorries/tractor-trailers, spread across 4 designated vehicle decks.

There was a good mix of tractor trailers (almost 2 1/2 decks) plus a full deck of cars and almost 1/2 deck of recreational vehicles.

Deck 7 is the general passenger deck with a cafe, restaurant, bar and general seating area for those that don’t have reserved cabins or sleeping chairs…… we’re still hoping!

We find a couple of chairs and although they recline, not fully. Lots of legroom and windows to look out of (albeit nighttime). There are also televisions scattered about playing a variety of shows and sports.

Shortly after 11:00pm the ferry departs having fully loaded all vehicles. We begin to hear names being called offering them upgraded sleeping accommodations. This goes on for about an hour, each time groups of names are read we await to hear ours. However, the final announcement stating that all cabins have now been sold means that we will have to make do in our semi-reclining seating for the remainder of the night.

It was a long night. We had trouble getting comfortable enough for a good sleep and so the night passes with the both of us getting just a couple of hours of sleep. 5:20am arrives, the sun is above the horizon and we begin to get ourselves organized to go to the restaurant for breakfast. A hot egg breakfast was welcomed after a mostly sleepless night.

Shortly before 7:30am we arrived in Port-aux-Basques, NL. Unloading is always easier than loading and within 20 minutes of returning to our van we were driving off of the ferry and onto Newfoundland roads.

Navigating out of town we head North about 20 minutes to find a roadside rest stop where we can have a nap. We stayed for a couple of hours catching up on missed sleep before returning to the highway and heading to Corner Brook where we plan on spending the night.

About halfway to Corner Brook Barb saw a young moose standing near the other side of the road. It was being watched by someone in a Ministry vehicle probably ensuring that it retreated into the woods rather than try to cross the highway. This is the first sighting of four items that Barb is hoping to see on this trip, the others being an iceberg, a puffin a whale. 1 down 3 to go. Sorry, no picture of the moose.

Arriving in Corner Brook we stopped by the tourist information location, but it was closed. So we headed to the Margaret Bowater Park where we parked in a shady spot and relaxed for the afternoon, still recovering from our long night at sea.

Later in the afternoon we went out for a walk about the park and then drove to the local A&W for a burger. When we returned we located to another spot within the parking area and setup for the evening. This is where we will spend the night.

We have BIG things planned for tomorrow.