Newfoundland--South to North

7/25/2019 - The Ferry to Newfoundland.  We drove from the campground in Sydney, Nova Scotia to the ferry terminal at the northern-most port of Nova Scotia.  The ferry really impressed me.  It was very big - 9 levels, with vehicle storage on the bottom 3 levels.  The staff of the ferry told me that there was 3 kilometers of parking space on the boat ( that is about 1.86 miles).  Here are my pictures of the ferry.

Driving into the belly of the ferry

We are driving into this narrow lane

The boat ride was a little over 6 hours to get to Newfoundland.  The seating was very comfortable.  We spent the time playing games and visiting.  We had lunch in their restaurant (it wasn't very good and very over priced).  But all in all, it was very interesting.  After we got off the boat, we only had about 25 miles to our next campground, Codroy Valley RV Park, owned by Alice and Dennis. 


07/26/2019 - Today is a bus tour of the Codroy Valley in the southernmost part of Newfoundland.  Our on-board guide is Alice, the owner of the campground.  She told us that she had lived her whole life in Newfoundland, and  so did her family for 6 generations.  Her parents bought a large parcel of land, and her father, who wanted a campground on the island, donated 10 acres of his land to the government for that purpose.  The government ran the campground for 30 years, and then decided to privatize the campgrounds, so gave it back to the family.  Alice and her husband, Dennis, became campground owners along with Alice's sister over 20 years ago.  They never intended that!  But they love Newfoundland, and she told us that most of the people who live there came here to visit and never left.  Newfoundlanders are called "Newfies", and they are very proud of their province.

This province is really pretty, with lush green hills, forests, mountains, and lots of water.  There are no cities (municipalities), only villages.  The tour took us through several of these villages.  Our first stop was at Chap's Garage, a private property turned into a "Memory of the 50's and 60's" by the owner, George Chap.  He has spent most of his life collecting memorabilia from those times, including a 1956 Fairlane Fordor Victoria, which he drives around town, and to car shows.  You could tell that he loved it.  We wandered through the garage and looked at the cars outside.  Here are some pictures.

A 1956 Ford Fairlane Victoria was his regular car

Lots of 50's and 60's stuff

My favorite car, the Belair

Here's a Hearse

and this is George  Chap

Our next stop was a small Catholic church with a beautiful wood interior.

Small Catholic Church-beautiful woodwork

The bus then took us to Rose Blanche, a village quite a ways down the southern coast.  The village sits on a rocky coastline.   It is truly a beautiful area.

Rose Blanche coastline

more Rose Blanche coastline

There we saw a lighthouse built of local granite in 1871--- quite unusual.  It was in operation from 1871 into the 1940's.

Rose Blanch lighthouse now

  Over time it deteriorated and after a bad storm that damaged it almost completely, it was rebuilt in 1988.

This is what it looked like in 1988 after a storm.  Only the staircase and light remained.

The hike up a steep gravel trail from the bus to the lighthouse was daunting, but possible.   I made it in my walker with the help of Tom, all the way to the top, and even to the upper levels of the lighthouse where the lighthouse keepers lived.  I could not go up into the light tower, as the stairs were too narrow  The entire walk was a gorgeous scene, including some local wild flowers, and of course, water.

The Pitcher Plant, the Provincial flower of Newfoundland

The land was covered with granite rocks, rounded by the wind.  Here is a picture of a rock that looks like praying hands.

Praying hands

Here Tom and I are at the bottom of the hill.

As we left the lighthouse site, I saw this anchor made of wood and rocks at the gift shop,

Primitive anchor

On the long ride back to the campground, Alice told us stories of her local Newfie friends:
     1) A single woman who lived her whole life in Newfoundland was getting up in years and wanted someone trustworthy to follow her final instructions.  She decided to ask the local Postmaster.  He agreed.  So she gave him her instructions along with her headstone inscription, "Born a virgin, lived a virgin, and died a virgin".  After she passed, the Postmaster went to the grave stone mason to get the headstone engraved, but he didn't have enough money to cover the cost of so many letters.  It had to be much shorter.  He went home and thought about it, but couldn't decide what to do.  The next day, he went to work, and all of a sudden he knew what to do.  He called the stone mason and had the inscription changed to read, "Returned, Unopened".
     2) It was a common occurrence for the local ladies to have a ladies night out.  They all went out and partied at the local pub.  Afterward they found themselves in the cemetery, when 2 ladies had to use a bathroom.  The first one used her own panties and left them, the second lady found a wreath and used what she needed.  The next day one husband met up with his friend and said, "The ladies cannot go out on ladies night anymore.   My wife came home without her panties".  The other man said, "My wife ended up with a card stuck in her butt that said, "Thank you for your service", signed by all the men of Firehouse 5".

We all had some good laughs.  She said that Newfoundland was known for having the sexiest citizens.  After all, what else are they going to do?  I think Alice enjoyed us as much as we enjoyed her.

That evening, back at the campground, Alice and Dennis hosted a "Screeching Ceremony".  We were brought up in groups of 10 to try and understand Dennis holler some of the local Newfie language.  None of us did very well.  Then we had to kiss a cod.  Lastly, we were given Screech, which is a locally made rum (more like white lightning).  You swallow a shot in one gulp, then you Screech.  Everyone got a certificate to prove that we had been Screeched.

Then a local band of three musicians played some local folksongs and we pounded on the "Ugly Sticks" in time with the music-- a walking stick with an ugly face mask on top and bottle caps between washers and cans on the stick.  This makes a tambourine type sound when you pound it on the ground.  A good time was had by all.

the Ugly Stick

07/27/2019 - A long driving day (286 miles) heading north in Newfoundland.  Our dogs, Penny and Lucky spend most of their time sleeping in the same bed up front, between the driver and passenger seats.


Our two travelers

We passed a beautiful large lake called Deer Lake.  It was 20 miles long, and it is NOT the biggest lake in Newfoundland.  The largest lake is called Grand Lake, but we are not going by it.

Deer Lake





We camped  in Port Aux Choix (pronounced Port-a-Shwaw) on the ocean.  The wind was blowing a gale and we could hardly stand up.  The Wagonmaster prepared dinner for all - Spaghetti and meatballs.  Then we had our driving meeting for day after tomorrow.  The end of a long driving day.


07/28/2019 - At Port Aux Choix National Historic site, a Unesco Site, we learned more about the original settlers, the French in 1604.  We had a demonstration of how the outdoor french ovens worked.  They also salted and dried fish to preserve it for winter.

French oven

Drying the salted fish

Throughout all of these demos, we had local guides or store owners explain everything.  Their Newfoundland dialect was, at times, difficult to understand.  This picture says it all.  It was actually taken off a placemat on our lunch table.

Typical Newfie sayings

After the french ovens, we drove around the town.  We spied this wooden model of an old sailing ship in the garage of a local family.  It was large enough to fill the whole double garage door.

A model ship

07/29/2019 -  An easier driving day to St. Anthony and St. Lunaire-Griquet, Newfoundland, the most northerly stop of the entire trip.  This is really out away from everything we know.  We are 1400 miles by sea from Greenland.  There is no cell service and no internet.  The people are so friendly and love to talk about their home and learn from us.

We got settled and got ready for a Viking Feast for dinner in St. Anthony.  Others in our group went out on a whale watching expedition, and actually saw 2 whales breach.  By dinner, the weather got worse--cold rain and fog.  We all car-pooled to St. Anthony (about 24 miles) from the campground to the Viking Feast.

The restaurant was built to look like the underground structures that the Vikings built, with grass on the roof.  It held about 100 people.  There were other people with us, including another RV caravan.  The restaurant staff  put on a show and served a buffet dinner.  It was pretty good.  We all sat on picnic table-style benches that sat 8 each.  The menu included Moose stew, Jigger dinner (cabbage and corned beef), rice, potatoes, salad, and some sort of fish dish.  The entertainment continued after the meal and through dessert.  We then car-pooled back to the campground.  Somehow, Tom ended up in the lead of our group of cars.  Between the fog and rain, and the pot holes, we drove pretty slow.   Just as we turned to go into our campground a big  bull moose with a good set of antlers, crossed the road in front of us.  Tom hit the brakes, and the moose sauntered across in front of us and down to the pond on our right, like it was no big deal.  He was bigger than our car!  I finally saw a moose.



07/30/2019 - Today, we car-pooled to a re-enactment of a Viking Village called Norstead Village.  The Vikings landed in Newfoundland 500 years before Christopher Columbus discovered North America.  They built a village with wood and grass roofs.  Here is the community house, where many families lived.

The community house

They also had a chapel.

The chapel

The guides explained that before any other European explorers arrived, the Vikings from the Scandinavian countries set foot in North America.   They traveled in well-made boats, held together with iron rivets.  Here is a reproduction of one of those boats.

Tom and Trish entering the boathouse,  Sorry, it was too dark to take interior pictures.

Next stop was L'Anse Aux Meadows.  This is a Unesco Historical Site.  We watched a video explaining how mankind has spread across the planet.  They believe that the oldest site for humans was in Africa, about 100,000 years ago.  They wandered north and then split - left to Europe and right to India, Russia, and China.  Explorers spread from there, but the Vikings traveled from Europe to the North America continent first, connecting the spread of mankind worldwide.  The landing in Northern Newfoundland is believed to be that connection.

The Viking routes

Back to the campground for now.  Tomorrow is another driving day.