Day Thirteen - Iceberg, and Vikings, Dead Ahead!

The last strains of, now, Tropical Storm Irene met the western shore of Newfoundland last night. Apart from a bit of wind and a few scattered showers, we didn't see much trouble out of her... until this morning.

It was our goal to make the 1 p.m. or 6 p.m. ferry out of Newfoundland and over to Labrador. With what was left of Irene churning away from the shore, the leftover winds were making travel arrangement next to impossible.   After breaking camp, we made our way directly to the Labrador Marine office to try and see if the ships would even sail with the surf and gusts in their current state.

Upon arriving at the ferry terminal, we realized why our few phone calls had been so um... abrupt and strange.   If you have ever seen the Discover Card "Peggy" commercials, that was basically what we were working with, except it was three women in the office, when they felt like it. If you have not encountered "Peggy" here is a video sample.

After a few trips in line and crudely deciphering what was meant, we had a number and were told to call back at 1 p.m. for the current update/schedule. Here is basically how our conversation at the counter went:

me - "Hi, we were wondering about and interested in the 6pm ferry?"
lady at counter - "Yeah"
me - "Well, is it running"
lady at counter - "Here's your ticket, call back at 1... it doesn't look good"

GREAT!

Having the option of sitting in a terminal all day or finding some ancient viking dwellings, we hit the road. Before making it to the historic site, we stopped in Flowers Cover to see the lighthouse.

Flowers is apparently also home to the bus graveyard. 

L'anse aux Meadows is a National Historic Site of Canada which contains the located foundations of a viking village and a reconstructed village with re-enactors. At first, this sounded like it could be lame, but we were amazed at how interesting and well done it turned out to be. Best part of all, JD was allowed in the park with us. The site was once used by roughly 90 vikings, lead by Leif Eiriksson, who used the site as a base while exploring the Bay of St. Lawrence. The ruins were discovered in the 1960's by a historian working off of a few hunches and the directions of locals.

Our other stops for the day included a visit to the "Deep Tickle Experience" which is actually a jam company that specialized in berry preserves made from fruit found only this far north. We also made our way into St. Anthony to explore the city. Our two main discoveries were another lighthouse and icebergs. We really are in the north!

Leaving St. Anthony's a bit earlier than we wished, we blew back down the road to the ferry. By the time we arrived we noticed that there were far fewer cars in the parking lot, which was either a good or bad sign. Basically, at 4pm they had taken anyone who was standing around and were "waiting to see how this one goes" before selling tickets for the 6 o'clock voyage, which they said was now pushed back to 8:30. There was nothing to do but wait.

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant, located adjacent to the ferry terminal. At one point I popped back in to inquire about an update to find the ladies turning out all the lights. Their answer was, "we don't know anything, and won't until we get back from dinner..."

To make a long story short, we had a standby ticket for boarding the ferry. We got in line, chatted with some locals, and waited to find out our fate. Finally, the official looking man told us to "get in dat line and go up der," which we took to mean "get on the boat." We were Labrador bound, only 4 hours behind what we had expected.

Bring a Trailer - Willy's Style

Not sure what chassis, it was raining and I didn't feel like getting out to examine that closely, but I like it.

Day 12 - Up the coast of Newfoundland

Before leaving Blow Me Down Provincial Park, we took advantage of a recommended hike the park attendant had mapped out for us. It sounded great; a 1 km loop hike to a observation deck with the return path going through a stretch called Governor’s Stairway, a set of steps that passed through a cave on the shore. What Jeff did not tell us was that you could not access the cave during high tide, that it wasn’t really a cave as much as it was a stairwell on the side of a cliff, and that the hike up to the observation tower was 100% up stairs.

Putting these things aside, it was a great way to begin our day. The views from the path were beautiful although the wind at the summit was a bit overwhelming. Irene is still working her way through Quebec and we are experiencing unusual winds and temperatures due to it.

Back on the road we headed for Gros Morne National Park. A local back in St. Georges, NB had recommended the drive out to Trout River.  He had described it as looking like you were “driving on the moon.” The experience was other-worldly; looking to one side of the road there was lush green and the other the rich red dirt of the earth’s mantle. This area, known as the tablelands, was formed by the mantle being pushed up to the surface.

 

The town of Trout River was another little fishing village. There was a suggested hike to the “lighhouse.” which turned out to be a light signal, but given the winds we decided playing on the cliffs was not a bright move.

Traveling in and out of the park while driving up highway 430, we found the location of the shipwrecked S.S. Ethie. This boat crashed on the rocky shore in 1919. All passengers survived and the wreckage itself has remained to this day. Climbing down to the beach, we expected to see a few iron pieces here or there. We were shocked to see how much of the vessel is still strewn about the beach.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Newfoundland. We have found this island to be surprising, stunning and alluring. Each new province has provided us with something new and interesting; we can’t wait to see what Labrador has in store.

Engineer's Choice Awards - 5-Speed Winch

Not much more to say here, but I like his style.

Day Eleven - Planet Express

We arrived on the shore of New Foundland, which is by all intents and purposes a rock off the coast of mainland Canada, at approximately 6:30 am this morning. A little dazed after spending the night on the boat, we stumbled down to the vehicle deck and our unloading went surprising quickly. After hopping off at the first sight of grass to let the dog stretch his legs, we stopped at the visitor center. Much to Lindy’s dismay I emerged with a fresh stack of maps, books, and brochures to clutter up her side of the truck. I had also managed to get a map and list of all the lighthouses on the island from the gal at the desk, something they don’t put on the shelves, we were in business. Just up the road from the info center was Cape Ray, which just happened to have a lighthouse, and what a lighthouse. Finally a real tower, constructed of brick, not these dorky little wooden shacks with a light bulb we’d seen thus far.

Heading out of town, Lindy glanced at the map and noted a thinner, red line, that seemed to parallel the highway but follow the coast. After a few dead ends we found it, a gravel 2-track leading towards the shore, perfect. After bouncing down the track, it became apparent that ATV’s are the preferred mode of off-highway transport on the island, as all the paths leading off the road were significantly narrower than our truck. Finally, we came to a bridge, and to our disappointment, a sign that cars/trucks were prohibited and two perfectly spaced boulders to drive the point home. We turned around and headed back, found a shortcut through a creek, and hit the tarmac again.

As we crested the hill on the highway though, it became apparent that this was unlike any place we’d been before. Not only was the highway void of signage holding tourists hands to guide them to the sights, but the terrain looked like something that was out of this world. That wasn’t a ferry we were on, it was a spaceship. We were now on another planet.

We had decided to split up from Mike at the light house and meet up again further up the coast at St. George, the next semi-bold town on the map up the highway. Again and again we saw gravel roads leading straight off from the highway, and we kept ducking off to follow bits of the thin red line on the map. More and more I became suspicious that this wasn’t a former road, but actually a railroad grade. It was far too flat with smooth corners to have been a road of such a narrow width. Eventually, at a particularly interesting intersection of gravel roads in every direction, I dug up a chunk of steel that was protruding from the earth. What it is, I have no idea, any ideas railroad afficianados?

After another detour, we found ourselves in a culvert pipe under the highway, and after turning around, spotted a marker denoting this as part of the International Appalachian Trail. About that time Lindy also found a key on the map noting it as part of a “Provencial T’Railway”, mystery solved.

When we hit St. George, there wasn’t much to see, so we shot Mike a text and headed further out towards the cape. We stopped at our first real roadside attraction of the trip, an Alpaca farm on the cliffs, right on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Lindy found a hat, or toque, as the local girl at the desk corrected her, and we proceeded on towards the Cape. At some point we decided that the peninsula that was north of the cape, complete with ~15km of unpaved road, would certainly be more interesting. What we found there was awesome, at least in our minds.

Dropping down the hill we saw a fishing town, but unlike all the ones we’d been through the days before, it was completely empty. There were relatively modern vessels, and some recent signage, but everything else could have been out of the earlier part of the century. There were empty shacks all up and down the “road” that went towards the point, and gorgeous views of the sea and the mainland. Since it was close to lunchtime we had ourselves a picnic and walked the area before taking some photos and heading back out.

We set our target for the night at Blow Me Down Provencial Park. Make all the cracks you want about the name, but it was a nice campground set near the coast after a beautiful drive along the bay. Eventually, Mike finally joined us and we fixed our dinner on the campfire.We had pizza pockets Lindy fixed in the pie iron and Mike grilled steak over the grate on the fire pit. We hunkered down for the impending passing of tropical storm Irene and dozed off.