Tag: newfoundland

Day 4: Western Brook Pond Boat Tour

July 13, 2013
Newfoundland2013

Today was the Western Brook Pond boat tour. The Western Brook Pond is a glacier carved land-locked fjord. From the parking lot it is a 3 km walk to the boat dock.

The trail is fairly easy.

A lot of wildflowers along the way.

It crosses bogs.

And small rivers.

A map at the dock. The highway is the line on the left and the dot on the left edge of the pond is the dock. The tour travels all the way to the narrow end.

A graphic for those tourists who are familiar with the CN Tower.

The tour was 2 hours in length.

Entering the fjord.

The weather was perfect, we did the 10:00 am tour.

It just rises out of the water.

All kinds of cameras on board.

The view heading into the fjord.

One of the many waterfalls.

I have been looking forward to this since we first decided to go to Gros Morne and it didn’t disappoint.

The remnants of a rock slide in 1994 that occurred while a boat tour was out on the water.

Another waterfall high up.

Looking back from where we came.

The boat was turning so everyone could see the waterfalls.

Claudia taking shelter from the sun.

Getting close to the tip.

A small dock, if you have a hiking permit, they will drop you off and you can start the long traverse hike from there.

Heading back.

The girls.

This tour was great, definitely a must do if you are ever in Gros Morne.

Claudia having a little nap.

The girls on the red chairs. Parks Canada has placed 18 sets of red muskoka chairs around Gros Morne to celebrate the 40th birthday of the park.

A nice view of the Western Brook Pond.

We stopped for lunch at the site of the S.S. Ethie shipwreck site.

The steamship went down December 11th, 1919. All 92 passengers on board survived.

The girls have been having a great time.

We played a game of knock the rocks off the log.

Found this sea sac stuck to one of the rocks.

On the way back to the cottage we found another set of red chairs that Susan had spotted the day before.

This will probably beome our new blog photo.

The end to another day in Gros Morne.

Day 3: Lobster Cove, Coastal Trail, and Shallow Bay

July 12, 2013
Newfoundland2013

Day 3 started out as a dark cloudy day threatening rain, but by noon the skies had cleared and it turned into a great day. We headed for a couple of the trails. The first stop was Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse, just north of Rocky Harbour. There is a lighthouse that was built in 1897.

As you can see from the sky, it was a perfect day.

The views out to the Gulf of the St Lawrence are amazing.

Looking back towards Rocky Harbour.

These pine cones were growing straight up.

The girls up at the base of the lighthouse.

Angela on her way down.

Lots of wildflowers.

Walking down to another viewpoint.

The next stop was the Coastal Trail. The mouth of the Bakers Brook.

Along the Coastal Trail.

This is coastal Tuckamore. Tuckamore looks like thick bush or forest.

But once you get inside, it like going into Narnia.

The girls in the Tuckamore.

Angela with her stick.

The Coastal Trail was pretty empty, we passed a few people.

Angela holding up a lobster trap that had washed up on shore.

Heading back.

Windswept tree branches.

The next stop was Shallow Bay up near Cow Head. On the right you can see an old guy out swimming.

There were sand dunes at the left end of the beach. Most of the shoreline is rock, but this was a pretty long stretch of beach.

Looking toward the dunes area.

On the way back we stopped at Broom Point. It is a fishing exhibit.

The Mudge Family donated the fish store and cabin to the park. They fished here from spring to fall from the 1940’s to early 70’s. It was three brothers and their families that lived in the single cabin.

Inside the fish store they has old lobster traps, boats, and nets that were all handmade by the Mudge families. The park guy showed us how to prepare a cod for salting with a stuffed cod with velcro parts.

Gillian trying out a rocking chair made of an old barrel.

The fish store (like a barn for fishing).

The girls trying to find marshmallow sticks.

Some floats for marking the traps.

At the end of the day we had a fire back at the cottage.

We are staying at Bottom Brook Cottages, here is the brook right next to the cottage.

The end of another day in Newfoundland. Going…

…going….

…gone.

Our drive today was fairly short, spending more time out of the car than in. A. Rocky Harbour B. Lobster Cove Head C. Cow Head

Day 2: Gros Morne

July 11, 2013
Newfoundland2013

We headed into Gros Morne National Park today. We have a cottage booked in Rocky Harbour.

This was our first stop at one of the lookouts.

Our ride, a Grand Caravan.

Angela catching a ride with Susan.

Our cottage wasn’t quite ready, so we dropped off our food in the fridge and headed to the Visitor Centre.

Gillian with a couple of her buddies.

Angela scratching the bears nose.

A short drive from there was Norris Point.

We’re hoping to do a sea kayak tour later in the week.

So far there hasn’t been a lot of people which has been nice.

Claudia on her post.

Girls on the beach.

Norris Point, it was cloudy most of the day, but the rain held out until later in the evening.

Some jellyfish in the water.

Claudia at the end of the pier.

We did the aquarium tour at the Bonne Bay Marine Station. The Marine Station is marine ecology research and teaching facility run by Memorial University of Newfoundland in St.John’s. The tour guides are students from the university. Our guide was studying marine biology who was originally from Whitby, ON. Here she is showing the girls a giant hermit crab.

Gillian holding the hermit crab.

Here she is showing us how to tell the difference between male and female snow crabs. This was a female, they have a bigger abdomen coverings.

A male snow crab.

Everyone touching a sea star.

These are the tanks they have at the aquarium.

They had a bunch of different lobsters. This was an orange lobster.

Including a rare blue lobster. The odds of catching a blue lobster is 1 in 2 million.

Another lobster, she said it was an albino, but it seems to have some colour.

There was also a touch tank that had different creatures in it.

A sea anemone caught a fish.

Gillian picking up a spider crab.

Claudia with a sea star.

This is the view across the road from the cottage.

Claudia picking up rocks.

Gillian checking out the view.

When Claudia was down at the water she discovered there was sea glass.

Next thing you knew, we were all down there looking.

Some of my early finds, lots of blue sea glass, but the others didn’t seem as polished. We left a lot behind as they needed more time.

The tide was going out while we were down there.

Angela showing something?

It was good start to our Gros Morne adventure.

Our drive today. A. Deer Lake B. Rocky Harbour C. Norris Point

Day 1: I’se the B’y…

July 10, 2013
Newfoundland2013

We began our epic (?) vacation today heading for The Rock. It was an early start, heading to Pearson for our 6:30 am flight. Here are the girls in the Maple Leaf Lounge.

We flew to St John’s via a connection in Halifax.

yyz-yhz-yyt-map

Then it was a long drive to Deer Lake for the night. The girls in the back of the van after leaving Clarenville for a lunch break.

An interactive Google Map of our drive on Day 1. A. St John’s B. Deer Lake

Newfoundland Blog Posts

July 10, 2013
Newfoundland2013

Our Newfoundland Epic-Adventure chronological blog posts can be found here. Scroll down for the latest post.

Busy Time of Year

June 22, 2013
RainwaterWork Posts

It was a busy couple of weeks leading up to the end of the school year. The girls went to the Taylor Swift concert at the Rogers Centre with Melissa on the Friday. The next day we dropped Angela and Claudia off at their Pathfinder Camp for a couple of days. I was in Stephenville, Newfoundland for work for a few days. Only in small towns do you find this many signs on a single storefront. The bookkeeping is the door on the left, but rest is the pub, laundromat, tattoo and denture clinic.

Angela and Gillian were into exam week and Claudia was coasting to the end of the year. Angela and Claudia both finished the year with honours, congratulations to the girls.

Newfoundland 2013

January 21, 2013
Newfoundland2013

We have booked our summer vacation to Newfoundland. We are flying to St. John’s (cashed in my Aeroplan miles) and renting a van to tour the island. We are heading to the west side to stay in Gros Morne National Park, then making our way back to the east with a stop in Herring Neck, up near the New World Islands, and then a couple of days in St. John’s.

A Week On The Rock: Part 2

December 7, 2012
Work Posts

I was back in Newfoundland this past week to upgrade one of our sites near Head of Bay D’Espoir-Milltown. It is about a 3 hour drive from Gander.

The weather for most of the week was overcast and light rain/mist. We arrived to find out that there would be no power at the site from 7:30am – 4:30pm everyday. The site is located on Newfoundland Labrador Hydro property and they were replacing some of the power lines in the area the site was. When I made the arrangements a few weeks ago to come, they forgot to mention this. They did arrange for us to borrow a generator, but still not ideal. In the end we were without power on Tuesday and Friday, and they cut the power further along on Wed/Thurs. This was the view from my motel room.

The Vancor Motel is the only accommodations in the area. It also has the only restaurant in town.

On Friday, the temperature dropped and the winds picked up, making for a more pleasant day with some blue skies.

There were even patches of sun.

Our site is located next to the dam. We are behind the fenced area and the sign that says “Danger, Keep Out, Access Beyond This Point May Result in Drowning”.

The side of the dam.

I saw this place when we had arrived in Gander, so when we came back we headed there for lunch. Inside there was a sign “Reduced Menu Available”, that didn’t mean the prices were cheaper, it meant there were only a couple of items on the menu available. It was an odd restaurant, it looked like they had converted from a fast food type to a sit down. When we paid, I noticed the date on the licence was Nov 30th, 2012. The place had been open less than a week. A google search indicates this use to be a KFC, while we were there a couple of people had come in looking for KFC. The lady that owns this and 10 other KFC restaurants in Newfoundland decided to not renew her KFC franchises and is converting them all to Oppy’s home cooking restaurants. Will have to see if these catch on.

As you can see in the picture there was snow in Gander, along with winds and ice. My flight was delayed leaving Gander by about 45 minutes, not good when I only had an hour for my connection in St John’s. I walked off the plane in St John’s and walked right on the plane to Halifax-Toronto. This should be it for traveling until the new year.

A Week On The Rock

November 11, 2012
Work Posts

I spent 6 days out in Newfoundland and Labrador the past week. This trip completed the missing piece to my 2012 Canada puzzle. In this calendar year I have visited all 10 provinces (and one territory) either through work or pleasure. I left Monday for Stephenville, NL via Halifax and Deer Lake.

I was resolving problems at our site in Stephenville on Tuesday morning and then it was a drive back to Deer Lake to meet up with one of our contractors who was identifying possible new sites to replace some of our existing ones. It rained all morning in Stephenville, but started to let up around noon. Do you think this company might have a little conflict of interest? What better way to boost the first part of their business name than delaying the second part of their business name.

Stephenville is the site of Earnest Harmon AFB which was run by the Americans from 1941 to 1966 when it closed. The airport is still operational, but there is no major airline that services it.

My drive back to Deer Lake turned out to be a sunny drive once I reached the Corner Brook area. This is Breakfast Mountain

Legend has it that Shellbird Island, at the base of the mountain is the location of treasure buried by pirates. It is watched over by “The Old Man”, whose features are clearly seen etched in the side of the cliff.

Heading into Deer Lake.

On Wednesday it was out to the Grand Falls-Windsor area to look at some new locations. This was north of Bishop’s Falls at the water treatment plant. The beaver dam had flooded the road.

Again we had great weather, but knowing we were headed to snow in Goose Bay.

Heading back to Deer Lake after a day touring central Newfoundland.

It was an early flight from Deer Lake to Goose Bay via Halifax and St John’s.

Landed around noon and got off the plane to 24 cm of snow on the ground.

Most of it fell as wet snow and was still clinging to the trees.

The temperatures were around -5 most of the day.

The bridge crossing the Churchill River, this the Trans Labrador Highway.

Looking across the valley towards the old Pinetree Radar site.

The Churchill River.

On Friday there was another 10 cm of snow, wasn’t sure if my flight would get out. Looking out my hotel room around noon.

I had a late flight which left 5 minutes early but arrived in St. John’s 30 minutes late, due to de-icing and the head winds.  I spent about 7 hours in St. John’s, before I had to be up and back at the airport for my flight to Halifax.

I arrived in Halifax to sunny skies. A plane going through de-icing. My flights were on time and I was home by 11:00 am on Saturday morning.