Big Fish and "The Birds" "The Birds"

We left St John's and headed 45 minutes south to Beauline East. Our camp spot was on the edge of a cliff overlooking the bay. This was very handy as we could set up our lawn chairs and watch the whales feeding.

South end of a North bound Whale

Just hanging out

Unfortunately we never did see a whale "Breach". We probably saw 25-30 different whales. Humpback and Minke were the most common. There was a bumper crop of food for the whales so it will be interesting to see if the population increases over the next couple years. From Beauline we traveled on the Irish loop to St Brides. Now then this was a long run as there were no campsites between these two points and the roads were as bad as we have been on. 13 km south of St Brides is the Cape St Mary Ecological Reserve. The write up we saw said we would get a "close encounter "with the birds. Well they were not lying. You walk about 1 km from the information centre to a point where there are about 100,000 birds nesting. Yup 100,000!!

  

June's glad the wind is behind her blowing the smell away.

Gannets 2 of the 70,000

Keeping the romance alive 

Lunch Time

The Gannets were the prime species of birds but there were others.

Murres protecting their young.

The Murres looked like a cousin to the Penguin with a noticeable difference, they could fly. There were thousands of them all with their backs to the water as they shielded their young from predators 

Razor bills

We never saw any Razor Bill chicks. The razor Bill is very similar to the Murres but they have a noticeably different bill and a white stripe on the tips of their wings.

Gulls with chicks at different stages

There were at least three species of "Gulls" all nesting in the same area. The continuous noise of the birds communicating and the smell of the waste was very noticeable. We stayed here for about 3 hours and Kelly took about 400 pictures and in all that time Kelly got about a dime size splat of bird dropping on him. Not bad for 100,000 birds.

The next day we traveled to Argentia for the 16 hour ferry ride back to North Sydney Nova Scotia. We were on a waiting list and managed to get a room with 4 bunk beds as the ferry left at 5 pm and arrived at 9:30 am. The Ferry is part cruise ship part ferry and part freighter. An interesting juggling act. The food was good and the room c/w shower was clean. Whiskers the cat was not so happy but within 4 hours of driving down the highway again she forgave June. It is just over 900 km from the Port Aux Basque ferry terminal to St John's and we put just over 5,000 km on. We saw quite a bit of the Island but not enough as we hope to go back again in two years.

Take care to you all and thank-you again for reading this

Jelly Bean houses and old Forts

Hi all we are back in Nova Scotia and I am 2 Blog postings behind as the last places had no internet. So here is the first one. 
We spent 4 days in and around St. John's. We wondered around the town checking out "the scene". On George street there is a section where there are about 37 bars over three 3 blocks. Not bad. The Downtown is growing with cranes everywhere as high rises are a growing.

Jelly Bean houses

More Jelly Beans

So of the old houses are still around and a lot of the new developments have the adopted the "old "paint styles.

The "Republic of Doyle" Pub

Signal Hill at the entrance to St John's Harbour

Fort Amherst and Light House on opposite side of Harbour entrance.

Downtown St John's from Signal Hill

The Inner Harbour

Cape Spear Light house

Fort Amherst was very active up to the late 1800's and then again during the world wars. Cape Spear had 2 "Disappearing" guns at the point that were used in World War 2 as German submarines were known to frequent the waters to try and stop supplies on route to England. The original Lighthouse is still there even though they built a new one 50 years ago. In Victoria we have souvenir shops on every corner but in St John's not so much. In stead of souvenir shops there are bars/pub which is great for partying but no so much for family tourist.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more to come.

Old stuff different names and follow that ATV

Hello everyone. Anyone who read our last blog may have noticed it ended rather abruptly. Sorry about that, We have been donating blood for years, voluntarily that is. As Kelly was finishing the last blog,sitting outside the campground office, a horde of blood sucking flying objects appeared and it was very difficult to type and swat bugs at the same time. Since our last post we have traveled from Trinity East to Green's Harbour and then on to Brigus. Next door to Brigus is Cupids and they have found evidence of year round British settlements there dating back to 1610. We drove around the Peninsula through towns like Dildo, Hearts Delight, Hearts Desire, Hearts Content, New Perlican and then 40 km later Old Perlican. When we got to Old Perlican on route to Grates Cove, the northern tip of the peninsula, we zigged when we should have zagged. We ended up on a gravel road that kind of ended in Daniel's Cove. We were about to turn around when a local on an ATV said we should be able to drive through and to just follow him. So we did.

I wonder how deep it is.

Our Turn

"Kelly don't stop Now"

We made it through with only a few new scratches on the truck. 40 years ago most of our friends had 4x4's and would do this stuff all the time, I guess we are just a little slow.

When we got to Grates Cove we hiked up this half rock half boardwalk trail to a lookout over the town and surrounding area and on a sunny day it was awesome.

Green greens and Rock.......... Wow

All over the Island the use Lupine as the "Ditch Flower". It just seems to grow everywhere.

As we drove south we went through Victoria, not quite the same as home but it sure made us think of it.

I think all 45 residents helped make the sign.

Unfortunately it was late in the day when we took this photo as the rock is a deep red and then the bright green grass on top is quite breathtaking.

There is tons of the historical type stuff here, Hearts Content Cable Station where in 1866 the first trans- Atlantic cable joins Europe and North America, Harbour Grace Airfield where Amelia Earhart's 1932 Trans-Atlantic flight departed from. The airfield was built in 1927 and is the oldest surviving airfield in Canada. The list goes on and on as this was also a hot bed of action in the mid to late 1700's as the French and English fought for control of the cod fishery. All this is very interesting but right now we just need to see more Moose.

Thank-you once again for reading our blog. It does give us a warm fuzzy knowing you are travelling "with us".

Junkel 

Hikes Whales and Puffins....Oh MY

Hi all July 11th was a very busy day for June and Kelly. We started the day with a 5.3km hike called the Skerwink Trail. In August of 2003 Travel and Leisure magazine listed it as one of the 35 best walks in  North America and Europe. It was most excellent. We took our time as June's foot is still recovering. At the 1.5 km point we came to Dogfish Cove and spent 45 minutes in the fog watching 5-6 whales feeding quite close to shore. 

The Trail Map

There She Eats

Lots of Rock stacks like these ones

I guess this is why it was rated Moderate to Difficult

We took longer than the 1.5 hours suggested but it was worth it. We left the trail head and decided to head up to Bonavista point. As we were leaving we were talking to a couple from Kenora who told us about Elliston where they had been yesterday and the were able to get quite close to Puffins. Well that was it Kelly has always wanted to see Puffin so Elliston here we come. The road off the highway was probably the worst stretch of road we have been on in the Maritimes and that is saying something, but this is what we saw.

Puffins on the Rocks

"You looking for Me?"

Sometimes you have to stop and smell the flowers.

Even a bonus a baby sea gull

We finally made it to the point and saw where John Cabot landed about 9pm and then home. what a day!!!!!!!

Dam Fishers Ice cubes and Orca BI-Coastal

Today finds us in Trinity East. The last few days we have stayed where cell phone coverage was a bonus so forget about WiFi. On July 4th we were in Bishop's Falls. We went for a little exploratory evening drive around as the day time temperature was 34 degrees and the humidity was about 90%. We found the falls and a down stream from the falls there were about 40 people fishing.

Hydro electric to the right of the falls

Only one section of the river

We moved on to Twillingate which is the "Iceberg Capitol of The world". We met back up with Del and Gloria and spent three days checking things out.

View from our campsite.

The highlight of our time here was the boat tour with "The Icebergman." It was a 2 hour tour of the Icebergs and hopefully a whale or two. The Icebergman (Cecile) was a happy guy as there were lots of bergs to choose from. Last season they had 3 Icebergs the whole season and when we left the bay there were about 35 Icebergs as big as B.C. Place or bigger within a 3 mile radius. 

This one ran aground in 275 feet of water

Let the melting begin

And these were Small ones.

We were about half way through our tour when the captain got a cell call and we changed directions and headed out to sea. After about 10 minutes we could see the first dorsal fins and for the next 30 minutes we followed a pod of about 8 Orcas around. Yup we are now Bi-Coastal as we have seen both Pacific and Atlantic Orcas.

Orcas and Icebergs........May never see that again

Family affair.

Look at me I can make rainbows!!

The weather was great, the scenery was superb and the company fantastic or as my grandfather use to say "Wonder what the poor people are doing." 

We left Twillingate and spent two nights in the Terra Nova National park. We will try and update you when WiFi is available next. We hope you are all happy and healthy and thanks for reading our ramblings.  

Walks Scenery and a Boat Ride

We did a couple of hikes over the last few days. While we were in St. Anthony we beat "Daredevil Trail." Daredevil trail is 476 steps up the side of a hill overlooking the town and harbour of St. Anthony. It was the first real test of June's damaged left foot. June has now gone just about a week without crutches and she wanted to try this hike. She managed to climb up the stairs without to much difficulty but she had to "2 step" her way down. On the way down a young lady who must have been training for some type of race past us three times, two up and one down.

Elevation 550 feet Steps 476

Yup that's the steps going up the middle of the hill.

I can see the Top !!!

Are you sure you need me to back up some more????

Harbour entrance and Lighthouse Point

The view was spectacular and we survived to hike another day. 

The next hike was with our friends Del and Gloria whom we met in Desert Hot Springs. As luck would have it they are also touring Newfoundland so we hooked up in Cow Head and on Canada Day we went for a 6 km hike with a 2 hour boat ride in the middle. We hiked into West Brook Pond. The Pond at one time was a inlet and as the ice age receded the land "bounced back" and the inlet was blocked from the ocean. The water is probably the freshest water anywhere as the is very little algae or plant growth. 

June Del and Gloria at Trail Head

"For a Two Hour Cruise"

One of the many Rock  Walls

From the dock you travel down the lake and enter a "fjord" with towering rock walls on either side. There were a multitude of water falls cracks and even ,if you looked just right, a few faces in the rocks.

Only about a 400 foot drop

The Tin Man

It was a beautiful sunny warm day and we all really enjoyed the trip. We now have some photos to share when we get back to Desert Hot Springs. 

Well this has been a long blog. We hope that you all are doing fine and thank-you again for reading our blog.

Junkel