About 8 years ago my
boyfriend and I decided that it would be a great idea to pack up his little
Honda Civic hatch back full of camping gear and head out east for 10 days. We
drove through New Brunswick, visiting the Bay
of Fundy and headed out to Nova Scotia to see
the bright lights of Halifax
and tour around the Cabot Trail. Everyday was a new adventure and a new
campsite. We hiked various trails, went deep sea fishing and got to see the
beauty that is the east coast of Canada. We vowed that someday we would
be back.
So after almost 8 years, a
couple wedding bands and a baby on the way later; my husband and I decided that
it was high time we packed up the car again and headed back east and explore
the vast province
of Newfoundland. This
time around we gave ourselves 2 weeks for our whirlwind tour.
Our first day on the road
was a slow one. It seemed like we hit every construction zone on the highways
as well as rush hour traffic in both Montreal
(lunch time) and Quebec City
(dinner time). It felt as though we were getting no where fast. We spent our
first night at a little campsite called Riverside Camp Ground just outside of Edmundston, New
Brunswick. The couple running the it gave us the
‘best site in the house’ that was right by the beach, which we discovered in
the morning was a small rocky beach that lead to an even less impressive
shallow river running by.
Our next day of driving was
far more successful; we left Edmundston and headed out in hopes of making it to
Inverness, Nova Scotia
on Cape Breton Island. 850 km later we were
setting up camp at the same site we had almost eight years ago. To finish the
day off we (as in my husband, who cooked every meal) cooked an amazing lobster
dinner, played a few hands of cribbage and called it a night.
The next morning we were up
bright and early to pack up the car and head off to North Sydney to catch the
ferry to Newfoundland. We arrived with ample time and with not much
to do in North Sydney we walked along the
shore line skipping stones (which I successfully did for the first time ever!)
and inhaled the sea salted air. We prepared ourselves some lunch and snacks for
the long ferry ride across. Finally it was time to board the ferry. It was hard
to believe how many cars and tractor trailers they could cram into one boat. So
it was farewell to Nova Scotia
as we slowly watched the cliffs disappear into the horizon. 5 hours later we
were watching Newfoundland
come into view and what a view it was!
We drove off the ferry
through Port-aux-Basque and were instantly in awe of the beautiful mountains
and seascape. We spent out first night at a B&B in the little town of Codroy, where a wonderful
man name Gerald welcomed us with opened arms. The next morning after a good
night’s sleep and a great home cooked breakfast we were off to see the wonders
of Gros Morne National Park.
The drive to the park was
spectacular with great views of countless lakes, rivers and beautiful
hillsides. Around lunch time we stopped in Corner Brook
to get something to eat and checked out Marble Mountain
ski resort where they had an impressive zip line across a gorge. We decided
that we would pass on the zip line since I was pregnant and that seemed like a
very good excuse, not to mention that it looked terrifying.
We arrived in Gros Morne and
decided that we would stay at Berry Hill campsite for 3 nights so we could
explore the wonders of the national park. After setting up camp we decided to
do our first hike; we packed up or water bottles and camera (in hopes of seeing
a moose) and headed down the 6km trail to Baker Brook
Falls. The water falls
were most impressive, but then we needed to walk the 6km back to our campsite.
Hiking was much easier 8 years ago when I wasn’t carrying the extra load of a
baby, but it was well worth the hike.
Our three days in Gros Morne
were spent hiking various trails and seeing the famous sites. On one of our
adventures we decided to visit the Tablelands; which is a mountain of
flat-topped rock that is usually found only deep in the earth’s mantle. The colouring of the stone is yellowy and varies so much from the rest of the
landscape within Newfoundland.
Instead of taking the gently sloped trail that wraps around the base of the
Tablelands we decided to hike up the side. While carefully watching my steps
(especially since it started to pour rain) I wasn't paying much attention to
the landscape until I caught up to where my husband was waiting for me. We
stood there in the rain (luckily we had our rain coats) discussing if we should
continue on or turn around when a movement on the other side of a noisy
waterfall caught my eye. It was a moose! And not just any moose but a huge bull
moose; just going about his business eating shrubs. I was so excited that I
could barely form the words; I just tapped my husband’s shoulder and pointed.
We were both so excited and quickly whipped out the camera. We had both seen
moose before but never this big and this close. We must have taken a hundred
photos of the amazing beast as we walked down the side of the mountain parallel
to the moose’s path with only a stream separating us.
Our last day in Gros Morne
we decided to spoil ourselves and splurge on a boat tour of Western Brook Pond;
we always have a hard time justifying the expense but in the end one of us throws
our arms up and says something along the lines of ‘when is the next time we are
going to be in Newfoundland?’ So out comes the credit card and next thing we
know we are in line for our boat tour. Once on the boat and heading out into
the fjord we have no regrets about the money we just spent. It has to be one of
nature’s greatest beauties and we are in total awe of the spectacular
glacier-carved fjord. Just when we thought it couldn't get any more breathtaking
we would round another corner and there would be a waterfall cascading some
2000 feet down the cliff side and disappearing into a magical mist before it
would hit the pond. A definite must see while in Newfoundland.
Our last few days were spent
driving across the province different mapped out destinations. We made our way
up to St. Anthony’s where we visited L’Anse
aux Meadows national historic site and toured around the reconstructed huts
where the Vikings lived over a thousand years ago. Headed out to St. John’s
where we hike around Signal Hill, visited Jellybean Row and made our way out to
Cape Spear
to stand on Canada’s
most easterly point. While in St. John’s we
camped in Pippy Park which was suggested by one of the
Parks Canada staff members. It definitely was not one of our best campsites
that we have chosen and we were very happy to pack up after our two day
stay.
To finish off our Newfoundland adventure
we decided to take one more boat tour in hopes of seeing whales and puffins.
There is a story behind these puffins. For years I have wanted to see a puffin,
it had started to be come and obsession. They are just such a cute bird and
look like a hybrid of a penguin and a toucan. Some years ago we were in the Gaspe on another one of
our famous road trips; where they had pictures of puffins on some of their
tourist brochures and I decided then that I really wanted to see one. Well it
turns out they are a very seasonal bird and they are rarely ever in Gaspe, so when we were planning our Newfoundland trip I declared that I MUST see
a puffin.
Once out on the boat and
taking in the beautiful site of the ocean and seascape I became more excited
with the thought of spotting one. And suddenly there they were! Not one, but
hundreds of them. I was so excited I couldn't even take pictures and handed the
camera to my husband. I nearly jumped up and down with excitement over these
little birds, while my husband merely laughed at me and snapped pictures of
them. Unfortunately we were too late in the season to see any whales but we did
spot a sun fish which looked like a shark that somebody flattened.
Our adventure was coming to
a close so we needed to make our way back to Port-aux-Basque to catch our ferry
home. Along the way we had one final stay in Gros Morne at the Lomond camp site.
It was a beautiful site and we had stayed there earlier in the trip but this
time it wasn’t raining and we were one of the only campers there. We had a
quiet evening, chatted with fellow campers and talked about our adventures and
had the privilege of seeing the Northern Lights, a great way to end our trip. After
making our way back to Port-aux-Basque we ended up with one more night on The
Rock due to some lousy weather and winds of up to 100 km an hour, we would head
out in the morning.
So it was another successful
road trip under our belts and it was a little bitter sweet. With baby on the
way it would probably be the last (for a while) road trip we would do just the two
of us but we were heading home to get ready to travel down a whole new road of
adventure.
