Newfoundland, Part 1

Tilting Rock Art

I love Newfoundland!  It is June, 2013, and my son and I are on day 5 or so of our trip to Newfoundland.  This is proving to be an absolutely amazing experience.  So far we have visited Twillingate, Fogo Island, and Dunsfield, which is right close to Trinity.  We have been doing the rent a vehicle and drive around staying at bed and breakfasts thing, which has allowed us to meet some wonderful people, like Mark and Ruby at All Season's Bed and Breakfast  in Twillingate, Gerard and Darlene at Foley's Place in Tilting, on Fogo Island, and Ed and Marge at Rolling Hills Bed and Breakfast in Dunsfield, just outside of Trinity, on the Bonavista Peninsula.  Not to mention all the other guests with whom I spent the evenings, and breakfasts, chatting.

So what have we been doing?  Well, mainly we came here for the

Kittiwakes (?) on the water

birds.  Seriously.  It's seabird nesting season, and Newfoundland has lots of neat seabirds that nest close to shore, like puffins, gannets, kittiwakes and murres.  Not to mention of course all the gulls which fly around all the time, including this enormous type which I had never seen before, or if I had, hadn't noticed, which is odd considering its size.  It is aptly named a great black-backed gull, and when I first saw one I thought it must be some sort of large mammal hunting bird, like an eagle or something, simply because of its size.  But it wasn't, it's a gull, just a very large gull!  

Interested as we are in birds, and interesting as the birds may be, there is much more to Newfoundland than the birds.  First, there's the amazing scenery.  Up around Twillingate and Fogo Island in particular the scenery is absolutely stunning.  

Scenery on the way to Twillingate

Barren, rocky, but with lots and lots of bright blue lakes, ponds, and streams.  And the coastline!  It weaves in and out, water playing along the rocky shoreline.  Toss in some small villages with houses perched in seemingly impossible locations, squeezed between the rocks and the ocean, more often than not making use of stilts to hold the houses level as the rocks fall away beneath them, and you have the landscape up around Twillingate and on Fogo Island.  On a sunny day a drive or a walk through the area consists of one breathtaking moment after another.  On a stormy day I am sure it would be an entirely different experience, although likely just as breathtaking.  

While we were in Twillingate we had the most amazing experience, we saw an iceberg!  I had signed us up for a boat tour with Cecil the Iceberg Man, who runs Iceberg Man Tours, hoping that we might get lucky and see one of these, and what do you know, my hopes came true!  A fast-moving berg came down the coast our first night in Twillingate, we could actually see it from our bed and breakfast the next morning.  Cecil's daughter was nice enough to call our bed and breakfast to ask if we would like to change our tour time to the morning since the berg was moving fast, we did, good thing since by the afternoon the berg was gone, and as a result we got to have this amazing experience. 

 
















 

Birds on the berg, they knew when it was going to go, since they all took off just seconds before the first section broke off!

A chunk coming off of the iceberg, watch out for that wave!

Iceberg viewing was the focus of our visit to Twillingate, although there is much more that one could do, I could happily have stayed longer than our two nights.  There are a couple of little museums around, many, many nice sounding walking trails, and I heard from one person that they had gone out on a lobster fishing boat.  In July I think people can go out cod fishing as well.  And they have beautiful sunsets.... 

Sunset from our bed and breakfast in Twillingate

After Twillingate we headed to Fogo Island.  After a short ferry ride to the island

Ferry ride from Farewell to Fogo Island

we made our way down to Tilting and our Bed and Breakfast, then drove back to Fogo town to walk up to Brimstone Head, which is claimed to be one of the four corners of the earth by the Flat Earth Society.

 
I'm not really sure why they would think this is one of the four corners of the earth since one can see other islands from the top, but, well, whatever, right?
 

The view towards the Atlantic from Brimstone Head

 

Walking back down from Brimstone Head

Sheep guarding their territory along Turpin's Trail

Anyways, Fogo Island was beautiful.  We stayed only one night, and again, we could have stayed longer.  There are lots of walking trails there, and I would have really enjoyed walking a few of them.  We did get to walk some of the way along one right by our bed and breakfast, it was called Turpin's  Trail.  It was an easy walk, along a dirt path weaving among the grass and boulders, with views of sheep, cliffs, and the ocean.  

Turpin's Trail

There are many entrances and exits to the paths, so one could make one's excursion as long or short as one would want.  If one wanted, one could even bring along a lunch and have it at a comfy spot along the way!

Picnic time?

All this walking around I have been talking about was a fantastic way to spend our time.  The landscape is so very different than what we see in Calgary, and to be able to get out and walk around in it was so much more meaningful than just looking at it.  Feeling the wind, smelling the air, and, definitely, feeling how much that ground sinks when you step on it!  The bed and breakfast experience was also incredibly rewarding - meeting the people, and being able to go places that perhaps wouldn't have been as easy to visit if we had limited ourselves to hotels.  And even if you have done bed and breakfasts elsewhere, your previous experiences might not be quite the same as what you would have here.  These really are small towns we were in, and, well, for example, in Tilting we arrived and there was no one at the bed and breakfast. But the door was unlocked, and there was a note saying it was the bed and breakfast and for guests to make themselves at home, so I had us take our things in and do so, much to the consternation of my son.  We did eventually meet our hosts of course, and they were quite friendly and welcoming, which I think reassured him.  At least he wasn't nearly as concerned when we did the same at the next bed and breakfast at Dunsfield...

The landscape around Dunsfield is different from that around Twillingate and on Fogo Island.  It is much gentler, although it may still seem harsh to some.  And it was here that we first ran into rain, lots of it!  We went out to Elliston to see the Puffins, and it was raining.  But we really wanted to see the Puffins, and at Elliston they have a colony just offshore, close enough to the mainland that you can watch them from there.  So there we were, standing in the pouring rain, watching the puffins hop, and waddle, and attempt to fly (they really aren't very good fliers, they flap their wings like little hyperactive wind-up toys and have a tendency to crash into things, and yet, they nest on the tops of cliffs.  Oh dear).  

You first, no you, no you, no you.....

A benefit of the rain is the possibility of seeing rainbows, and we saw a beaut, right over the town of Trinity.
 

Rainbow over Trinity

While my son was sleeping in the morning (he is growing, and thus is sleeping lots) I went for a nice little walk, again, beautiful walking country. 

Looking back to Dunsfield

So let's see, what can I say to any who might be considering a trip out this way?  Well, the rent a car and drive yourself around approach is working very well for my son and me.  It gives us freedom and flexibility, and, really, I don't think there's much else out here in the way of transportation.  Food and gas can be a little difficult to come by, so top up on both when you have the chance.  Most gas stations have a convenience store attached, but whether or not it is selling anything that one would want to use as a meal is, well, very much up to chance, with I would say the likelihood of their stock not being what one would want to use as a meal higher than it being of the decent meal variety.  I have noticed that most seem to serve ice cream though.  Open grocery stores are also hard to come by, as are restaurants.  What restaurants are around typically close by 8:00 p.m.  The one in Tilting is also closed Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays until the end of June.  I noticed a bakery somewhere in the vicinity of Tilting on the way to the ferry the morning of our departure that had a huge, for that part of Newfoundland, lineup, but that is not helpful for dinner.  So..... be sure to stop for dinner at the first of whatever you see offering such early, in case you don't see another before 8:00.  For information's sake, Twillingate has a couple of restaurants, Trinity had one that was open when we were there, Tilting had none if you're there on a Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, but Fogo town on the other side of the island, about a half hour's drive away, had one that was open daily until 8:00.  For lunches, in the event that you need one of these at a time when you are not actually located in a town with a restaurant, I would recommend going into whatever grocery store you find to stock up on some travel meal supplies, like peanut butter, bread, and maybe some grapes.  There are a lot of beautiful picnic spots around anyways, so why not make use of them?  

As for types of food, once you find a restaurant, well, I hope you like fish!  Both my son and I do, actually, fish is a bit of a treat for us back home, so this was great for us.  Fish and chips (which for those of you unfamiliar with this terminology, like my son was prior to our trip to Victoria last year, consists of deep fried fish and french fries, not potato chips) are on the menu everywhere. 

A typical Newfie meal

For those who find the deep fried character of the fish a bit on the heavy side all of the places we've been to up here can also offer pan fried fish.  Cod is of course the main fish offered, although atlantic salmon is also frequently on the menu.  I've had a couple of really nice chowders, usually with cod, mussels, and I think once crab, and I did order a lobster once, unfortunately it wasn't much less expensive than what I would pay back home, although it was much better prepared.  This would not be a good place for strict vegetarians as vegetables were in short supply.  I think I might have seen a salad on a menu once.  When the seafood entree came with vegetables, it was always peas or carrots, and there really weren't very many.  The portion sizes of the seafood, and chips, were always quite large though. 

With regards to lodging, bed and breakfasts seem to be the way to go.  I say this by noting the lack of restaurants, as well as the lack of hotels.  Besides, the B&B people are soooooooooo friendly, really!  You wouldn't want to miss out on this.  All the people up here are friendly, but you really notice it with the B&B hosts.  And, the bed and breakfast hosts are often a really good way to find out, for instance, how to contact the guy who will take tourists out on his lobster boat.  One note on the bed and breakfasts though, there are rumours that they fill up, especially in July and August, so you might want to book them in advance.  

Oh, and can't forget, the accent!  I actually have noticed several different accents as we have been driving around, and some of them are really, really difficult to understand.  It's really quite fun, but it's like being in a different country.  That and the signs..... we've seen a couple of really interesting ones.

Twillingate area road sign

Like, what, exactly, do their roads need protecting from?  Overzealous developers?  I only took a picture of this sign because we were seeing it all over the place up by Twillingate and Fogo Island.  We also saw a very interesting schoolbus sign where the schoolbus is shown speeding along with lights flashing with children leaping off towards the side of the sign.   

We did finally figure out what all the neat hexagonal wooden crates were on the side of the road though.  This one's fairly boring, but they came in much more enjoyable colours as well.  Can anyone guess their function?  Garbage cans!  Or, places to put one's garbage for collection.  Isn't that great?  These are much more aesthetically pleasing than what we use back home.

Garbage can (?) in Tilting

 

 And that's where we're at on our Newfoundland trip.  Wonderful trip so far, and we're looking forward to the rest of it.  We have two more bird sites to see - Bird Rock at Cape St. Mary's, and the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, and I'm sure many more people to meet and experiences to, well, experience.  I'll keep you posted.....




Post-script:  This post has been put up a considerable amount of time after it was written, but the content is accurate for the time at which it was written, even if not for the time it was posted.  Why the delay?  Well, I was waiting to get home so I could load the pictures, and then, 2 days after our return, before I had really even finished unpacking, my son and I were evacuated because of the Calgary flood.  No damage to our home, but it and the relief efforts, which are still ongoing, somewhat interrupted my posting.  Here are a couple of links for flood information, for any who are interested....  Globe and Mail flood information, CBC Calgary flood news - changing daily .

For ways to help, see Southern Alberta flood - ways to help 

For monetary donations, try Canadian Red Cross Alberta Flood Donations or Place 2 Give