June 2016 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

Day 12 – Halifax, Nova Scotia

I have to say, we are no longer fans of built up metropolitan areas on our trips so Halifax was met with some trepidation after enjoying the rural surrounds of a place like Newfoundland. Add to that the fact that it was a bit rainy and VERY foggy and we were probably a little less enthusiastic about this leg of the journey. Still, the nautical nature of this town encouraged us to make the most of it.

We woke up and had breakfast and set off into the fog that had rolled in overnight.

It was not long before we saw a Canadian Tardis flying through the air near the harbour.

We walked out to the waterfront and snapped a few photos of ships in the fog.

We spent much of the day in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic exploring the Titanic and Halifax Explosion exhibits. We even met a woman who worked on the museum staff who was the daughter of a woman who miraculously survived the disaster.

The weather continued to be rainy and foggy and drained us of much of our energy so we called it an early day and got some rest for our upcoming drive to Digby.

Day 11 – Newfoundland to Nova Scotia

After staying up past our bedtime last night we woke up at the crack of dawn to get packed and go to the airport to catch our flight from Deer Lake to Halifax. We were on the road by about 6 am.

As we drove out we encountered some sheep which always makes Cynthia happy. She was able to photograph these guys while I pulled over to the side of the road.

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A little further down the road Cynthia began to shout “A MOOSE, A MOOSE! I SAW A MOOSE!” I made a u-turn and drove back and sure enough there was a young moose grazing by the side of the road. I pulled over and Cynthia took this photo.

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Seeing a moose was something Cynthia really wanted to do and we had begun to think we would not see one before leaving Newfoundland.

We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Deer Lake is a small regional airport so it’s not very crowded. The flight was only an hour to Halifax.

We arrived and picked up our rental car and made our way to the hotel. We were too early to check in so we parked and did a little exploring. We were pretty tired and had dinner plans with some friends that evening so when we got checked in we just relaxed until time to meet up.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and went to sleep.

Newfoundland – Day 9 & 10 – Back To Gros Morne

Today we made the 4 1/2 hour drive back to Gros Morne. We didn’t do much on this day other than get back to our accommodations. It was important to get a little rest for the trip out to Western Brook Pond.

When visiting Western Brook Pond you have to drive to a parking lot and then hike in 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) to the pier to meet the boat.

We got an early start with the sun shining and blue skies blazing, but by the time we made the hike a bit of fog and gloom had settled in.

Undaunted, we boarded the boat and proceeded on a 2 hour tour of the fjord lake. It was impressive to see, but not the most photogenic outing of the journey due to the inclimate weather.

Toward the end the sun made an effort to come out, but it was ultimately too late to be of much photographic benefit.

We hiked out the 3 kilometers back to the car and then made our way back to the hotel. We needed to get organized for our flight to Halifax the next day so we took the rest of the afternoon to do that and then treated ourselves to a show by the Anchors Aweigh band who play Newfoundland folk music as well as some traditional Irish tunes. The show was amazing and we stayed for the whole thing, even though that meant that we were out pretty late and having to get up very early to make our flight.

Newfoundland – Day 8 – St. Anthony – Icebergs And Vikings

In St. Anthony our main goal was icebergs so we booked a reservation with a local tour company and boarded a boat and headed out on the North Atlantic.

After the boat tour we went to L’Anse aux Meadows, site of a viking settlement. The archeological site itself was rather unremarkable, but there was a reconstruction of the dwellings and there were reenactors who told the tale of what it was like in those times.

All in all, a fantastic day. Tomorrow we drive back to Gros Morne National Park, a 4 1/2 hour drive, and take a boat out on Western Brook Pond which is not a pond, but a fjord.

Newfoundland – Day 7 – Gros Morne To St. Anthony

We left early this morning to make the 4 1/2 hour drive up to St. Anthony on the uppermost part of The Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. It was gloomy and foggy for the first part of the drive and then cleared up and became very nice. Then the it turned foggy and gloomy again.

The fog and gloom was unfortunately in the area of Flower’s Cove where we planned to stop see the thrombolites, fossils that are estimated to be between 600 million to 1.2 billion years old and that exist only two places in the world. The other is in Australia.

With the wind, strong, wet and cold, blowing up off the sea was we decided to cut our visit short in favor of the warmth of the car and the promise of sunshine down the road.

Sure enough, the weather cleared a few miles down the road and it became a beautiful day.

We finished up the drive in St. Anthony where we had this afternoon and the full day tomorrow to explore. We checked into our hotel and then set out to Fisherman’s Point where we had read there’s a great view of the cove. What we didn’t expect was the three icebergs that had settled into cove which offered a nice, close up view.

We explored the point and then set off to find some dinner and then called it a night.

Tomorrow we take to the sea in search of more icebergs.

Newfoundland – Day 6 – Twillingate To Gros Morne

We left Twillingate pretty early, mostly because we’re old and we wake up pretty early, but also because it was going to be a long day of driving. Before getting out of town we took advanatage of the morning light to get a few parting shots of this charming little town.

The drive across this part of Newfoundland was pretty uneventful.

We arrived in the Gros Morne area and were greated by an interesting batch of fog that was coming in over the harbor.

It has been a long day. We had a nice dinner and are looking forward to a relaxing evening before heading north to St. Anthony, a town on the northern reaches of the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland.

Newfoundland – Day 5 – Bonavista To Twillingate

Today we woke up early to make the drive from Bonavista to Twillingate. This was a rather long drive, much of which was on the Trans Canada Highway. There was some construction and many signs warning of the dangers of moose. Cynthia was in charge of the highway photography.

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We stopped in Gander for lunch, but it was a mostly unremarkable town so we quickly moved on to Twillingate. We got checked into our hotel and found our way to the harbour where we booked a tour with Iceberg Quest to go out on a boat and get a closer look at some icebergs.

Before the tour we drive up to Crow Nest for some nice views

Then it was off on a small boat to chase the icebergs at sea.

This first photo is by Cynthia and gives you a sense of the scale

The icebergs are really interesting up close. And they look completely different from different angles.

We really enjoyed the tour. It lasted about 2 hours and when we got back to shore we treated ourselves to a nice dinner. Tonight we rest and in the morning we drive to Gros Morne National Park.

Newfoundland – Day 4 – Bonavista Peninsula

We really managed to hit the high spots on day 1 in Bonavista yesterday. So today was very casual. We got up very early and walked about the harbor and then went back to Elliston to see if there might be more puffin activity in the early morning. Turns out, this was a VERY good time to see them as they had not gone out to sea just yet and there were dozens of them near the viewing cliff.

We cam back to town and drive around a bit to see the icebergs that were floating around the peninsula.

Later in the day we took a drive out to Trinity to see the small historical town, but the day began to turn a bit overcast and the drive, while pleasant, was not very photogenic with all the fog. We had some lunch and drove back to Bonavista and called it a day. Tomorrow, Twillingate for more icebergs!

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