Kathleen's Window: Hello Newfoundland!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Greg was awake at 5 am. It got too noisy for him to sleep as the other vehicles began to arrive and get in line. I awoke at 6 am when the ferry blew its horn. Quite an alarm! The lanes around us filled up and we were soon hemmed in by the large RV in front of us all night, a pick-up and large trailer on one side, another behind us, and a tour bus on the side. We couldn't see anything until we were motioned to load. Loading began a half hour late so we didn't leave until 9 am. We followed another large RV into an enormous hold and wound up in the very back of the ship. The crew escorted everyone to the elevator and told us to go to Deck 7, otherwise we would have been wandering around a long time.

The waiting line for ferry loading

Kathleen at 630 AM - see how enthusiastic?

Starting to Load

1/2 of the lower vehicle deck

Deck 7 was set up with reclining chairs and TVs and a restaurant and snack bar and very crowded. Everything faced to the back. There was very little outside deck and no way to see in front of the ship. We found two empty chairs together, but not near a window, and realized that we should have brought something to save seats with or we would lose them if we got up. As the boat left Sydney Harbor, we took turns going up on deck. On my trip up I discovered that Deck 8 was almost empty. I inquired whether they were reserved seats, and since they weren't, I went back, got Greg and we moved into two window seats near the back of the boat. At lunch we went to the restaurant after the crowd was done and got a window table, so we were able to look out and spotted dolphins or porpoises alongside.

Window seat at lunch

We still had three hours left in our six hour trip, and discovered that we could sit in the bar at the front of the ship without drinking. There were big windows, so we could look out and watch for Newfoundland. We stayed there the rest of the trip. A couple from Ontario started up a conversation with us. They were retired and traveling by motorcycle with a small trailer for their tent and gear. Fun and brave! What a great example they were of keeping young by challenging themselves. They were lively and funny.

Front window seat in the bar

We met a woman from Thunder Bay, Ontario and had fun helping each other spot dolphins/porpoises, and watch the coastline come into view. She thought Maryland was in Maine, but, our fellow citizens knowledge of Canadian geography isn't much better!

We arrived in the tiny harbor of Port-Aux-Basques. The ship had to maneuver a turnaround in a small area without hitting the rocky island in the middle. I can't begin to imagine how the captain does that in the fog. We were the second vehicle off the boat. We raced to the visitor center to beat the crowd and get tourist information, including a campground guide. There were a lot of campers on board and not a lot of campgrounds up the road. We didn't have reservations so we decided to drive a while and try a park farther up the coast.

Port aux Basques harbor

Granite island right off the end of the ferry berth

Where is our rig?

One RV ahead of us unloading...

The sun was still high in the sky at 5 pm, so we had lots of daylight left for driving. We were immediately struck by the rugged, breathtaking landscape as we left town. We traveled north on the Trans-Canada Highway, a good road, but with very few turnoffs, and no roads going off east. It was all wilderness. We missed the campground we thought we'd try. There was no sign until we got right there, too quickly to stop. We thought we'd turn around. No place to do so. Ten more miles up the road we saw another campground soon enough to turn, so there we stopped. We pulled in behind the RV we had spent the night behind in the ferry line!

They had a spot for us and I jumped out to guide Greg as he backed in. Immediately I realized that I was getting covered with blackflies and I jumped back into the camper for spray. We both sprayed ourselves, Greg got us hooked up and we killed the flies that came in on us. As the evening progressed we discovered all our new bites. Blackflies look a lot like small black flying ants. You don't often see them or hear them. Sometimes you feel them bite you, but you usually don't know you've been bitten until the large welt comes up later. I looked in the mirror and found out that I had been bitten between the nosepad on my glasses and my eye. Check out the photo for the lovely result. I never felt it bite me!

One happy black fly, one Unhappy Kathleen!

Overnight the clouds came in and the wind kicked up. Thank goodness, because it allowed us to walk to the showers without getting bitten. Except for the small gnats that came in with Greg after he unhooked us, we escaped the bugs and left that campsite.

The plan is to head to the eastern edge of Newfoundland to the capital St. Johns. We arrived by ferry at the far southwestern tip. Bank of America has decided that our debit and credit cards are to expire by the end of the month, so we need to have them sent to us at a FedEx store. Guess what? The only store is all the way across the island in St. Johns. Today we had to find a wifi connection so we could call using SKYPE over the internet. We found a signal outside the visitor center in Corner Brook. After one hour and forty-five minutes of talking to Bank of America we finally got it set up. The cards should arrive next Wednesday, the 17^th (fingers crossed), so now we need to figure out where to go until then. There is plenty to see around St. Johns, so we will work our way over, and then back, so we wind up at the ferry by August 14^th.

Trans Canada Highway

Moose fence with one-way gate

Ski Resort at Marble Mountain, plenty of snow in winter, not much mountain. Now used for zip lines and downhill mountain biking

Weather front coming in

Deer Lake

We drove a few more hours and ended up at Kona Beach Campground. Seriously, who came up with that name? It is a really well kept campground and we are camped in a grove of birch trees aat the end of a nice lake. While we were walking around tonight we met Angus and his owner. Angus is a Newfoundland dog, a beautiful big, black, furry, cuddly huge (155 lbs. and still growing) 15 month-old. His owner is from Damascus, Maryland, ten miles from our old home! We had a good conversation with him. They have already been here three weeks and had some good tips for places to go. Angus agreed to photos with Greg, and we said goodbye and went back to our rig for dinner.