Tags
at anthony, atlantic ocean, canada, fish, food, gros morne, iceberg, local food, moose, National Park, newfoundland, parks canada, photo, seafood, travel, twillingate
Newfoundland is a special place, and what makes it so special is everything. Meaning no one thing in particular. Don’t come to Newfoundland and expect to see that one big grand thing- it does not exist. What is here is friendly people, culture, amazing food and breathtaking scenery. Just being here is what Newfoundland is all about, and by here, I mean anywhere in Newfoundland.
Newfoundland is an island and so a ferry is required to transport our home on wheels across the Atlantic. That’s where this post kicks off:
The weather was rain and fog, visibility was poor until we reached “the rock”.
We swam up the highway to Corner Brook and spent the night in a parking lot. The rain was relentless. From Corner Brook, we proceeded up the Northern Peninsula, which brings us to Gros Morne National Park. Gros Morne’s French meaning is “large mountain standing alone,” or more literally “great sombre.”
We had a look see at Lobster Cove and ohh was she a beauty!
We headed further north and stopped to see what the S.S Ethie was all about. A ship wrecked on the rocks in 1919, there is not much left.
Further north, still inside the park, our next and final stop of the day was broom point.
We have both realized that we enjoy walking on rocks next to the ocean. You never know what you will see or find.
We retreated back to the comforts of the Campsite for the night. The next morning we rose at 5:30am to hit the road for St. Anthony, 4 hours north, at the tip of the peninsula. Our plan for leaving so early was for two reasons. 1. It was a one day trip, so 8 hours of driving does not leave much time to see St. Anthony if you leave at noon. 2. Your best chance of spotting a Moose is early morning.
We started up the car, drove for about 4 minutes down the campsite exit road and blamo! A mom and baby moose were right in front of us.
We stopped at Arches Provincial Park on the way:
The reason for our trek up to St. Anthony was to view Iceberg Alley. May and June is peak iceberg season. Iceberg Alley carries berg’s that have broken off from Greenland down south, right past St. Anthony. (The Titanic hit a berg in Iceberg Alley)
All joking aside, we didn’t need Binoculars, there was a huge bowl shaped iceberg right in the Harbour.
Many more icebergs were visible with Binoculars. Probably 10 or 15.
On our way over to L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, the weather took a turn for the worse.
About L’Anse aux Meadows:
Discovered in 1960 on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland, it is the most famous site of a Norse or Viking settlement in North America outside Greenland. Dating to around the year 1000, L’Anse aux Meadows is the only site widely accepted as evidence to pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact. It is notable for its possible connection with the attempted colony of Vinland (nearby) established by Leif Erickson around the same period. It was named a World Heritgae site by UNESCO in 1978.
So, Ruins were found here in 1960, mostly stones and foundations and many artifacts. They were all buried under approx. 1 foot of soil. The area was excavated, and left open for a period of time. Archeologists realized that being open to the air was damaging them with moss, ice rain etc. So the ruins were covered back up again.
I know this just looks like a field, but the lumps in the soil are the foundations of the original Viking Settlement.
When we arrived a guided tour was just departing- The Parks Canada tour was very informative and interesting. This is a pretty big deal for mankind. This is though to be the first time Mankind made it around the world. Meaning Europeans met First Nations here and traded goods. As our guide pointed out- L’Anse aux Meadows received UNESCO World Heritage site designation before the pyramids in Giza.
Next stop was Twillingate for more icebergs. Twillingate is the self appointed Iceberg capital of the World.
We set off to explore the town.
During our exploration of the town, we found some hiking trails that take you out to French Head. We could see some Icebergs out there, and French Head would get us really close- we set off.
Time to devour this 5.5 lbs Atlantic Salmon- see you later.
I’d rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth. – Steve McQueen