Day 41 Argentia - Placentia

We are camped at Argentia Sunset RV park. This is an abandon US Navy base until 1994. Now only the roads a a few bunkers remain. Out spot has a great view of the Ferry dock and harbor. We will have to see what sunset there will be.

View from our campsite

Campsite

After lunch it was off the explore Palanecia. First stop is Castle Hill National Historic Site. This site is the remains of a 17th century French fortification. We arrived just in time to see a play reenactment of the French attacking the English in St Johns by going overland in the winter. 

After the play we hiked the trails to see the ruins.

Lastly we walked the boardwalk along the coast in Placentia.

Additional Photos

Day 40 Refueling

Today was a day to restock the food supply which was running low. We needed to take advantage of the real stores here in St Johns. It was also a day of R and R for the two of us. Tomorrow we begin the return  trip to the west coast. Just a short trip over to Argentia, that we will use a as base to explore Cape St Mary's Ecological Reserve on Tuesday. That is it  for today.

Day 39 Flowers and Music

We spent our morning touring the MUN Botanical Reserve. A local garden club was having a flower show. You will see the arrangements in the pictures. The grounds were also very nice. I took a bunch of photos but have little ideas of what all the flowers were except they were pretty.

The afternoon was spent at the George Street Festival. At the main stage they had children playing traditional Newfoundland music. It was a nice way to spend a warm sunny Saturday afternoon. I have include some clips of the performance to give you a sample (they are not real good quality).

Photos here

By the way comments and/or emails are always welcomed.

Day 38 Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve

Today we drove to the southern tip of the Avalon peninsula to explore Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve. This is the site of the oldest fossils that have been found in the world. Similar fossils have been found other places but were not nearly the 576 million years old at these are. It was just named a UNESCO World Heritage Site last year. By the way we had to take our shoes off and wear these beautiful blue booties while walking on the Fossils.

First however we had to go down to the shore where the Caplin were rolling in. These little fish wash up to lay the eggs and die. There were men on shore gathering them up for bait for fishing. They had a half dozen crate full.

Day 37 Puffins and Whales

What a day this was! The first stop was Cape Spear Light house but became distracted by the whales off shore. At one Point we could see four swimming side by side. We spent a lot of time just watching. The lighthouse was just another one with a spectacular view.

Next was our O'Brian boat tour to see birds and whales. I thought we had seen these before but this trip was exceptional. As we rounded the point in to Witless Bay you could see water spouts from the whales in nearly any direction and at anytime you looked. The captain however took use by Witless Island to see the birds first which was amazing. My favorites were the Puffins and Common Cormans.

Then we had the finale was the whale show. I don't have the words to describe the experience. Let's just say I took considerable time to edit the pictures down. Check this out.

Day 36 St Johns - Signal Hill

After a short drive we are parked in Pippy Campground in the middle of St Johns. The sites are very wooded and ours was a little difficult to get into because of the narrow road and cars parked in the way.

After lunch it was off to Signal hill. I must say without the GPS it would be a problem finding your way around. Crooked streets construction and sharp turns make it difficult to maintain your bearings. The lack of standard placement of French and English for many years. It is a great vantage point to watch for whales. There were probably a dozen in the area but too far off for pictures. If you look close you can see one tail flip of a humpback whale.

Cabot Tower

St Johns

Additional pictures

Day 35 Charleston to Bluefin Campground

Another driving day from Charleston to the Bluefin Campground outside St Johns about 40km. The excitement for the day was having to stand on the breaks for a bull moose to cross the road in front of us. We had no time for pictures. He just ran across 4 lanes of traffic unharmed. Thanks goodness traffic was lite. Laundry and showers again. Rain and fog this afternoon and evening. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Heres a late addition sunset photo after the fog lifted..

Day 34 Trinity

Today started with a 2 1/2 hour guided walking tour of the town. Our guide had been here all his life and knew all the history of the site. The town was a major trading center in the 17 and 18 centuries. After the cod moratorium in 1992, the town decided the only way it could survive was via tourism. Over the years they have been saving and restoring lots of the city. Only the elderly still live here full time. The school bus only picks up one child these days. The town has been the set for a couple of movies. The major attraction is the Rising Tide Theater. We had to go to the 8:00 pm shoe. The play was Salt Water Moon. It is the story of a young man returning home to win back his sweetheart. She was already to marry another. There were 2 actors on stage for 1 1/2 hours with no breaks. The play was good but I would not say great.

The brown brick are from the orginal 1700 building. the rest of the bricks came from the same factor in England as the originals.

Anglican Church

Catholic Chruch

Church cat

The after noon was spent watching whales on Fort Point. We could see as many as 8 but most were a too grate a distance for photos. This time however Sue made sure I remembered the long lens. What we could identify were humpback whales. Some were close enough to here them when they surfaced,

Additional Pictures

Day 33 Elliston - Bonavista

After our day of rest, we were up earily with a drive from Tera Nova to Charlestion. We arrived and set up in our site by 9:00. Now off to checkout Elliston. Their claim to fame is to be the root cellar capital of the world. I can say you would see them all over town.

Our real destination was to see the puffins. We were in luck they were on the island close by. I forgot my long lens and the pictures are marginal but large in number.

We were now off the Bonavista to view the historic sites. First on the list was the lighthouse because we didn't need directions. The light house tower is 18 feet in diameter and solid stone. Because of this they had cupboard built in to the side to use as a refrigerator. The province season pass we had got us a private tour of the inside and living quarters as you will see.

Kitchen

Bath tube

The unexpected was to find Puffins here also. The special treat was the foxes.

Dungeon Provincial Park was next on the list. Only historic because it was an under water cave that colapsed a long time ago. This made for some nice pictures.

The Mockbeggar Plantation was the nest stop. Another Historical Provincial site which was home to the first Prime Minister of the Province after confederation (when Newfoundland voted to join Canada instead of the US 49% to 51%). Another private tour, I don't know how we are so lucky.

Last we had to stop for dinner and I could not resist a few more Lupine pictures. They are just about gone for the season.

All the pictures here.

Day 32 Terra Nova National Park

I think too many nights out late has caught up with us. We slept in really late this morning and then went for a walk around the campground. Lunch and another nap and we were ready to kike the campground trail along the bay.  Rain off and on this afternoon but we managed. Just a few pictures to share.