The OTHER ROCK

We arrived by ferry to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland , our last province to tour before we turn around for home. With quick reflection we opted for the short night ferry, which was 7 hours, when we should have taken the longer ferry , the reason behind this is, Newfoundland is a big province and the way we had planned it has us traveling across it twice. So if you plan on making the journey ,take a night ferry from Sydney,NS to Argentia,NFL, and make sure you book early and book a cabin. The chairs are better than airline seats and recline but if you have a option lying down would be much better.

Our first glimpses of NFL are through the morning fog, craggy shore lines emerg thru the fog, we made it the other Rock our final destination !!!

A quick right off the ferry takes us along a windy road , thru small communities, lakes, ocean inlets, Boulder landscapes, to the craggy shoreline and a light house in Rose Blanche. There are hundreds of lighthouse ‘s all with a story, this one is a restored stone lighthouse, from the 1850’s. Chatted with some of the locals and we had to tune our ear to their dialect,  a mixture of English, Irish, Celtic,Lawrence caught on pretty quick .Sorry no pictures too foggy.

One community that we drove thru had flags strung everywhere , every house, power pole, store front and banners on each home with “Welcome Home”. They have a festival and welcome family and friends home for a big reunion, it was very moving.

Newfoundland has one major road running north then east then south, the Trans Canada Highway! The scenery is spectacular but it is a typical highway, which is what we normally don’t do, but have not much option to make it to St John, which is in the south of the province. All roads branch off from it and we will explore after a visit to St. John .

The colours and styles of some of the homes makes the skyline cheery to look at.

Standng  anywhere  in St . John you are immediately  impressed by the very impressive stone structure atop the highest point , this is Signal hill , Cabot tower , changed hands between the French and British, always being a key point in the defence of St. John’s, today there is a radio exhibit in the tower , and  it is said that Marconi’s first Trans Atlantic message was received at a hospital nearby , interesting as Nova Scotia also claims the first message received at Glace Bay,will the real message site please stand up? The  view from this point is quite spectacular , you can see Cape Spear the most easterly point of Canada , also,a great place to photograph the city not to mention the fantastic view of the lower rocks and hikes around the point , it is strange to stand here and think the next thing you reach across the sea is Britain , most definitely  a must to do this hike if you come to St. John’s.

Moving on from this point we go to the infamous Cape Spear , as mentioned the most easterly point , shrouded in mist and fog most of the time, it lifted enough for us to appreciate the beauty and ruggedness of this place. There is much history here,during  WW11 long range guns were installed to protect the entrance  to St. John’s and the approaches to the harbour . The barrels to the guns are still on site , and so is the lighthouse that still stands atop the cliffs , a very interesting site ,it is possible to hike many kilometres along the cliff tops , we chose not to do this , just to be here for us marks the end of the first part of the trip , all we have to do now is drive home !

Well we DID IT, St John Newfoundland , Cape Spear is the furthest point East in Canada , 12016 miles one way!!