The ferry journey took about 8 hours across a flat foggy sea to Port aux Basques on the south west corner of Newfoundland. We arrived in a small little port surrounded by bleak treeless hills, berthed and off I walked to the highway north. There is only one bus a day which had already gone so hitchhiking was the only way to travel. Luckily for me my first ride took me 350 kms which was amazing. The driver was an American travelling to St Johns from St Louis
for his cousins wedding.
His wife, daughter & mother all flew but he gets claustraphobic in planes so drove on his own, except when I was in the car. We got on well & it was very enjoyable. He used to come to Newfoundland as a kid. We stopped & asked some locals where we could get a meal & could barely understand their dialect or directions which was very funny. Had tiggs stew for lunch.There were very few towns, maybe 4 in this stretch and wooded almost all the way, but not big trees because of the short growin season. I jumped out at Deer Lake where the Viking highwaynorth starts. It started to rain & I sheltered at a little roadside food place on the edge of town. The owners gave me a cup of tea & some cake & didn't want me to pay. A couple of people came in who were very chatty. One of them then offered to drive me to Rocky Harbour in the Gros Morne national park 60 kms away which was in the opposite direction of where this lady & her husband were travelling. I was starting to benefit from the legendary hospitality of the Newfoundland people.
This guy was in real estate & was going through a messy divorce & he seemed to be travelling to get his mind off things. I saw my first moose which was awesome. I got dropped off in cold light rain with nowhere to shelter so just trudged along the road with very few cars going by.
Then I
His wife, daughter & mother all flew but he gets claustraphobic in planes so drove on his own, except when I was in the car. We got on well & it was very enjoyable. He used to come to Newfoundland as a kid. We stopped & asked some locals where we could get a meal & could barely understand their dialect or directions which was very funny. Had tiggs stew for lunch.There were very few towns, maybe 4 in this stretch and wooded almost all the way, but not big trees because of the short growin season. I jumped out at Deer Lake where the Viking highwaynorth starts. It started to rain & I sheltered at a little roadside food place on the edge of town. The owners gave me a cup of tea & some cake & didn't want me to pay. A couple of people came in who were very chatty. One of them then offered to drive me to Rocky Harbour in the Gros Morne national park 60 kms away which was in the opposite direction of where this lady & her husband were travelling. I was starting to benefit from the legendary hospitality of the Newfoundland people.The weather cleared up when we hit the west coast & these wonderfull folks dropped me off. Then a short ride, then a long walk & then picked up by Natalie who was Clement Holgates buddy when she spent a year at Otago University.
That was a small world connection on the remote northern peninsular of Newfoundland. Natalie was tramping in the park & didn't take
me far. But then the rides stopped & the big mossies started.
My plan to sleep out quickly changed & I walked 5 kms to the nearby town of Cow Head.
It was Canada day & I booked into a motel & then went for a fundraising $25 lobster dinner in the nearby Anglican church hall. The locals doing the food could have been the Alexandra Primary PTA (much older of course) & were great.
It was pointed out to me that Newfoundland was part of Britain untill 1949 when it became a Canadian province.
The inhabitants here are very similar to Otago & Southland people.
Had a beer in the bar with some locals who told me the cod fish were returning but were being eaten by the 8 million harp seals here.
Also they cull harp seals here in spring for their skins which are made into clothes & shoes.
I got up early & hit the road, it was 3 degrees. I got picked up by another American in a hurry to catch the 10-30 ferry to Labrador from St Barbe about 250 km north. So we ate up the miles & drove quickly through some very pretty areas with forests, rivers and lakes
(called ponds). But generally it was pretty barren with a few fishing villages with their lobster pots sitting in big heaps beside the road.
This guy was in real estate & was going through a messy divorce & he seemed to be travelling to get his mind off things. I saw my first moose which was awesome. I got dropped off in cold light rain with nowhere to shelter so just trudged along the road with very few cars going by.
Then I was picked up by a nice retired couple Hervy & Lorraine Applin who took me to their home in Sunny Cove for a cuppa. I spent awhile with them & they told me about the effect of the cod fishery collapse on the local communities. There is still a smaller fishing fleet here but the fishery is tightly controlled. The halibut season is only for 2 days & there is a week long cod season with a low per person allowance. All young people move away to other parts of Canada and many to the oil sands mining in Alberta. This has resuted in depopulation & in small communities like Sunny Cove half the population are pensioners. Hervy showed me his 2 skidoos, moonshine still & his blokes shed where he hangs out with his bddies. I got back on the road & walked for awhile, then who should stop & pick me up but Hervy & Lorraine who took me on a local tour of the little towns & we saw seal skins out drying.
They dropped me at the only airport in this region & I bought a ticket to St Johns for the following afternoon.
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