Back on Island ... back to the Tarundl Oct. 2013

Delighted to have a reason to go for a hike ... "let's try the Tarundl", easy to hike and easy to talk ... so with a frequent island visitor off we went ... thanks Jean for the opportunity ...

and you never know what you might see ... on the way down, right in town a grouse ....















then there were the late arriving Tarundl salmon.

coming to the end with more St. John's, Quidi Vidi, Cape Spear

Just a little more of St John's a very active port with its spectacular harbour entrance.

Then up to the Citadel on the north and the entrance batteries on the south.

Next is Quidi Vidi ... about as charming as it gets   ... we had a delicious chowder lunch in a 100 year old building ... with rolling wave floors!

Finally Cape Spear as far east as we can get ....

 Well we travelled over 6000 k while in Newfoundland and almost 8000 k to get there ... what a wonderful trip with great friends and that special hospitality of Newfoundlanders, exemplified by our Bonnie.

Heading out to find the Gannetts ...

The van is now full as we have picked up both Bonnie and Kelly [used to be Klimic, when she lived here in the 80's, she now lives in St. John's].

We are heading down to Cape St Mary's to see the nesting area for the Gannetts; they were getting ready to fly off but there was still a wide range of chick ages.
 

 
Then we walked the Cataracts ... there is a board walk that takes you down across and back up over this river ... then we drove over the bridge.

Next trip is to the Bay Bulls were Kelly is working in the park, East Coast Trails.

 This is part of the eastern coastal trail of the Avalone Peninsula .. over 200 miles long!
We met several groups hiking this section on a beautiful Sept. day.

A off shore oil-rig supply boat passing by.

 Nfld has amazing trail systems ..

 Soon we say goodbye to some of our crew but there is still more of the Avalone to see.

Into St John's

Back to reconnect with Bonnie and her family - a day of rest and then into the big city ...














Lots of colour all over St John's ... and we all loved the Rooms ... their museum on the hillside over looking the town.

  Window shopping and good food but no music

"Home" to CBS ... Conception Bay South

Leaving Botwood we headed straight to Bonnie's Steep Nap home .. 2 animal related sites on the trip back were ... the moose fatalities had gone up by 1 while we were gone, we had some fox pups who wanted to get in the van with us, well perhaps it was just food that they wanted, and we got to see a lynx streak across the road in font of us!
 
Once at Bonnie's we contacted other ex-Island friends to arrange a couple of trips into St John's and down the Avalon ...
 
In the meantime we did local trips  ...
This is the hard winter martimes  ... how long would you guess this grounded vessel has been in Conception Bay?

 

These are not dirty icebergs but some very dramatic rocks off the coastal road.

 

We hiked and geocached the beautiful Manuels River Trails system.

Walked the beaches looking for treaures and enjoying the sun and the views. 

And more  views

and more to come when we go further south.

That ship grounded around the first World war ... perhaps the small tides help. 

To Botwood

Now we know we are heading back to St John's, but where should we break the trip ... we had heard about a nice Hostel in Botwood and it wasn't far off the main road so off we headed.

Botwood has an amazing air history ... visitors who flew in were Lindberg, Churchill, Roosevelt, Bob Hope as during the war it was the terminal for trans Atlantic crossings; now it is the headquarters for travellers wanting to enjoy the Bay of Exploits a beautiful kayaking area.

We managed to get out to do a bit hiking in this area

 Only later did we hear one story of this area, from Bonnie's pal, Donna .... we were close but didn't know it.

  Donna's parents [her 18 year old mother was sent to the Black Islands Outport to teach ... and her father watched as the young teacher scrambled off the boat - he knew she was the one for him ... he was right, they married and began their family] Then with wee kids in tow they were moved from the outport to the "mainland" of the Harbour, where they struggled to get shelter for the growing family, get in gardens and earn a living. The first winter the roof blew off their house!
It is hard to understand the resilience of these Newfoundlanders, even today! Donna now travels to the old place for much of the summer. We are so thankful that Bonnie shared her family and friends with us.

A word about signs in Newfoundland  ... they have lots, some tell stories about the area, some tell you how many traffic fatalities involving moose, some give road directions and then there are the trail signs, often beautiful but distances given were often confusing ... 2 k. to go or have have we 2k. perhaps it was just we islanders, who have no trail distance signs!