Newfoundland

Yes, time we have – and no return ticket pushes us to any program steps or “check off” from touristic highlights. This was also the reason why we asked – simply so and without obligation – in North Sydney for a possible ferry crossing to Newfoundland. On the same day we could book a crossing to Channel-Port-aux-Basques/Newfoundland and prepared for a night exercise.

Shortly before eleven o’clock we reached the port of arrival and drove out into the dark night; and it was really dark, very dark! Large signs pointed out the danger of mosses – slightly larger moose – and soon let us find a place to sleep.

Looking at the map we soon realized that this island, to which Labrador and only a little more than 100 years to the Canadian Confederation belongs, is huge by our standards. In the further the road led in an inverted U from west over north to east; there is nothing more here.

But wide landscapes that are untouched by man and left to their own devices.

For us Swiss also spoiled an almost new experience: from one sight to the next, from one highlight to the other it is many kilometres and you literally sit your ass in your armchair.

However, compensation almost always follows immediately. Wide and unspoilt landscapes even along Canada’s Highway 1, what does it look like in the hinterland?

During the northern “circumnavigation” it started to rain and also the temperatures fell to the quieter level, so that we had to master a first test of patience.

After the rain the sun shines somewhere and so we could circle the South Cape in sunshine.

At Mary’s National Park we visited a larger gannet settlement and were soon astonished what is here all in the smallest space for the offspring. Quasi on 4 levels, the Basstölpel brood, under it the Dickschnabellimmen, further down the Dreizehenmöven and the Tordalk. A gigantic chattering and screeching extends far into the landscape and the confusion-war is a wonderful spectacle for the viewer.

The other places along the east coast, with the exception of St. John’s, are shrinking, as with the decline of fishing people are also moving away.

In the coastal areas, lobsters are the main species caught during the season, and a few fish off the Newfoundland coast in the mid-season on ocean-going vessels, whose fish are processed and exported locally.

St. John’s couldn’t hold us for long! The weather was just too bad and there were no summer temperatures either. So we drove a short distance to the eastern point of the North American continent and looked from Cape Spear into the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean before we left the area in a westerly direction.

Shortly before our departure, a whale appeared in the floods and said goodbye in its own way; with a short ascent and dropping back into the water.

The northwestern peninsula of Avolon, with all its well-known fishing villages, we left immediately to the right due to the weather and trusted the local weather forecast; the next day it should be dry and less windy on the Bonavista peninsula.

To Cape Bonavista it was again some kilometres through wide landscapes, crossed with 1000 and a lake and forests as far as the eye can see. And again and again the road led short pieces along the sea or a bay, where wonderful views of the water surface were open.

From Cape Bonavista we could enjoy various whale watching, but we could not find the famous puffins anywhere.

Before moving further west, we visited the islands of Twillingate, which today are connected to the mainland by dams and actually no longer an island at all. Whales and puffins should be found there in large numbers.

The landscape was again very special and impressive. The guide really didn’t promise too much and almost at every bend or turn a new picture and new impressions followed. Unfortunately we found none of the many animals, except the seagulls, and looked in vain into the vastness of the sea or at the many cliffs.

On the way to the west coast we left many touristic highlights to the left and right; everything can’t be seen or visited. Especially as the journeys to the different peninsulas would always have been very far.

The “Gros Morne” park on the west side is intended to invite you to extensive hikes. We made do with visiting Western Brook Pond, a huge fjord that has been lifted up sometime and today is a huge lake, trapped between steep cliffs.

Again stormy and humid weather on the northern peninsula caught up with us, even the overnight stays sometimes presented us with certain problems and night parking was the order of the day.

From St. Barbe we took the ferry to Labrador.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator