Western Newfoundland

Okay, all of you who told us that Newfoundland was the best province to visit just might have been right!  Great scenery, great music and friendly people all add up to a lovely place to visit.   It all started on the 6 hour ferry trip from North Sydney, NS to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland.  A duo played live music for most of the trip, some country, some traditional Celtic fiddle numbers, some Newfie ballads, some original numbers - along with jokes and banter that had us all in stitches. 

 The scenery in Gros Morne National Park was stunning beyond words - strange geology made it even more special.  For example, The Tablelands are high, flat mountains with nothing growing on them due to concentrations of heavy metals from the mantle of the Earth - ancient upheavals sent part of the mantle to the surface. 
oh, fiddlesticks, I still can't upload photos. Is anyone else having trouble uploading to their blogs this week??  I want to know if it just a glitch in my blog or is it the system?  We have so many awesome photos to share right now, too, from the NS and Nfld. C'est la vie.  To continue....

We took a 2 hour boat ride into Western Brook Pond, actually a large lake that used to be a fjord before changes cut it off from the ocean a LONG time ago.  Now it is a fresh water lake but lack of nutrients and its depth keep it from being biologically productive - it supports almost no life.  What makes it stunning are the 600-700 metre high cliffs which line its shores - new, breath-taking scenery around every curve along with some very steep waterfalls.  A misty fall near the far end of the lake had us guessing names like angel falls or bridal veil falls but, wait for it, it has the very Newfie type name of Pissing Mayor Falls.  The 3 km walk into the lake to catch the boat was a mix of treed limestone ridges and boardwalk covered bogs.  After the boat tour and the walk back to the truck, we stopped at an ocean beach, full of pebbles all smooth and rounded from eons of wave action and ate our lunch in sight of the scattered rusty remains of a 1919 ship wreck.  We rounded out the afternoon with a walk on a coastal trail, a visit to a lighthouse where a Parks Canada employee shared her life stories as one of the first female fishers in the province, a visit to a marine research plant where we enjoyed an informative tour about life in Bonne Bay in the park, and a drink on a pub deck overlooking Bonne Bay.  So much to see and do in the park, so little time!!!
Last night we went to a local pub in Norris Point, a small town in Gros Morne, and enjoyed some local singers at an open mike night. No traditional Newfie songs but some great covers of songs from the 60s and lots of Bob Marley, covered by young local musicians with lots of talent!  Chatting with fellow travellers gave us more ideas for the rest of the province.
There are up to 5000 moose in Gros Morne Park and we still haven't seen a moose on this cross Canada trip!!!!  Did see one small bear along the road today.
  Today was not a banner day - strange noises from our truck convinced us to skip our last planned stop in Gros Morne in favour of driving straight to Deer Lake, the closest town.  A mechanic was able to do a computer diagnostic test and tell us what was wrong but would have had to order the part.  Being Friday, that would have put us into next week.  We phoned back to Cornerbrook, 50 km out of our way, but they also did not have the part.  We phoned ahead to Grand Falls, 180 km east but on our planned route. The Dodge dealership had the part but said they had no time to install it until the second week of Sept!!!!!  We drove there anyway, through torrential rain but with a cooperative truck, and convinced them to squeeze us in today - one  hour and a few dollars later and we were on our way again.  Now we are in Twillingate and will explore this peninsula, or group of causeway and bridge connected islands, tomorrow - forecast is for sun (-: