Bonavista

Frustration again - I managed to upload two photos successfully then the system quit again. 
I will let you know if and when I am able to add the rest of the photos to this post - especially the puffins.

One day in the Bonavista area is not enough but we sure tried to see and do it all!!    As in many of our stops across Canada, culture, history and nature all competed for our attention so what you will read here is a random attempt to capture our thoughts throughout the day.

-          Scenery – the coastline here is very jagged with many small coves hiding between rugged headlands.  Any one of the coves may have a small fishing village or even just one house.  Offshore islands are either all rocks or have some soil and grass.  The latter make good seabird nesting sites.

-          When the landscape has few trees, power lines and poles seem to dominate the towns and barren lands. It can be a challenge to shoot a photo without power lines!   I should not say barren, as the low growing bushes produce many types of berries, all of which the locals use.  Our B&B breakfast table here  is resplendent with 44 types of jam!!!!!  Our hostess is creative with her combinations and choices.  We tried many varieties yesterday with a different taste on each bite of pancake.  We shall sample more this morning on her homemade bread toast.

-          Ryan Premises  National Historic Site is a collection of 5 old buildings here in Bonavista that were a hub for the cod industry here.  The Ryan family men were fish merchants – buying fish from the fisherman and running a retail store to sell the fisher families the necessities of life.  Money did not change hands; account books were kept.  As the fish merchants set the price for both the goods and the fish, the fishermen seldom came out ahead.  However, it was a system that worked for centuries because the merchants and the fishermen were reliant on one another.

-          Bonavista’s United Church is said to be the largest wooden building on the east coast.  It can seat 2200 people!

 

-          On a pebble beach, when a wave goes back out to sea, the water burbles over the pebbles like a babbling brook – a delightful sound.

-          The placement of houses seems very random in most NL towns – no town grids or planned subdivisions.  Houses are scattered at every angle so the streets are curved, angled, usually narrow – makes for an interesting town and many short streets.  Very hard to capture this on film unless there is a high point overlooking the town.

-          A small nearby town, Elliston, bills itself as the ‘root cellar capital’, with about 140 old root cellars.  As you drive through town, you notice them in random places.  Made me remember my great aunt and uncle’s root cellar in Winfield, BC – a source of fascination when I was young.

-          When we stopped for a quick lunch in Gander on Sunday, the Subway, McDonalds and Tim Hortons all had very long lineups (inside), so we ate at KFC.  The drive-through lines were also long and had double lanes leading up to a merge before the window.   No wonder we are noticing many overweight people here!  We have eaten fast food very seldom on this trip as we want local food. When we have the trailer (we didn’t bring it across to Newfoundland), we do our own cooking. 

-          Newfoundland food – a small tea room here in Bonavista makes everything from scratch and it is delicious so we ate there both nights.  The family’s grandma used to run a tearoom in the house many, many years ago so they decided to recreate it.  I had seafood chowder one night and cod au gratin last night – both excellent.  Shon had Fisherman’s Brewis the first night – we learned how it is made at Ryan Place yesterday – ‘hard bread’ is soaked overnight as is salted, dried cod then both are added to fried salt pork bits – no potatoes as I had thought before.  All ingredients can be kept without refrigeration so good for out on the boats.

-          Lighthouses were, and still are, important to life in Newfoundland.   The lightkeeper’s house was sometimes built around the circular lighthouse so each room had one convex wall – quite intriguing!

-          We walked on a boardwalk around a marshy pond last night at sunset.  Many locals out for a brisk evening walk as we tourists snapped photos by the dozens of the town in evening light.

-          The traditional Newfie house is called a ‘salt box’ house as it is shaped like the boxes that salt came in. Very utilitarian style.  In some areas, there are also houses with two or more gables but not exactly Cape Cod style.

-          Saving the best for last (breakfast is almost ready – will have to add photos tonight in St. John’s).  The highlight of our time here was watching the puffiins on their island colony.  They are soooo cute and there were hundreds of them, all waddling, hopping, flying and trying to keep the gulls from grabbing the fish they had caught.  VERY enjoyable!