Newfoundland away from St John's
On the way to Bonavista, I stopped at a town called Come-By-Chance - apparently there's alot of controversy going on there. I also stopped for a few scenic views of Trinity and Trinity East. It took about three hours from St John's to Bonavista. I spent two nights in Bonavista, just relaxing and reading. I stayed in a Bed and Breakfast (I believe it was called White's B&B) where I rented a bike to tour the town. I visited Cape Bonavista where it is said that John Cabot first landed, and I also went through the dungeon nearby.
While in Bonavista, I visited the Bonavista Museum. For the rest of the time, I just walked around, biked around or drove around to get a feel of the area. I really started to relax in Bonavista... It really reminded me of Dingle in Co. Kerry!
From Bonavista, I went back to the Avalon Peninsula. I started by going up to Heart's Delight. There's a great B&B there called the Beacon B&B. I only stayed one night, but it was lovely. I checked in to my room at the B&B then drove back to Whiteway where I watched the fog roll in. While in Heart's Content, I also drove out to the peninsula to take a look around. It's a very lovely and quiet town.
I drove up from Heart's Delight to Heart's Content to see the end of the first transatlantic cable. Apparently a commercial in the Canadian Heritage series was filmed there. One of my coworker's grandmother used to live in a house on this site!
I drove through Harbour Grace and made my way to the south part of the west side of the Avalon Peninsula. I spent a bit of time at the bird sanctuary at Cape St Mary's. The fog was so thick and the road to the sanctuary so narrow I was afraid to hit any oncoming traffic... I did have to swerve for a group of students by the side of the road...
Cape St Mary's was definitely a highlight of my trip. I watched the very informative and interesting movie that explained the ecosystem of the area, then wandered outside to view the bird sanctuary. There are so many birds out there! The main bird I saw was the gannet - as you can see by these few photos, they rule the top of the rock.
Bird Rock reminded me of the Cliffs of Moher in Co. Clare. Of course the Cliffs of Moher had more tourists...
Instead of the cows I saw at the Cliffs of Moher, Bird Rock is populated more by very friendly goats!
I spent the night in Placentia (from the french word plaisance) in a B&B. I met a few locals there that were very entertaining. The next day, I drove around the south-east part of the Avalon Peninsula, through Ferryland, and found a great B&B called Elaine's in Witless Bay. Elaine and her family were so wonderful and her house is very comfortable. We went through her guest books and found my aunt Joan's and my uncle Tom's entry from the previous year!
After a night at Elaine's, I went back to St John's to get my sister Jennifer. I brought her back to Bay Bulls where we took a tour boat out to see the whales and the glaciers. I didn't see any whales, but there was one amazing glacier that rolled into the bay that very afternoon. We also saw the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve bird sanctuaries. There were many puffins on those two rocks! And they can really swim fast too...
We went back to St John's after another night at Elaine's. On one of our remaining days, we made a trip out to Cape Spear and walked around the underground tunnels. We walked up to the lighthouse but couldn't visit it - they had it closed because of the high winds!
Cape Spear is the easternmost point of land in North America. Great Big Sea performed here on New Year's 2000! As windy as it was, I wore my sandals with no socks and my feet were very cosy - guess it must be the Doc Maartens...
Here are some links that can be informative:
About Bonavista's community
On John Cabot
Bonavista attractions
Newfoundland's history in transatlantic communications
Heart's Delight/Islington
FOGO photos of the glacier in Bay Bulls!
Historic sites of Newfoundland
St John's, Newfoundland
Kelly's home page
Last updated November 28, 2000