June 27-28: Sydney, NS to Gros Morne National Park, Nfld

June 27

Oooh the ferry, how I hate having to rely on other transportation systems to get me where I need to be.  Let me back up a bit – last night was the stormiest night we’ve had so far.  I’m surprised our tarp  didn’t rip right off and blow away.  Along with the wind was a torrential down pour, luckily because our tarp held in place, we managed to stay somewhat dry.  Ok, now back to the ferry…We got up early this morning to make sure we got to the ferry on time but found out that our ferry has actually been delayed by about 4 hours!   So now, not only are we taking a different ferry, we have to wait even longer.  On the bright side, they have refunded our money and this ferry trip is free!!!  After talking to our neighbours at our campsite (who are actually from Belleville, about 45minutes away from Kingston), we learned that the ferry is in fact never reliable!  They’ve done this trip a few times and one time were delayed 4 days!!!  I was almost considering saying the heck with Newfoundland altogether but Carl talked me back into my senses and so away we went!

My 24 week picture taken on the ferry

 

June 28

After the 6 hour ferry ride, we changed our watches ahead by 30 minutes (we are now currently 4.5 hours ahead of Vancouver time) and arrived in Newfoundland at about 9:30pm and found a campsite.  Before the ferry even docked, we were amazed at the sight of Newfoundland and it’s beauty.  Waves crashed up against the rocky shore, brightly colored houses dotted the ocean front and as we drove farther into the island we saw tree covered mountains and open fields with wild flowers that made it feel like we were driving in the alpine.  I’m already glad we made the decision to still come to Newfoundland!  

A view from the ferry

It drizzled throughout the night and besides the fact that Carl spilled his water bottle inside the tent, we once again managed to stay dry!

The waterfall behind our campsite.  Apparently, the day before you could walk across this
waterfall but from all the rain they had gotten that day, the water level rose significantly.

Staying dry during breakfast with a garbage bag as our table cloth
and 2 plastic grocery bags to sit on!

It took about 4 hours to get to Gros Morne today and it seemed that when we stopped, it was sunny but once we started driving, we would hit the rain again – we were rain chasers!  Here are some photo op's from along the way:

This is Moose Number Three we've seen!!!

We arrived at Gros Morne and the sun was shining and I am thrilled to report that at 9:30pm, it’s still extrememly light, warm and there are clear skies!!!  Thank you Jesus!  After setting up camp, we went on a short hike to see if we could get some good views, which we did.  

A cariboo Momma with her caribou baby

We are currently camped at Trout River by the Tablelands.  The Tablelands “are made of rock that comes from deep within the earth’s crust.  Nowhere in the world is such material as easily accessed as in Gros Morne (it’s usually only found at the unfathomable ocean depths)” says Lonely Planet.  We have a full day planned for tomorrow and so far the forecast is rain!  We're hoping that changes but we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see!

June 26: Cabot Trail to Sydney, NS

Ahhhh, I forgot how nice it was to wake up to warm sunshine!  We stayed dry last night and all our stuff has officially dried out from the rain we encountered in previous days.  We threw on some shorts and continued along the Cabot Trail, stopping a few times to do a small hike or check out some look-out’s.  

These Wildflowers are growing everywhere in Nova Scotia in white, light pink and purple.  They are gorgeous!

A wild Orchid

Unfortunately, that hot sun didn’t stick around for long and after about 20 minutes of driving, the rain was back in full force and sitting here at 9:40pm, it still hasn’t subsided.  The rain, mixed with fog meant that we didn’t get the views we were hoping for on the second half of the Cabot Trail…On the other hand, the more driving we do and with the sights we see, we realize that we are really spoiled with where we grew up!  So far, pretty much every place we have gone, we can compare it to somewhere back home whether it be driving in the rockies (a smaller version), the Okanagan or the Oregon Coast.  I’m sad to say that in a sense we are kind of disappointed with what we thought were going to be amazing places.  Having said that, the rain doesn’t help and I’m sure if we had more time to explore, we might appreciate it more as well.  Our travels ended today in Sydney, NS where we had our first taste of lobster!  

Don’t worry, it won’t be our only taste, we just had to try this.  

It wasn’t worth the $6, tasted like lettuce on a hot dog bun with some slimy white stuff.  

From Sydney, is where we are to catch the ferry to Newfoundland tomorrow.  And that’s where the next dilemma stands…We were supposed to leave tomorrow at 2:30pm and head to Argentia, about an hour away from St.John’s.  Well apparently that ferry needs mechanical work and therefore there are no ferries running to Argentia.  We have been re-scheduled to go to Port Aux Basques on the other end of Newfoundland at 10:30pm tomorrow!  Luckily I was able to call and at least get switched to the 11:30am ferry so we don’t waste a day in Sydney (there is nothing here), although now we’re wasting a day on the ferry, as opposed to a night like originally planned.  The other dilemma is that they don’t know if the ferry from Argentia, Nfld back to Sydney, NS will be running again by the time we need to get back!  This could mean we have to do the drive between Argentia and Port Aux Basque (about 10 hours) twice, which adds an extra day of unexpected driving!  Ugggghhh, if it only it wasn’t pouring outside, maybe I’d fee better about things!  At this point, we are praying that we stay on schedule and that the sun makes an appearance and sticks around!

We had to have our BBQ chicken over the fire at some point - can't let the rain take away all our fun!

June 25: Peggy’s Cove to The Cabot Trail

Today was another long day of driving…Who am I kidding, everyday seems to be a long day of driving!  But that doesn’t mean we aren’t loving it!  We left Peggy’s Cove this morning and headed towards Halifax.  One of Carl’s friends from his program at Queens is from Halifax and just happened to be home for 2 weeks!  We sent him a text and were able to meet up with him in downtown Halifax.  We only spent about 1.5 hours there but in that time we were able to catch up with a friend, walk the boardwalk along the water and get a bit of history about Halifax from Will, Carl’s friend.  It was pleasant.  Then it was back in the car, destination the Cabot Trail!  We stopped and picked up some groceries and decided that since the weather was nice, we were going to have a fire and do up some BBQ chicken – Yum!

We entered the Cabot Trail around 6pm and were in search of a campsite.  The first one we were hoping to stay at was closed…So we kept driving and came to the second one, basically a parking lot with a bit of grass (and I guess I should mention the ocean front view).  It would have to do, the next campsite wasn’t for a long while.  We pulled in, looked around and realized there was no firewood!  So much for our delicious BBQ chicken, guess that will have to wait.  Ok next on the list, spaghetti!  Just need to find some water to boil the noodles in…Ummmm no water…Let’s see here, ok there is a sign “closest potable water, 10km south” – oh so you mean at the campsite we passed that is closed!?  Ok, well thank goodness we are smart little campers and had some water left over from our last sight!  Just enough for spaghetti and to fill up our water bottles…We’ll have to see how we make out without our morning coffee!  

For now, it’s time to take in the ocean view and watch the sunset!  Good night!

June 24th: Fundy to Peggy's Cove, NS

Well we managed to stay somewhat dry last night!  It did rain most of the night but our trusty tarp did it's job!  Today, the goal was to get to Peggy's Cove in Nova Scotia!

A pit stop enroute

We started out with a small detour so we could see Cape Enrage which according to some, is the beautiful view in Canada!  Unfortunately, not all the rain had subsided and along with the rain came fog!  There was no view :(  So this is all I've got to show you, the pretty picture on the brochure...   

Our next stop was one that we figured would be a highlight of the trip, Hopewell Rocks!  Here, when the tide is out (which it was) you get to see "flower pot" rocks.  Cool rocks, shaped by the ocean.

The rock formations were very cool and quite beautiful but we have to admit, the area was a little disappointing in that it was so touristy!  You drive up to a massive parking lot, have to purchase a ticket to walk along the beach, are forced to walk through the gift shop and are surrounded by hundreds of other tourists.  Not our idea of "natural beauty" but still beautiful to say the least.

We continued our drive...  

And to our surprise learned a little fun fact - Anne Murray was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia! 

Instead of driving the straightforward routes and major highways, we usually like to take the scenic routes however on this trip the scenic routes haven't been to scenic and seem to take twice as long to get  to our destinations!  After a few hours on a boring side road, we ditched the "scenic route" and booked it to Peggy's Cove!

Apparently the lighthouse in Peggy's Cove is the most photographed lighthouse EVER!  It is a gorgeous area!

We are currently camped just outside of Peggy's Cove and are looking forward to seeing the SUN that is forecasted for tomorrow!!!

June 23rd: Grand Manan and Fundy

The adventure continues!  We awoke Friday morning and had a relaxing leisurely morning because we knew we couldn’t catch the ferry to Grand Manan until 1:30.  It was nice to slow things down after all the driving we had already done! We boarded our ferry and an hour and a half later, arrived at our accommodation for the evening at "Hole in the Wall Campground"…

Not bad huh?  Here's the view looking in each direction...

  

Carl and I both agree that this is probably the most beautiful spot we have ever camped at.  We quickly set up our tent and went to explore the island!  We did about an hour hike to the lighthouse we could see from our campsite.  The trail was slightly treacherous, ducking under trees, walking through long grass and almost running into a deer but we made it!  The reason the campground is called "Hole in the Wall" is because of this...

Afterwards we did a short drive to the town of Gran Manan only to discover that there isn’t much of a town!  But we did end up getting this shot when the tide was low.  You can see that fishing boat in almost no water.

From then on, it was time for more relaxing!  We had dinner and a fire and enjoyed our cliff top ocean view.  

The following morning (Saturday) we had to get up early to catch the 7:30am ferry!  If we wanted to stay on schedule, we had to keep moving.  Just as we were getting up it started to rain so we shoved our wet tent into the car and headed to the ferry.  We drove to Saint John’s, NB and hopped out for a few hours to explore.  We stopped in at a local market, checked out an old store where we bought the first ever chocolate bar (yum!) and tried a town favourite, Dulse (basically seaweed that's used for a snack, as an extra spice or to add salt to something without using salt).  

Houses in downtown Saint John's

Apparently the first Canadian chocolate bar made in the 1920's

We were lucky enough to see Saint John’s in the sun because the rest of our day was wet!  But that didn't stop us from stopping to check out the scenery!  Covered bridges are a big thing in New Brunswick, they are everywhere!  I'm not sure what the big deal is about them but it's on my list of things to read up on!

  

We continued on to St.Martin’s where we saw some sea caves.  Unfortunately the tide was in so we didn’t get to close.  

From there we went to The Fundy Trail Parkway which some people (or maybe just the brochure I read) claims that it is "the only remaining coastal wilderness between Florida and Newfoundland.  We stopped for a short hike which actually ended up being longer than than we anticipated.  On the way back up the hill we had hiked down, Carl had to assist me but pushing me part of the way to give me a bit of a boost!  If the weather was nicer or if we could hike or bike the Fundy Trail I think we would have enjoyed it more.  But the weather was lousy and the fog blocked our view so we ended up turning back early and heading on towards Fundy National Park.  When we arrived it was pouring rain so we decided to get our tarp up and go for a walk  to see if the rain would subside before we put our already tent up.  

On our walk, the tide was out so we got to walk along the ocean floor

During our walk to the beach the rain did subside…But not for long!  By the time we were back at our site, it again was pouring and hasn’t let up since.  It’s now 10pm and we are sitting in the car, me on the computer typing and Carl is reading.  It’s now dark and still pouring and the tent isn’t up yet….Guess we better get this party started its gonna be a wet one!