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The fog was just as bad around Fortune where the ferry from Saint-Pierre landed and Grand Bank where I spent a night. You could still cut it with a knife the next day when I travelled up the Burin Peninsula by minivan hoping to catch the daily bus at Goobies on the Transcanada Highway.
The Transcanada Highway crosses the island from St-John's to Port-aux-Basques where a ferry connects to North Sydney in Nova Scotia where you can take the TCH again, all the way to Vancouver.
The population of Newfoundland and Labrador being only 520 000, there is not much traffic on this segment of the TCH. There is only one bus a day from John's to Port-aux-Basques so if you miss it you lose a day.
I was lucky and got there just before the DRL bus left for the 750 km drive to Corner Brook.
The Gander Airport is well known for aircraft in distress from Europe land here from time to time. Here is what it looks like.
We stopped for passengers but no one got on.
Newfoundland is the most godfearing province in Canada . According to the 2001 census, only 3% of Newfies are nonbelievers compared to 35 % in British Columbia and a Canadian average of 17 %.
There are few people but the rough countryside is beautiful. Maybe that's why!
The long drive to Corner Brook took over 8 hours but I did not tire looking at green forests and pristine lakes like this one.
There were few people on the bus so I was able to chat with the driver who dropped me off right in front of the Corner Brook Hotel on his way to the terminal.
I can recommend this place, it was clean and comfortable, it had excellent food (moose pie), a friendly atmosphere and a reasonable price (36$US).
I visited Corner Brook a long time ago when the Canadian frigate HMCS La Hulloise, on which I was a UNTD cadet (University Naval Training Divisions), put into port here back in 1953. Then as now, the city existed thanks to the paper mill that was called Bowater's Newfoundland Pulp & Paper before it was sold to the Montreal concern, Krueger Paper. A lot has changed, the paper mill is now much bigger and so is the town.
The people have not changed that much however and religion is apparently still very present in their lives.
I have fond memories of this place for I had met a darling girl who insisted that I accompany her to a religious service before going out to party with me. I would love to hear from Jeanne B. if she recognises herself in this old 1953 photo. Ah, the wear and tear of 50 years! I wonder what she looks like today... If any of you readers recognise her, give her my fond regards.
This brook gave the city its name by flowing across a corner of the paper mill's land.
I wonder what the city hall looked like 50 years ago.
Self indulgence in sweet memories over, I took a bus up the Northern Peninsula to Saint-Barbe to catch a ferry to Blanc-Sablon in Quebec.
Wild undeveloped Newfoundland is a great tourist destination and this is particularly true of the Northern Peninsula.
The scenery was this beautiful all the way up the long 500 km drive to Saint-Barbe.
This is great moose country. I had a glimpse of at least a dozen feeding on the grass along the highway's ditches after dusk but did not manage to take the picture of any.
This year, I am using an Olympus C-60 digital camera. Digital cameras has a number of advantages but they also have disadvantages, one of which is the long delay getting ready to take a picture and the shorter one between the time you press the button and the actual picture taking. I'm sure I would have taken several moose pictures with my old Olympus Epic.
The Dockside Hotel could not possibly be closer to the ferry terminal in Saint-Barbe.
The Apollo ferry to Blanc-Sablon was very big for the little traffic on it. It was also very cheap at only 8.50 for the hour and a half crossing. Obviously heavily subsidised with my tax dollars like everything else in Newfieland.
Here is a last departing shot of Saint-Barbe and Newfoundland.
