Newfoundland - Part 2

July 10
After a bit of a slow morning (due to the late night merriment) we headed out to New Bonaventure, about 25 kms from Trinity. There they have the site where they filmed the fantastic miniseries called Random Passage. If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend it! I watched it years ago (2001 I think?) when CBC first aired it and it's an historically accurate but fictional account of a family who landed from England on the coast of Newfoundland back in the 1700s and began cod fishing. It was so well done and the film producer who is from Newfoundland, donated the set for tourism because it is so well reproduced and accurate to what it would have been like back then. We did the tour and Bride, our tour guide, was an incredible story teller! She brought us through all the buildings and told us the story as well as giving us a lot of explanation of the fishery and the tools they used etc. I would highly recommend this, especially if you've seen the movie!
After spending the morning here, we took off and headed into Clarenville where we stopped and phoned to make ferry reservations for Saturday to cross from Argentia, Nfld to North Sydney, Nova Scotia. We also called the Harley dealership in St. John's. Gerry - one of the owners, answered the phone and God bless him, he squeezed us in the next morning for an oil change and to replace my back tire.
On we went to St. John's. Right in the middle of town is Pippy Park, a huge green belt parkland that also has an RV and campsite area. The bonus, it's pretty much 5 minutes from the waterfront and all the shops. It was a bit pricey at $45/night for a serviced site but the location was too good to pass up.

July 11
Boy we got lucky this morning - we got up early to get to Harley and on our way it started to rain. By the time we got in at 8:00AM, it turned into a downpour. We missed the rain my mere minutes! While our bikes were being serviced, we hung around and drank coffee. What a great bunch of people! Gerry, the owner, made sure we were looked after. We had nice chairs to sit in and some of the staff came and chatted with us and shared some snacks. By the time we were done, the sun was out! Perfect! Gerry left us with his card and told us if we ran into trouble or needed help of any kind in both Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, to give him a call. What a great guy...
From there, we we up to Signal Hill - a National Historic Site. It was a military post high up on a hill and from there, you can look into the St. John's harbour on one side and out over the open water on the other. A lot of the site is still intact and you can wander all over on trails. It was also the site where Marconi received his first trans-Atlantic wireless message and there is a radio room there with lots of artifacts. Very cool.
From there, we headed out to Cape Spear - the Eastern most tip of North America. There are 2 lighthouses there - the original from the early 1800s and then a newer one from around the mid-1900s.
We went back downtown and the two streets that parallel the harbour, Water and Duckworth, have awesome little shops and a vibrant nightlife. We had some of the best pizza we've ever had at Yellowbelly brew pub and, as we sat at by the window and watched the world go by, we realized, on this busy Friday night, that people were cruising!! Especially on motorcycles! Up and down the street they would go! Very funny so after dinner we decided to join the cruise for a lap and rode up Water St. and down Duckworth with the rest of them on parade. TOO FUNNY!!!

July 12
After passing a sleepless night due to drunken, arguing neighbors at the campsite (good grief already!!!) we headed straight over to Argentia to catch the ferry to Nova Scotia. We got in quite early so the gal at the ferry terminal told us to go into Placentia for a couple hours and come back. We headed over there and were just getting off our bikes at Phillip's Cafe (AWESOME PLACE!), who drives up behind us?? Yvan and Carol!! HA HA HA... too funny! And the great news was that they were catching the Argentia ferry too! We had lunch and then headed back to the terminal and got on the boat.
This particular ferry is 17 hours and is really like a mini cruiseship. Yvan and Carol booked a cabin and got a 4 bunk room because that was all they had left. They generously offered to share their cabin with us which was fantastic. After we settled, we went and had their buffet dinner which was honestly one of the best meals we've had on this trip. They had everything and it was all so good. After stuffing ourselves with cod and roastbeef, hung out in the lovely bar area and listened to a singer/songwriter and had an after dinner aperitif. Perfect. We retired to the cabin and I have to admit, those bunk beds were heaven as the boat chugged and rolled along that night. I slept like a baby!

July 13
Woke up this morning at 7:00 and we were still 3 hours from port. We all had breakfast together - again, their buffet breakfast was absolutely top notch. This boat trip was one of the highlights for us. We would highly recommend it and if you can, spring for the cabin. Much nicer than sleeping on airline type reclining seats for 17 hours...
This time we had to say goodbye to Yvan and Carol for sure because they were heading home to Quebec - no chance meetings from here. We've made arrangements to see them on our way home and, of course, they've offered us a place to stay. I suspect they'll become long time friends. So wonderful...
We headed straight to Louisbourg once we got off the boat. It's only about 1 hour away. The Fortress in absolutely incredible!! It's rated as one of the top 10 things to do in Nova Scotia and now we can see why. It's a military fortress town that first began around 1720 and protected the harbour and, ultimately, the cod fishery. Over the next 25 years or so, the British and French fought over this ground and sacked one another repeatedly. Not much remained but in the 1950s I believe, when so many Nova Scotia coal miners were out of work, the government funded a program where many of them could help rebuild 1/4 of the site and learn new trades. Brilliant really. They've done an incredible job and the site is so impressive. It's huge and all the buildings are open and most have interpreters. We also did the little town tour to learn about it all. We would highly recommend this National Historic Site. Incredible.
From there, we went back into the small town of Louisbourg and stayed at the campsite right by the docks. When the wind is just right, the stinks to high heaven of the fish and crab processing plant next door but mostly, the wind carries it away. The site is lovely and right on the water. Next door is the Louisbourg Playhouse - a theater built in the design of the old Globe Theater in London England. It was part of a movie set shot by Disney in the Louisbourg Fortress a number of years ago and they donated it to the town. The townsfolk cut it up in 4 pieces and loaded them on barges, floated them across the harbour and reconstructed it near the docks. It's been a busy theater since and last night we saw Sheldon Chant and his band. All we can say is WOW!!!! Some of his band have played with the Rankins, Rita McNeil and the like so absolutely first rate musicians and they had that place hopping!!! The fiddler cranked our reels like you can't believe and the piano player was another Billy Joel. One of the best piano players I've heard and he can sing just as well. Sheldon is the local undertaker as well as a minister in one of the little churches and he's also an incredible singer, songwriter and guitar player. And very funny! Lots of great jokes and banter. One of the best concerts we been too ever! What a GREAT DAY!!!