That was the greeting I got from Marlene, via email, this morning when I finally checked my mail after 2 days out of range. We travelled into Gros Morne National Park and drove along the coves as much as possible to get a flavour of the area. The first stop was a region settled by the French and Acadians, where we checked out the communal bread oven. I figure they would have fired it up once in a while and the whole village would come down and baked some bread while exchanging stories. We stopped into the local tourist info office to enquire about French family names, but the clerk knew little about the history of the area. We did notice they have their own flag for the region.
After stopping for the night in Deer Lake, where we had an amazing dinner of pan fried local cod (I cooked), we drove through Gros Morne Park to the turnoff for the Labrador ferry. We only meant to ask about the times and costs but the ferry was leaving in 15 minutes, so we hopped on board, easy as that!! Our trip was much faster than the ride across from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland, only 90 minutes. And we were treated to a whale sighting along the way! Just to be clear, the Straight of Belle Isle, which separates Newfoundland from Labrador, is quite narrow, unlike the area between Nova Scotia and the Rock. But our ferry ride to Newfoundland, which should have taken about 6 hours, was extended to about 9 hours!! It wasn’t the rough seas that delayed us. It was the Captain’s need for a rest period. So we basically drifted along from one coast to the other as if we were being pulled by long cables attached to a winch, manned by a single sailor. Ok, I am exaggerating a little bit! But still!! We arrived in Newfoundland and sat at the port for over 30 minutes before we could deboard. Alright, this reminds me too closely to a similar event at Vancouver airport, years ago. I wonder if the port is staffed by the Air Canada ground crew? At least we got to try boondocking at the local weight scale station. It was that or risk hitting a moose.
Turning my world upside down! 