Gander and Twillingate NL

Gander and Twillingate

Back onto the TransCanada Highway, this time travelling west towards Port-aux-Basques and the ferry to Sydney, Nova Scotia on our way  home.  Since the weather was changing to rain in the next day or so we did not go to see Trinity Bay or Bonavista, but headed to Gander, and north to Twillingate on the road to the isles.

Gander is well known for it's airport, with history back to WWII and more recently as a safe haven for many commercial flights after 9/11.  The welcome sign says it all, plus a moose statue, which is the closest we got to the real thing.  Gander also has an Aviation Museum which was interesting to visit.

Welcome sign for Gander

Moose statue

Entrance to the Aviation Museum in Gander

Twillingate is basically an island joined to the mainland by several causeways.  It is known for whale watching and a good place to see Icebergs in Iceberg Alley.  We were too late to see either but it is very picturesque, with cliffs and viewing platforms at Long Point Lighthouse at Crow Head, a large harbour for fishing boats etc.  There was a spectacular sunset over the islands the one evening we were there.

cliffs at Long Point from viewing platform

Fishing Boat leaving Harbour

Sunset

View of part of Twillingate from a high rock

In the small harbour there were several fishing huts and small boats.

Another interesting spot was the Auk winery.  They make wine out of local berries such as partridge berries (lingon berries) , bake apples (cloud berries), blueberries, crowberries, stawberries, raspberries and rhubarb etc.  They have some neat names for their wines - Moose Joose is a blueberry, partidgeberry combination.  We missed the wine soft ice cream, they stop selling it at the end of August.

Entrance to Auk Winery

Moose Joose

From Twillingate, we got back onto the Trans Canada Highway and headed for the ferry at Port-aux-Basques, and the end of our adventure to Newfoundland and Labrador. By the time we got home, we had travelled approximately 9,000 km. 

Map of Newfoundland and Labrador

St. John's, Newfoundland

St. John's, Newfoundland

On leaving Gros Morne, the search was on for the parts and service to fix the trailer wheel. After going to RV dealers in Corner Brook, Grand Falls-Windsor, we stopped for the night at Gander, then onwards the next day (which was rainy) to Clarenville, and finally to St. John's where the wheel can be fixed next Wednesday.  Apparently moose hunting season has just opened, which explains all the ATV's on trucks going out of St. John's that we saw on the road (Friday).  So we have had 4 days to see the sites of St. John's and area on the Avalon Peninsula, while staying at Pippy Park Campground, very close to the Legislature building and Memorial University Campus.

The weather was to be nice for the first day, partly cloudy for the second, rainy and foggy for the third, then clearing for day four.  So what did we do:

Day 1:  Downtown St. John's for a walk on Water Street and Duckworth admiring all the interesting store fronts and the brightly coloured houses, followed by a trip up to Signal Hill, where you get a nice view of the harbour, with the oil rig tenders, and a cruise ship, Amadea, in port. In the distance along the coastline, one could see Cape Spears, the most easterly point of Canada. 

Pippy Park, with shrouded Legislature Bldg

Mural of life in St. John's

More colourful houses

Entrance to St. John's harbour from Signal Hill

Oil rig tenders in harbour

Cabot Tower on Signal Hill

General view of St. John's Harbour from Signal Hill

Cape Spear Lighthouses, old and new

Since it was a nice sunny day we then drove to Cape Spears and walked around the point and the two lighthouses. There was a small tourist tour boat close to shore on it's way to St. John's. On the way back from Cape Spears, we drove down the South Shore road of St. John's harbour to see the small marina for fishing vessels and Fort Amherst, with fortifications and a small lighthouse at the narrow entrance to St. John's harbour.  The next inlet/small protected harbour north of Signal Hill is Quidi Vidi, an old fishing village.

Most easterly land in N. America

Signal Hill from South Shore Road

Fort Amherst Lighthouse

Quidi Vidi Harbour

Day 2.  A bit cloudy , but not raining so off to Portugal Cove and the ferry to Bell Island in Conception Bay, west of St. John's.  Bell Island is famous for it's iron mines which opened in 1895 and closed in 1966.  The ore is in a 17 foot seam, in rock that is 500 million years old, and is 51% pure. The tunnels from the mines went deep and under the sea in Conception Bay. Now there are tours down mine # 2, which takes you 650 ft underground, and the tour guide takes you through what life was like for the miners & ponies in the early days of the mine, to the changes that mechanization and electricity made to the mining process.  Before World War II, German ships came to load up with iron ore at Bell Island, and during WWII, German U-Boats actually torpedoed 4 ships being loaded up for iron ore going to UK.  One torpedo missed and hit the dock, the only war incident that affected Canada directly.

Car ferry from Portugal Cove to Bell Island

Iron Mine Tour

Mine tour guide explaining mine history

Mine entrance

Bell Island from the ferry

Day 3.  Wet and foggy, can't see Signal Hill from the Johnson Geo Centre a showcase of earth and space.  This is a unique centre with indoor and outdoor exhibits based on the geology and natural history of Newfoundland and Labrador.  The Centre is actually built into the rock of Signal Hill which is 450 million years older than the Rocky Mountains. There were also exhibits on the oil exploration off the Grand Banks, and the Titanic Story which laid partial blame on the Captain who thought his ship was unsinkable, and onto the ship's radio officers who were busy sending messages home for passengers and did not pay any attention to the many messages from nearby ships about the iceberg danger.

Day 4.  A short trip south of St. John's to Bulls Bay and Witless Bay (an ecological reserve for sea birds including some islands) on the Irish Loop.  Here we actually passed some dairy farms, hay & corn fields.  The first bit of agriculture we had seen.  Newfoundland and Labrador import most of their dairy products and produce from Quebec and the Maritimes, as the island is truly a "rock".

Bulls Bay, notice caves

Witless Bay

Wednesday, the trailer garage was not able to completely fix the trailer wheel, and they feel the axle needs to be replaced.  They patched the wheel bearing as best they could and sent us on our way.