We made our way down to the St. John, NB area to see the reversing falls. When the high tide comes into the Bay of Fundy, it pushes the St. John river back upstream and reverses its flow. We sat for four hours watching the change over. We have a few tidal rapids on our coast where this happens. Reversing Falls Rapids | Discover Saint John When we first got there, the river was running pretty good towards the sea. I think this was the tail end of the whirlpool. The buildings across the water are a pulpmill. Built in the 1940s, the owners kept it up to date with technology so it is still operating. Quite a few of the pulpmills out our way have shutdown due to technology. Looking upstream, you can see the falls. Unfortunately I didn't know there was a better viewpoint just up around the corner so I didn't get a good shot of these rapids. The black line on the island is where the water reaches at high water. For this kind of scenery, you need action shots so I took a few videos. You can see that the water is slowing down as the tide is rising out in the Bay of Fundy The rapids are slowing disappearing I found the better viewpoint upstream but the water wasn't running as fast. It was starting to be close to slack water when this sailboat headed up stream. They definitely knew where the channel was. We are at the point that water is about to reverse. https://youtu.be/efE1RodTgBk The flow is now heading upstream https://youtu.be/aD1w9s6A9II The cormorants were busy flying upstream, landing and going downstream with the current. With the flow going the other way, they flew downstream, landed and floated upstream. https://youtu.be/wBLaiLcG4Oo Last video. You can see that the upstream flow has really increased and started to create a small drop just past the island. https://youtu.be/M1tAz6CeS8E
After leaving the falls, we drove through St. John. Our GPS was trying to get us back to our campsite so we ended up in some weird places. St. John is a seaport on the Bay of Fundy. I love the look of the older homes on the east coast. They are older and very different looking than our area back home. I told Mom that this was the design for an upgrade on the library she works in. So many churches and most of them look like they are being used as churches.
Leaving our campsite, we headed east to the coast of Bay of Fundy. We were going to make a circle trip around back to our campsite. It took a lot longer than we anticipated. Our first real glimpse of the Atlantic ocean or really the Bay of Fundy Wild orange day lilies every where. Because there has been enough moisture, flowers are in full bloom. The best place to see the view. Shadow wasn't interested in the view. She was checking to see if any treats got dropped. View from the chairs. Alma, NB. Boats waiting for the tide to come in. As we drove along the shore of the Bay of Fundy, I was struck by all the red sand. Salt marshes.
As we had to wait until our Newfoundland ferry date in August, we found out that the Maritime conference of our church was holding a camp meeting in Pugwash, NS. They had a spot for the trailer so we spent a very inspiring blessed week at camp. To get there, we went through Amherst, NS. This was the nearest place for major grocery shopping and laundry. Some old buildings again. Have you figured out that I like old buildings? Pink roads. They are quite something to see. The pictures doesn't really bring out the colour. Camp Pugwash is on the north shore of Nova Scotia. It was first built in 1952. Northumberland Strait looking at Prince Edward Island on the horizon. Red sand beaches. It is quite shallow here even when the tide is in. The camp was quite big. We were in an RV park across the road.
Leaving Camp Pugwash, we headed to North Sydney, NS to catch the ferry to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. I am trying to capture the colour of the pink roads. To me they are quite unique. Before we reached Cape Breton, we stopped to have lunch and a break. As it was a long weekend, we found a Kal Tire shop that had a big empty parking lot. Perfect place to stop. Wildflowers all along the edge of the parking lot. North Sydney is on Cape Breton Island. Road access is by one road over a causeway. All the traffic to Cape Breton and Newfoundland goes over this causeway. Waiting for the ferry. As we didn't book months ahead for the busy season, we ended up with a midnight run of 7 hours. No cabins available and no sleeping in the RV. It was an interesting trip trying to sleep in a room with 100 people - some of whom snored quite loudly.
We landed in Port aux Basques at 7:30 AM. First thing was to stop and let Shadow out. We were not allowed to go down and let her out while we were on board ship. She did really well in handling herself. We spent the day traveling to our first campsite which was much farther than we expected. It was a lovely spot in a National Park. After sleeping almost 12 hours, we went exploring. Not far from the campsite, was Norris Point (left) and Neddies Harbour (right). The entrance to the bay was on the far right. Norris Point Every town has a least two churches. Norris Point Outside the harbour. We could almost be looking at the coastline back home. On the far point is a lighthouse. We drove around to the lighthouse on the point. Looking back to where we came from. It was quite the windy day. We came back and drove around to Neddie's Harbour. This is looking at the place I took the earlier picture of the church. You can see it on the left side of center. Looking at Norris Point.
It has really been the trip of a lifetime. So much to see and so little time to see it all. Really brings home how big our country is.
It has been a while since I last posted but here on the "rock" (NFL), internet and cell service has been spotty and intermittent. After the last post, we moved to Corner Brook on the west coast of NFL. A pulp mill town of about 19,500 people with another 15,000+ in the surrounding area. A lot of steep hills in this town. A zoom view of the Bay of Islands that Corner Brook sits beside. Captain James Cook in the 1760s surveyed and carto graphed this area before he became famous as a South Sea explorer. It seems to me that there is a street named Elizabeth in every town. On our way to church on a rainy morning. The next day as we were leaving for Gander, we went by the local ski hill. Marble Mountain. This actually a very large lake called Deer Lake. A lot of flat land on the island. The forests of Newfoundland. I am not sure what the the trees are but I found this article on them. Tree Species of Newfoundland and Labrador - Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture Where there are no lakes or ponds as they call them here, or trees, there are low shrubs full of berries. After we arrived in Gander, we spent a day exploring a small part of the north shore. This is by Davidsville A very windy day and as we found out, a very common thing. To the left were three houses that had very impressive wood stacks but I didn't think I should be taking pictures of their backyards. All up and down the coast are little groups of houses on the shore. This is overlooking Hamilton Sound with peninsula in the distance. Building looked abandoned but there was a wood pile next to it.
We made it!!! Our goal was the most eastern point of Canada as we have almost been to the most western point when we had our sailboat. Cape Spear Culture and history Next stop is Europe Looking back up towards the parking lot and lighthouses. A lot of walking trails all over the point of land. Not a friendly shore. Military encampments were built here during WWII to protect the convoys for Europe that were forming up in the St. John's harbour. This is the marker for the most eastern point. Looking north towards St. John's harbour. Relics left behind. There was a tunnel through the bunker area as well. I stuck to the boardwalks as the paths were quite narrow and rough. Looking back up to the lookout with the marker. The lighthouse on the right is active. Building on the left was a cafe. Building in the middle is an art gallery. A lot of stairs to climb to the old lighthouse.
Our next stop of interest was Signal Hill overlooking St. John's harbour. As well as being a defense site, it also was the place that Marconi heard the first trans Atlantic wireless signal. History Looking south towards Cape Spear - the farthest point in the picture Europe is the next stop. St. John's harbour. World War II saw many Atlantic convoys formed here before heading across. gun emplacements for an earlier period. Very narrow channel to access the harbour Fishing vessel leaving the harbour Zoom shot of Cape Spear Cabot tower We waited for awhile to watch this supply vessel enter the harbour Docking made easy with bow and stern thrusters Does anyone do masonry work like this anymore?
St. John's, Newfoundland is an old community. Dating back to the 1600s, it is 527 years old. Downtown Water Street is the oldest commercial street in North America according to what I could find about it. Lots of old buildings which I love to see. Lots of hills and narrow streets. City Timeline I think this is newer building built in the older style. It is really hard for me to tell. There are a few streets with brightly coloured houses. The most notable is Jellybean houses that are the colour of Jelly beans. I didn't get a chance to take pictures of many of them. The Colonial Building. Once the home of the Legislative Assembly from 1850 until 1959, it has been restored and opened to the public. Now Open: The Colonial Building! For all you curling fans, this should be instantly recognizable. For those who are not curling fans, this is the rink that Canada's premier curling team curls out of. Team Gushue has won Olympic, World, Brier and various Grand Slam tournaments. I have been trying to get pictures of the landscapes as it looks so barren and windswept to me. The wind blows a lot in Newfoundland. The countryside is a lot flatter than I expected, especially in the central sections.
Heading west for home now as we leave the St. John's area. Just over 15,000 kms/9,300 miles to get us here. As we were packing up to leave the campground, the gentleman across the parking area came over to talk. They had pulled the night before. Turns out they live not 2oo kms away from us on the island. As we were parked outside the campground to take this picture, another couple pull up as they are leaving and they come from a community in central BC. We came across a lot of people from far away who came to visit this big island. As we headed back across the island to catch our ferry from Port aux Basques, we had an unfortunate incident with a bearing on the RV. Although campinspecter had our favourite shop inspect and repack the bearings on the trailer, the wear and tear from the conditions of the roads in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and especially Newfoundland were too much for them. God answers prayers before we even know we need to pray and ask for help. Long story short, an awesome shop out of Grand Falls-Windsor called Rock Solid Diesel, were able to help and get us back on the road. The solution to a fired up bearing was a replacement axle and there was only one in all of Newfoundland. Sometime ago, an axle was order for a parts store in St. John's and it came in the wrong size so it was put on a shelf and stored. Along came the search for an axle for us and there it was. Our trailer was protected by the side of the road as well. So we had to postpone our ferry and in the process, decided to spend a little more time exploring the western side of the island. More pictures to come of what we saw.
It is a big country isn't it. Really brought home how diverse it is. We didn't get to Labrador. Never really thought about going until we were up on the North peninsula. Not enough time left to do it.
