St. John's rainbow streets

Three weeks and 5031km. It's been a big trip. I'm not sure that measurement is exactly right, but it was the distance given to Vancouver from the top of Signal Hill in St. John's.

After two days driving around the Avalon Penisula it was a bit disheartening coming back to a city. But St. John's can barely be called that in comparison to other provincial capitals. The city itself is home to about 160,000. I arrived late in the afternoon, after nearly being blown off the island at Cape Spear. Here my CouchSurfing host is John, a Newfie through and through. He grew up in central Newfoundland, but moved to the city a few years ago. I've been warned that Newfie's may be a bit more rowdy than other Canadians and I get my taste of that when we hit the pubs.

George St in St. John's is a famed entertainment strip and we see it on a interesting night. Tom Petty is in town for two shows so that has bought a big crowd in. Before we went out, we had a few drinks at John's place were I got an introduction to some special Newfie personalities. I would love to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, but it's just not in me to repeat some of the conversations. It was colourful. I was a little surprised at the activity on George St. There were a lot of pubs and bars for such a small city and they were all pretty well packed. Although there seemed to be just as many people on the street and plenty of food vans to keep them fed. I called it a night about 2am and that was incredibly early by Newfie standards.



The next morning I braved the wind and walked to Signal Hill and Cabot Tower, about 4km from John's place. The walk up there wasn't too bad, but the wind made it difficult to hang around too long. Just enough time to take some pictures, admire the view and marvel at some uni-cyclists who were riding down some of the tracks up there that I would have thought more suited to mountain bikes.

Back downtown I got to explore the city that looks so beautiful on postcards. Although the weather wasn't in my favour, it was nice enough to stroll through the streets. There are various activities you can do in St. John's; whale watching tours and the like are popular. But I'm content just to walk around. I absolutely adore the jelly bean houses. I think the name refers to a particular set of the colourful gems, but I'm just going to apply it to all of them. There's a house in nearly every colour, some in better shape than others. I wonder if the city has even considered putting the power lines underground. It certainly would enhance the view.



There are larger shopping centres on the outskirts of town so the downtown area isn't really a central shopping hub. There are still some really cute stores; second hand book shops, chocolate stores, lots of art shops, heritage shops and cafes. I followed the recommendation of a customer in Vancouver and headed to Rocket Bakery. It turned out to be a very good choice, and a place John later said he would have sent me if I'd asked. There's pastries, soups, sandwiches, hot meals and a bunch of other stuff and it's all made there. So much of the food here is flown in (as I noticed in the supermarkets) so it was nice to have something fresh. I walked along George St again. What a change from last night. I was the only person on the street. There was a line of taxis. It must be the place in town to catch them. When I walked past again about 7pm, there were already people about, and it was a Sunday night.

The next morning John drove me out to Quidi Vidi, a little village only a couple of kilometres from downtown St. John's. There's a small little harbour and apparently only a few weeks ago a decent-size iceberg was pushing on the breakwater. There's no such spectacle for me though; just a cute little area. One of the main attractions is the Quidi Vidi Brewery. I sampled some of their products on Saturday night...not too shabby.



On the way to the airport we made one last stop at Tim Hortons. Í hardly went when I was living in Vancouver, but for some reason I wanted to make sure I made the most of it before I left. Guess I must be more Canadian than I thought.

Teacup goes roadtrippin'

My little SGTC tea cup has travelled about 5000km since leaving Vancouver three weeks ago. Actually so have I. Funny that. But once we touched down at St. John's Airport in Newfoundland, my teacup and I found a new way to travel: by car.

I hadn't driven since leaving Tasmania nearly a year ago. And I had never driven on the right-hand side of the road. Except for those times when it's a country road and I can see who's coming. I hope no traffic cops are reading this.

With my teacup safely buckled up in the front seat, we spent two days driving around Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula and added another 500km to our journey. We stopped in some beautiful spots including Brigus and Cupids - two historic towns not far from St. John's.

 Brigus

Resting on a bench in Cupids

The next day, battling some very strong winds and unpleasant rain, we visited Cape Spear. Yes, that's right. My little teacup has travelled from Kerrisdale allll the way to the most eastern point of North America.

In front of the new lighthouse at Cape Spear

The weather really was shocking. I only let go of the teacup for a second to snap a picture and then grabbed it before it ended up flying over a cliff into the Atlantic Ocean.

A careful shot in front of the old lighthouse

Back in the city, I strolled the colourful streets of St. John's. I visited Signal Hill, but after the battle with the winds the day before, I didn't want to put the teacup at risk again. And my hands were too cold! But I still needed a photo in St. John's. Finally I found something as pretty as the teacup. One of St. John's famous jellybean houses. It's hard to see, but it's there on the door step.



 

 

 

 

 

The Newfie road trip continues

Another wet and foggy day in Newfoundland. This comes after the island has received two weeks of glorious weather, so I'm told by the locals. Thanks.

Today I'm returning to St. John's, but I don't want to double up on the route I took yesterday so I head south on Route 80, down the west side of the Bay de Verde Peninsula along Trinity Bay. This route isn't as windy as the road yesterday and there's also less little towns. The colourful hamlets I drove through continuously yesterday have been replaced by miles and miles of the Atlantic Ocean crashing into little cliffs. Apparently there's a bit of a surf culture here, but they keep it on the down-low. I get the feeling the locals are a bit protective over their little patch of paradise. Good on them.

The towns I do pass through are so close together, just as I noticed yesterday. But then for a long time there were no roads in this area. Until they were built, boats were the only means of travel. So what seems close to me in a car was not so close back then. The names of the towns I'm passing through are interesting: some quite lovely such as Hearts Desire, Hearts Content and Hearts Delights. But I also couldn't resist, along with a lot of other travellers apparently, looking for a sign to photograph in Dildo.



It wasn't long after the above town that I returned to the Trans Canada Highway. My trip down Trinity Bay was about 90km and took nearly two hours. Then I was east-bound, but instead of following the major highway into St John's, I kept heading east, later on Route 13, to Bay Bulls and the Southern Shore Highway. The land levels out in this area. The occasional little house but mostly miles of grass, rocks, bushes and little pongs. They must have had as much fun naming the ponds as they did the towns. Chocolate Pond. Big Triangle Pong. Little Triangle Pong. Looking at a map later I also found Round Pond, Duck Pond and Cow Pond.



Once I hit the coast again those little seaside hamlets with their colourful houses and fishing boats returned. Nearly every town has a huge fish processing plant surrounded by seagulls. There are also a lot of funeral homes. Which probably accounts for the number of cemeteries. These are always in great locations.



I head up the coast to Petty Harbour and Maddox Cove. The traffic has increased as I get closer to St. John's. Nothing dramatic, but for most of the past two days it's been rare to come across a car. And if I did they weren't around for long - either turning off or speeding past. I think I infuriated a few locals by sticking to the 50kmh limit. Petty Harbour is cute and also home to the oldest working hydroelectric system.



From here I'm only a few kilometres from one of the most popular destinations in Newfoundland: Cape Spear. It's home to the oldest lighthouse still standing in Newfoundland but also the most easterly point in North America. And when was there about 3pm I put money on it also being the windiest and coldest point in North America. It's been drizzling all day but this was ridiculous. After walking to the most easterly point I headed up to the lighthouse. By the time I reached it, it's only a few hundred metres, my head was pounding with a headache from the wind. I took refuge in the original lighthouse building and enjoyed a tour thanks to the Canada Parks staff up there. They've set up the building to look like it did when the first lighthouse keeper lived there. The family only went into St. John's about twice a year. They mastered the art of buying in bulk.





After defrosting in the original building, freezing again on the walk back down and then defrosting the car again I headed for St. John's, stopping to admire another iceberg. The charm still hasn't worn off.

I was warned many times of Newfoundland's "moose problem". The problem with the moose is that I didn't see one. Darn it.

[mqMap key="vKUR" width="350" height="310" src="http://www.mapquest.com/embed?icid=mqdist_mb_wp&c=vKUR&maptype=map&zm=13&cr=48.05489172895063,-53.05517982434979&projection=sm&showScale=false"]My New Map[/mqMap]

The other great ocean road

Over the duration of an extended trip, eventually everything starts to get a little fuzzy. I loose track of time, start to lose motivation and everything starts to look a little the same.

Then something happens that blows my mind. And I remember why I travel.

Enter the most eastern province of Canada: Newfoundland and Labrador.



I've wanted to come here for a long time. So long that I can't remember how I even heard about this place. A few pictures of the coastline and the cute painted houses in St. John's was enough to entice me onto a plane from Halifax at 6am. For my time in NFL I'm relaxing my budget ways: I've booked a hire car for two days. So a little nervous about driving on the wrong side of the road for the first time and a little buzzed on my Tim Horton's double-double, I jumped in the left side of the car. OK, OK so I went to get in the right side first. Not a great start.

I followed the Trans Canada Highway from St. John's. There wasn't much sign of life - a lot of trees and power lines. I turned off onto Route 62 at Holyrood - partly because the lady at the tourism desk recommended it. And partly because Holyrood is a cool name. I will end up on the Baccalieu Trail.

Within a few kilometres I was by the water - and there I stayed, give or a take a few detours, for the rest of the day. It was rare that water - either the ocean in Conception Bay or little freshwater lakes and ponds - was out of sight. I weaved along the roads slowly. The standard speed limit is 50kmh for most of it.



My first destination was Brigus. It's a cute hamlet home to about 800 people. If you can believe it, I got a little lost. The roads were narrow and I was never sure if they were one-way or not. The street signs were very quaint. I especially liked the one for Lobster Factory Road. The road was barely 50m long before hitting the water and there was nothing, nor seemed to be enough room for anything resembling a lobster factory.

After driving straight past the turn-off the first time, on my second try I found Cupids. This was another historical recommendation in the tourist guidebooks and it lived up to the gorgeous pictures. I found out later it is the oldest British settlement in Canada that has been continuously lived in. It actually celebrated it's 400th anniversary in 2010. The landscape here reminded me a bit of Stanley, my favourite place in Tasmania.



There is never anything much in these places but somehow they still exist. They are all by the water so lots of action in the water: big fishing boats, lots of cars parked at the wharf etc. There are a few modern houses, but most are the small weatherboard types and usually quite colourful. It does make the landscape really gorgeous. Add that to the coastline: rugged in some parts with steep cliffs, then opening up to reveal little bays.



With my two main destinations reached early in the day, I had hours to continue my 200km drive along the coast of Conception Bay on the Avalon Peninsula. After nearly a year of not driving I had forgotten what a luxury it is. I stopped wherever I liked. If I drove past a nice view, I did a U-turn and went back to it. In Harbour Main I stopped at the supermarket for lunch supplies and stopped again by the water to make a sandwich. My budget ways haven't gone entirely out the window: I cut up salad stuff on the boot of the car using a plastic bag as a chopping board.

I drove through more little towns: South River, Clarke's Beach, Bay Roberts, Spaniard Bay. There were so many little places. I would leave one and find another within minutes, if not seconds.



As I came down the road into Harbour Grace I saw a large abandoned ship in the shallows. Oh cool, I said. (I did actually say this. I'm travelling by myself. I have conversations. With myself). Then I looked beyond the ship. OH COOL!!!! In the distance, just off the end of the land and before a little island, was my first iceberg.





I pulled over and ran up for a better view. Yep, there, almost invisible with the fog and the overcast skies and water, was a iceberg. It was big to me, but probably quite small as far as icebergs go. I was actually surprised by how excited I was. I may have shrieked a couple of times. I drove as close as I could to get a picture then reluctantly returned to my drive. Turns out, there were plenty to be seen along the coast. Arriving in June, technically summer, I was worried I may not see any.

[caption id="attachment_1854" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Not a bad view for eternity - Bay de Verde"][/caption]

I reached the end of the bay sooner than I expected so I explored a few of the towns right at the very tip of the peninsula before heading south down Trinity Bay (to the west of Conception Bay) about 10 minutes to my hostel. I'd left the airport at 9am and finished driving at 4pm. I did not see a moose. But there is always tomorrow....



 

Halifax through the fog

The signs were in the air on Monday, when I was walking around Quebec city trying to keep warm and avoid the rain. As my last train, The Ocean, trekked across Quebec, New Brunswick and into Nova Scotia, it still didn't look good. I was about the have some bad weather.

The Ocean wasn't quite the experience The Canadian was. To start with I had to share my seat overnight. This did not make for comfortable sleeping and subsequently I was awake every 20 minutes. As the passenger numbers dwindled I was able to claim two seats, just in time to doze a little in the early morning. Heading into Nova Scotia the landscape became so green. The trees, shrubs and grass was so rich in colours. A beautiful sight. The servers in the dining car were the highlight though. After visiting for breakfast, by the time I returned for lunch I had a nickname. "Here comes our little sweet pea," greeted Bruce and the boys. They were fun.

After no luck with my CouchRequests I had posted in the Halifax CS forum and had lots of offers. My host is Anj, a very passionate CSer and a former Cs ambassador. Her house was walking distance from the train station. I was initially staying two nights and the third in the hostel to reach the shuttle to the airport. But Anj's place was just as close so I stayed for three.





I crashed early on Tuesday night and slept in on Wednesday. It was raining (no surprise there) so I spend a few hours running errands before meeting Sarah, another CSer. Sarah couldn't host me but offered to meet up. I met her at her favourite area, Hydrostone, and walked around. Sarah's enthusiasm for the area, and Halifax, was infectious. It really is a pretty place and I got a few history lessons at the same time. The rain either stopped or limited itself to a drizzle while we walked around. We grabbed some dinner in the city before I left to meet two of Anj's friends at the Museum of Natural History to check out an exhibition showing some great film costumes: Batman, Indiana Jones etc. There was a lot of Star Wars and Star Trek: meh. A quick beer with Anj later. Still a bit tired I resisted the desire to watch the hockey.



Despite my best efforts to get moving earlier, it was still lunchtime before I set out on Thursday. The rain had eased - which wasn't expected - so I set out on foot to explore the harbour. Halifax is a big port town: a base for the Canadian Navy, a port of call for cruise ships and home to lots of fishing boats. Of course there is the Titanic connection: many of the rescue boats sent when the Titanic sunk were from Halifax.



I walked around the waterfront, had some fish and chips, and checked out the Maritime Museum before heading back to Anj's.

For the details of my really awesome Thursday night read this.

 

An AWESOME night in Halifax

If I gave you $1000 to pursue ANY idea, what would you do?

The possibilities are as endless as they are awesome.

While in Halifax, I was introduced to The Awesome Foundation. And by geez does it live up to its name. Barney Stinson would be proud. Here's how it works in a nutshell:

• Each chapter has a board of Awesome Trustees. The trustees put in money each month to make $1000.


• People submit their awesome ideas of how they would spend $1000.


• The trustees consider the ideas and pick a winner.


• The winner gets $1000 to make their idea happen.

I was in town for the May Grant Event of the Halifax chapter. A total of 25 people submitted ideas this month. Finalists were then chosen to present their ideas to the trustees and anyone and everyone, including me, a random Australian CouchSurfer in town for just three nights. These four ideas were pitched on Thursday night:



Permanent Ping Pong: Veronica wants to build a concrete ping pong table in Victoria Park so people can play ping pong when ever and with who ever they like. The money would be used build the table.

Tulipmania: Sam lives on Tulip St in Dartmouth, across the river from Halifax. This spring, he has a gorgeous bed of tulips blooming in that little useless patch of lawn between the road and the footpath. His idea is that next spring, EVERY house on the five-block long Tulip St will have a bed of tulips out the front. He also put out the challenge to residents of Rose St and Dahlia St to join in. The $1000 would be spent on bulbs.

Wish You Well: The Canadian penny is on the way out but Renee would like to farewell it in style by hold a huge wishing well day. The event would attempt to create a world record for the most wishes made. Money would also go to Make-A-Wish. The $1000 would be used to organise the event, buy pennies, and the remainder going to the charity.



Digital Scavenger Hunt: Regina and her sisters want to hold a great big scavenger hunt in the city. Teams would have to go take photos of things, or of them doing things etc. The money would go to organising and prize money.

Veronica, Sam, Renee and Regina & Co pitched their ideas. There was excitement, posterboards, storytelling and tulips. The trustees asked questions, the crowd asked questions; it was good fun. There are chapters around the world. I was pleased to note it's kicking around in Sydney and Melbourne. You can never have too much awesomeness in the world.

So who won? Well next spring, if you're in Dartmouth, drive down Tulip St and visit the fruits (well flowers) of Sam's idea. Awesome.

Quebec: Exploring beyond the city

One recommendation for my time in Quebec City was to visit Montmorency Falls. I paid little attention to the suggestion at the time assuming any attraction like that would be a trek out of the city, and being sans car, that's a problem.

But my visit to the tourist infomation centre the other day paid off. Not only was there a bus travelling to the falls every 10 minutes, it only took about half and hour and cost $3 each way.

After leaving my luggage at the station (travelling with ViaRail has been great), I bought some lunch from the supermarket and caught the next #800 bus. The falls was the last stop, but I disembarked to no signage at all. But I could hear the water so followed a little gravel track in that direction. A few hundred metres later I was at the suspension bridge. The water wasn't great, but I put up with the rain and walked down the stairs on the edge of the cliff to view the falls from the bottom. They are 30-metres higher than Niagara, but not as wide. Waterfalls fascinate me a little. I'm always amazed at how much water continues to flow down the rivers to sustain the power of the falls. And how quickly the river calms at the bottom.



I followed the walkway, which was wet with both rain and the spray from the falls, around to the cable car station. I saw pictures of the falls in winter - it would be a pretty amazing sight. I ate my lunch then it was up the cable car to the top!

Back in the city I decided to check one last thing off my list. I really wanted to see the Old Town from the water. When walking through it, it's hard to get a good view of what you're in the middle of. There are so many levels! The Quebec-Levis ferry runs regularly across the St Lawrence River. I was going over at a peak time so only had to wait 10-minutes on the other side before the 15-minute trip back.



I would have loved to do this at dusk or night, but it was beautiful anyway. The Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac is such a dominating presence in the landscape. I just love the little pointy buildings too!

My little teacup gets a little wet

My last day in Quebec city and my little SGTC teacup had yet to make an outing.

So I packed it up and on the bus to Montmorency Falls we went. The falls are about 12km from the centre of Quebec City and the bus there only takes about 30 minutes. It wasn't a nice day, but I walked the stairs down the side of one of the cliffs adjoining the falls to admire them from below. Although not as an impressive sight as Niagara, these are in fact higher (they have 30 metres on the world-famous falls). I'm always in awe at just how powerful waterfalls are.

The little teacup posed for some pictures on the edge of one of the viewing points. I'll admit I was a tad concerned for its safety....the railing wasn't wide and it was windy! It survived, albeit a little wet from the rain and the spray from the falls.