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.

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.

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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....