Tags
Bonavista Peninsula, Elliston Newfoundland, Humpback Whales, Lighthouses, Puffins, Root Cellars, Smallpox Vaccine, Trinity Newfoundland
When one leaves an island to go back to an island I guess “returning to the mainland” isn’t exactly accurate. In any case, we off loaded from our Fogo ferry ride and headed off for 330 East and the village of Newtown where the Barbour Living Heritage Village is located. We did the tour but in all honesty having been in Newfoundland some time now, we didn’t really learn anything new. There is however a lovely church here. Ed went to take a photo of it but the shot he wanted required walking into someone’s yard. They happened to be outdoors and so he asked permission. The delightful, elderly lady not only said of course, she then walked him back up the street to show him the house where she was born and raised. Turns out it’s the oldest house in Newtown.
Next morning continuing south on 320 we took a side trip out to Greenspond, a small village settled in 1690. We stopped to walk around and got to chatting with 3 men building an outhouse (although they said it would have a flush toilet) next to a walking trail, because “when you have to go it would be good to have a spot to do it in” 🙂 One of the men told us that many of the houses in town are now summer homes, including his, and because they are on a steep hill, on the wrong side of the prevailing winds, winter can be especially hard. In fact he said the mayor last year had to phone for help because his home was finally covered half way up the second story. He said a “crowd of men” had to come dig him out!
We camped the next two nights at Newman Sound in Terra Nova National Park where I made great use of the laundry. Fellow RV’ers this is a big campground and the sites have pretty good vegetation screening, but it is very busy and there are lots of small children on bikes so watch out!
The Bonavista Peninsula is one of Newfoundland’s most visited locales and we were especially looking forward to our visit here. While our weather was not the best we did take the side road 235-20 out to Keels on our way to Paradise Farm RV Park near the town of Bonavista. We based out of there for a couple of days and recommend their boondocking sites particularly.
The lighthouse on Cape Bonavista is the 4th oldest in Newfoundland and houses a rare catoptric light.
An array of six parabolic (bowl shape) reflectors, in this case highly polished silver, reflected the light from lamp wicks burning seal oil. This whole apparatus was turned by a weight driven mechanism similar to the weights of a pendulum clock, only this one required the light keeper to rewind the weights EVERY TWO HOURS!! If you are a lighthouse lover you must put this one on your MVL (Must Visit List).
There are paths around the light where we found many, many bird wings that were the remains of meals a Silver Fox and her kits enjoy when not getting hand-outs from tourists.
Near Bonavista we also drove in to Dungeon Provincial Park where there was actually a sign labeling the area as pasture and there were horses and cows!
As I said in our first Newfoundland blog post, icebergs were at the top of our list of things to see, second was PUFFINS 🙂 Elliston is famous for their root cellars (which are actually all over Newfoundland but there is a high concentration of them here), and, the Atlantic Puffin which come to nest each summer.
Also on the Bonavista Peninsula is the village of Trinity where fisherman set up summer stations as early as the mid 1500’s. This charming village is situated on the hills above a protected harbour. A delightfully walkable town we spent several hours poking about before a nice lunch at Dock Marina Gift Store & Art Gallery. Trinity was also the shooting location for the 2002 TV mini-series, “Random Passage”.
Across the bay from Trinity is Fort Point which entails a drive out a rather horrible narrow dirt road, but oh what a trip worth taking!
We cannot believe how very much we are seeing and how beautiful it all is. This is now post five and we expect to probably have two more about “The Rock”. Ed & I thank you for being armchair travelers on our Newfoundland adventure and hope you will keep “riding along” with us.
mdandrea920 said:
Great post and images, enjoyed it very much. We’ll done! Michele
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Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick said:
Thanks Michele!
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Cheryl Keeping said:
Always excited to read your posts! Love the pictures.
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Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick said:
🙂 Thanks!
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Elisa said:
By far my favorite photos! Really captured the area! I think the town would go nuts for your wonderful “article” and pictures! Xxxoo
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Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick said:
Thank you Elisa! It is a cute village and we really loved all the colors all across the island. Ed and Marti
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Missy Guercio said:
Love these pictures-what a gorgeous place that was captured in your beautiful photographs:) You seem to be enjoying every moment of your adventure! Love to both of you
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Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick said:
Thanks Cuz! love back to you two too.
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Suzanne said:
That’s it. I’m turning around…
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Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick said:
We will wait for you at the ferry…
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travelpictorium said:
Enjoyed this post, I would love to go here. Great puffin shots..
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Adrienne and Daniel said:
We absolutely love reading you blogs, especially this Summer. It actually is much,much better than our trip to Norwegian fiords of a few years back. A huge thank you, for us and we are sure, multiple others !! Any thoughts of giving some presentations to youth and senior centers…..even Nat Geo?
Adrienne and Daniel
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Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick said:
It never occurred to me but with our traveling it would be difficult. thank you though.
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Ann Anderson said:
Love to be kept up to date. Planned my first trip to Newfoundland by use of your site, saw most of it but next time have to include the St. Johns side
Lobe sharing my photos and all those of you who share their photos with us. Thànks so much, I will miss the pictures, information and Blogs. 😉
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judith A Eddy said:
Thanks once again for all the great photos….I think you should enlarge and have printed for sale of all those scenes… Each and everyone is so interesting even with your motor home. I love museums that hold such great antique items from the surrounding areas. This is truly a trip not to be missed…Thanks Guys…Judy and Jim
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Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick said:
Thank you Judy. We spent a good bit of time in the Trinity museum as there was just so much to see.
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Anne Sturm said:
Puffins, whales, terns and icebergs. Heaven. Thank you so much for giving us the gift of amazing photos and commentary. Anne
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Dawn Wolf said:
How I wish I were a stowaway on your rig! Great shots – I especially love the whale with the tern, the puffins, and the colorful homes. Here in NM, our HOA won’t allow turquoise gates! Look forward to the next post.
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Jana said:
Heard about your blog yesterday from a friend of your’s, Lynn from Northern Virginia I believe. She was visiting her sister Diane in Asheville area and we were all enjoying breakfast together. I mentioned that my husband and I just purchased a 32-foot Tiffin Coach and looking forward to future travels, esp after retirement in a year and a half. LOVE your posts about Newfoundland! The puffin photos made me smile, esp Marti feet from a hello. Agree with others … the whale and tern capture is fabulous. What a wonderful blogging pair you both make. Looking forward to reading about your other adventures😀
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Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick said:
Thank you, Jana! Glad to know you enjoy our posts and it’s lovely to have you along for the ride!
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