Wednesday 29 May 2013

Avalonian adventures

A while back I had the selfish feeling that other than meeting wonderful people over here and having fabulous times with them, I hadn't done very much in Newfoundland that I couldn't have done anywhere else. The response from a friend was (quite rightly) that firstly, it had been winter, a major issue when it comes to going anywhere in Canada. I have since learnt that the moment a bit of sunshine appears Canadians take full advantage and cram as much into that precious time as possible. 

Another limiting factor to my travel plans is that I can't drive. Therefore I don't have a car. And public transport doesn't take you further than the city bounds of St John's. The train service stopped in 1988 (I never thought I'd miss the trains...). My complaining had clearly galvanised the group, and within the week one friend decided to overcome these obstacles,hire a car and plan an adventure.

Bell Island is a wee (and by wee I genuinely mean it; it's 34 sq km) island off the Avalon Peninsula in Conception Bay. It's a place that you're told you only have visit the once, but seeing as the iron mine tour wasn't open when we went, I'll likely end up going twice. Setting off in our little city car, which we named Myrtle, we headed to Portugal Cove to catch the ferry. Filled with excited expectations of a good weather forecast our hope were initially dashed when ...
...we were greeted with the foggy view those from Newfoundland are all too used to.
After a quick tea break we boarded the ferry and hoped for the best and thankfully we were not disappointed.


We left the fog behind and forged on into clear skies.
And Bell Island came into view.

We left Myrtle along the tracks on the SW corner of the island,
And walked along the coast gazing into the tropical looking seas and the sedimentary successions that get the 6th floor geologists all riled up.
We found the "Bell" (stack to the right) and the "Clanger" (stack to the left) and proceeded to our lunch spot (off towards the right of this photo).
With the beautiful view we had we settled down for a wonderful lunch of pasta salad, chocolate wafer straws and beer. Eventually we decided to go have a look at the rest of the island. And by that I mean that we drove round its entire perimeter and went to see the lighthouse...

...where we showed some expert timer and panoramic skills,
Before heading to Dicks' famous chippy for the best fish supper I've had this side of the Atlantic (more of my views on Newfoundland food in another post).
Eventually we decided to return to the mainland (still an island I know) and take the long route home taking in the scenes from a variety of different towns along the way.

This included a tea stop at the end of the day at Pouch Cove (inexplicably pronounced Pooch). 
The weather carried on for a few days after the car had been returned and the sun has been nice overall for the last few weeks now. That was until of course the Bank Holiday weekend that is. Normally the "May 2-4", where Canadians simultaneously celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday and Queen Elizabeth's official birthday, is the first big camping weekend of the summer. The weather however was naturally horrific.

Nonetheless on the Monday some of us decided to drive out to Cape Spear, a place I had also been complaining about not having visited, as it's literally down the road from town. And when better to visit the most easterly point in North America than on a wet and windy miserable day!

The hood was very much necessary.
The waves roared up and crashed on the Torridonian-esque rocky shoreline.
A WWII gun battery installed to defend the St John's coast.
I've visited the most westerly point of mainland Britain and now the most easterly point of North America :)
Having spent 4 years in St Andrews, moving to St John's has made me go cold-turkey in terms of beaches. These hard rocky coastlines aren't too conducive to making lovely 3 mile long that charecterise East fife, but the do exist in places such as Middle Cove, just to the north of town. This was the site of my first beach BBQ in Canada. Armed with wood, marshmallows and sausages we met up at the beach and got our fire started, helped by the surprisingly flammable kindling of Doritos. The beach was full of other people who had the same idea and as the sun went down we were encountered a firework display, a fire dancer who earned a round of applause from the crowd and even a Star Wars reenactment with light sabres. 

The gang chilling with a few beers.
Bratwurst on the BBQ
Stargazing and chilling by the fire (gutted I was caught on my phone!)
Photos stolen from the wonderful Edgars Rudzitis.
Summer is just beginning here and long may it continue to be beautiful. Last year was incredible in terms of temperature and sunshine, whilst the year before was awful and rainy. A happy medium would be good for me. After all my pasty complexion can't take too much sun! Either way I'm happier in the fact that I know I will have fun with my friends and I'll get out and see more stuff all over this island I now call home. But wait, aren't I supposed to be doing a Master's right now?..