Martin and Susan's Travels

Newfoundland and Labrador 2005

We drove from Florida to Maine in our car (it's the red Subaru which appears in some of the pictures). It sounds a long way, but the roads in the US are easy driving, so it was a fairly painless 3 day drive.

We stayed in Maine for about a week, then crossed the border to Canada, visited the Fundy National Park and Prince Edward Island and drove to Sydney, Nova Scotia for the ferry to Newfoundland.

We went to

Rose Blanche, a small "outport" on the south coast of the island
Gros Morne National Park, half way up the west coast
the north of the Northern Peninsula, where we visited L'Anse aux Meadows (the only proven Viking settlement in North America) and stayed at the Tickle Inn - the northernmost building on the island, owned for 4 generations by the same family.

From the Northern Peninsula we crossed by ferry to Labrador on the mainland. We visited Red Bay, the site of a 16th century Basque fishery, and drove to Cartwright at the end of the road. From there we took the twice-weekly ferry to Goose Bay, a 12 hour trip. We visited North West River (30 km from Goose Bay), then drove from Goose Bay west to the next place, Churchill Falls, 300 km away. From there it was another 900 km to Baie Comeau on the St Lawrence River, through wilderness except around the large settlement of Labrador City. 200 km before Baie Comeau we stopped to tour the massive dam at Manic 5.

Later in Quebec we stayed at a B&B at Les Eboulements. There we saw the moon rise over the St Lawrence River - an amazing sight which I attempted to photograph.

We drove back from Quebec to Florida, breaking the journey in the Shenandoah National Park. There we attempted a poor imitation of the photo which launched the Newfie tourist industry:

And in case you're wondering, the photo was taken above the eastern end of Western Brook Pond in Gros Morne National Park. To reach that viewpoint is a multi-day backpacking trip. One for next time!