#44 Bonavista

#44 Bonavista

Saturday August 17, 2019

We got a later start out of Eastport to Bonavista.  Derrille and I needed to stop in Clarenville to check the Walmart for toilet chemicals.  We decided that when we were stocking up the rational was we get it at Walmart, so we can get it on the way.  WRONG!  Walmart in Canada have very little of what we have in the states.   We did find an RV dealer that stocked a similar product which will get us back into the states, where we hope Eastern Walmart will stock our brand.

We passed this sign and thought “how nice to warn travelers”.

We also passed this sign. Reminding people to be aware.  However of the 300,000-500,000 moose on the island we only saw five.  We would have liked to see more.

Welcome to Bonavista!  Population 3,448.

Paradise Farms RV has us once again parked facing the bay.  Nice big spots, 50 amp, water and electricity.

The pile across the pond is a beaver lodge.  We have seen several of these built up against the bank or perhaps a small creek flows into the pond there.

The community of Trinity (pop. 169) advertised their August festival. We decided to start there.  It turns out the festival is a village field day. 

However this quaint little village had lots to see.

Our first stop was the gift shop that advertised "Awesome Art, Jewelry & Stuff".   It displayed some lovely things at some lovely prices.  The walk to the gift shop took us past this group of fishermen cleaning cod. Notice the flakes ready to dry cod?

The street signs are in calligraphy!

Check out this house being built above the bay.

Next stop the Trinity Museum.  They offered a reduced price to visit all of their historical sites. However, I was unable to even go into the Museum, the smell was overpowering. 

Our next stop was the Cooperage.  The town cooper made casks and tubs to transport and store fish and other goods.  He also repaired small items. Interesting  shop.

From the Cooperage, the guys hiked up to Gun Hill to have a view of the town and surrounding area. Once up there they discovered a much easier path than the one they chose.

From the top of the hill they watched the old cars arrive. Then they came down and had a look.

Lynn and I continued looking at the village.  The Theater looked like it was ready for some festivities today.

All of the buildings were very old and musty.  I was unable to go inside.  The Lester-Garland Mercantile premises and house were part of a bustling trade center.

This brick building was part of the Lester-Garland premises too:  By the way “premises” means several building owned by the same people.  This London mailbox stood next to the brick building.  A reader board described the Trinity Postal Service.

The Green Family Forge looked interesting, but smelly.

We did visit a nice gift shop.

This little village has three huge churches. The Church of England with its red décor looked very imposing.  However, I didn't capture that on this gray day.

The Roman Catholic Church of the Most Holy Trinity was built in 1833. The bell tower was added in 1880. Today it is the oldest wooden church in Newfoundland.   Hmmmm thought we heard that somewhere else.

This is the courthouse.

Many people came to partake of the festivities.  Many kids were enjoying the beach.

A helicopter fluttered overhead as it did rescue demonstrations.

Returning to the highway from Trinity we passed this bay full of what we think are fish farms of some kind.  We used to think salmon, but after seeing the big round pens, maybe these are something else.

 

We left Trinity and headed north to Port Union and Catalina before returning to Bonavista. Port Union is the only union-built town in North America built for social and economic change.  Unfortunately we were tired and didn’t stop at the Interpretation Center.  It felt a bit spooky.

While traveling through one of the small towns we spotted this fishing boat with the plastic on the reel.  A similar reel hung near the dock.  Turns out these are new fishing nets, covered with plastic and not opened yet for use. (At least according to the man we stopped and asked.)

Sights seen along the way back to the RV!

The next we headed for the lighthouse and stopped at Cabot’s Landfall in the New World.  Derrille was a bit dismayed to learn that the John Cabot he learned about in history books was really Giovanni Caboto!  Here is Jay with Giovanni.

The ocean view from this stop was stunning!

The Bonavista Lighthouse happened to be celebrating International Lighthouse Day, so everything was  free. 

 I was surprised to find such a large light keeper’s house.

There was room for the several families that often shared smaller quarters than these.

 We climbed up to the light on the third floor.

The interpretation center even had cookies and juice.  This sign says: Lightkeepers in outport Newfoundland enjoyed a special place in society. Their work was seen by all to be very important, and the salaries they earned set them apart from most other people who traded fish or other goods for whatever they could not make, grow or catch for themselves. Tending the Cape Bonavista light was more than a job. It was a way of life for the lightkeeper and his family.

The gift shop was full of intriguing things.

This sign in the washroom reminded me we were still in Newfoundland.  Many places are forced to up us signs boil the water.  We were lucky in most places.  Some water smelled.  Restroom water varied from greenish to rust, which did not have anything to do with cleanliness.

The best part of the visit was the Puffins that nest on the rocks just below the lighthouse.

 We stood at the edge of the cliff and watched them fly and flit by us.  I tried to get a photo.

To access the Dungeons Provincial Park requires going over a cattle guard.  This is part of a community pasture.

 Further on we saw the horses grazing.

Coming back we had to wait for one to cross the road in front of us.

The park’s rugged coast almost takes your breath away.  The photo cannot do them justice.

This viewing platform is above the Dungeons.

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The Dungeon part of the park has two deep…. well dungeons…. carved out by the strong Atlantic Ocean. Here the pounding has punched two holes in the rock and now the water rushes in and out.

Another view point stands to the side of the dungeons.

You can walk around the dungeons.  This is what you can see looking back toward the viewing platform.

Another long but enjoyable day!

Sunday August 19, 2019

Several people said that Elliston is “the place” to see puffins, so we headed that way today.

Here you walk out to the edge of the land, and just across a chasm lived a colony of puffin.

Because you are almost level with the other land mass, you can see the Puffin burrows, and the birds just walking around.  If I were using a camera instead of my phone, I could have gotten better shots.

 I did catch another one in flight.  We sat on the hill and watched.  At the same time several whales were playing in the ocean.  Unless they come in closer, I rarely try to photograph them. We are a little spoiled with the Orcas that come into the Silverdale Dyes Inlet.

Elliston not only has Puffins, but it claims to be the capitol of Root Cellars. They claim 135 root cellars have been carved into the hills around here.  Root cellars keep the vegetables from freezing in the winter.  They also keep them cool in the summer.  The oldest root cellars in this area date back to 1839 and some are still used today. All root cellars are dark and musty. 

Up until the 1900’s vegetables were hard to come by unless you grew them yourself.  People used the cellars to preserve them.  Thus root cellars were a key part of the self-sufficient Newfoundland lifestyle for the people in this region.

Maberly provides home to about 20 people. The road makes a small loop of a few houses on each side.   We stopped to see these old shed and to what I assume is a fish drying rack.

The pony was tied to a long, long rope and just meandered around the grounds.

The ever intriguing rocks that make up” The Rock”…Newfoundland!

We made one more stop, I think this is Elliston.  We found this colorful house.   We checked out the memorial and statue, but we were done for the day.

This memorial is to those who died in the 1914 Newfoundland sealing disasters.  The names take up both sides of the memorial.  When you read the names you can see the number of men and boys who were related.

The statue is of a father and son.  The story is with my fin.  We didn't want to hear any more so we left.

We drove back into Bonavista and decided we just couldn’t handle any more tourist sights.  So we took a drive down highway 235.  We only saw these interesting cliffs and turned around for home.

Monday will be a day of rest and then Tuesday we move to Bellevue Beach.