Day 73
With the neighbour kids up early
collecting more fish, I had a bit of difficulty sleeping in. Before
I even got up I knew that they were officially the "Fish Club" and that the
fish "Big Eyes" was their mascot. Serves me right for setting up beside
the lake. I got up and had some breakfast and then headed off to tour
the peninsula.
First up was the King's Point Lighthouse. I parked at the nearby
church and headed out to the lighthouse along a well worn path. Once
there, I wandered down the rocks to the shore and took a few pictures.
They have a few hiking trails so I set off on the longer one and ended
up back out at the church. I'm not sure if that's where I was supposed
to end up but I did so I cooled down a bit and drove on to the next spot.
I drove up to the tip of the peninsula where they have the Bonavista
Lighthouse but unfortunately it was veiled in scaffolding for a facelift.
I also discovered that the scaffolding had led to the structure being
hit by lightning and one of the floors being gutted by fire - not pleasant.
Moving on, I drove to Union Cove where a coastal hike is to be found.
I didn't find the trailhead right away but I saw a sign for Hiking
Information at the local museum so I stopped in and picked up a map of the
trail. I headed off
and soon arrived
at the coast and the "Squirter" a small hole in the shale that results in
a spout of water being created with the waves underneath. It gets to
about 8 or 10 feet. I continued along an soon the lighthouse on Green
Island came into view. I took a few pictures and then continued on.
The next part of the trail winds through a mature pine forest which
is basically an expanse of trunks and dead branches at eye level. I
soon found out that this is the perfect environment for the inch worm to
create networks of silk that are annoying to walk through and a pain to clear
out of the way. I slowly advanced for a while but soon gave up and
headed back. As I returned to the car, I passed a family out for a
nice hike - the youngest on daddy's shoulders and the teenager stuck dragging
a stroller - quite the sight.
My legs had had enough for the day so I returned to the campground
and freshened up. I had picked up some info on the local theatre troupe
and called to confirm the evening's performance. I was able to connect
to the internet in the campground office for a bit and then headed off. I
drove into Trinity to see the Rising Tide Theatre's production of The Moon
Shone Bright. It's a story told over 50 years of an extended family's
life in a rural fishing port in Newfoundland. It was quite interesting
to see some of the local perspectives on joining Confederation and the
repercussions that the decision had.
After the show, I returned to my site and attempted to make some hot
chocolate. The mosquitoes were all set for a snack as well so I gave
up and retreated to the car for a bit before heading to bed.
Day 74
With most of the neighbours gone, I could sleep in a bit but got up
around 10 to start my day. I had a bit of breakfast and then packed
up for another move. I checked email quickly and then headed off. I
wasn't really sure where I was headed so I just started driving towards
St.John's. I turned north after getting onto the Avalon Peninsula and
toured a few of the towns like Heart's Delight, Heart's Content and Heart's
Desire. I cut across and headed south through Bay Roberts (where Great
Big Sea had done a concert 2 nights before) and grabbed some lunch at KFC.
I was going to hit the local mall but it was closed. I didn't
realize for another hour that it was a civic holiday - see what happens after
74 days on the road!
I returned to the Trans Canada Highway and made my way into greater
St. John's. I had found a cheap campground in Mount Pearl so I headed
there and registered for a few nights. With my tent pitched, I headed
off to tour the city for a bit. I found my way to DQ for a sundae and
then found one of the movie theatres. I returned to my site (with only
a few extra turns) and had some hotdogs and then decided to head off to see
Planet of the Apes. It was quite good although the main plot details
seemed a little obvious to me. Special effects were pretty good too
- a great improvement on the original. Having hit the late show,
I headed straight to bed once I got back to the campground.
Day 75: St John's in a Day
I got up and had some breakfast
before trying to get my car in for a check up. They were pretty busy
and I didn't feel like wasting the day waiting around just in case so I headed
out to see the sights.
First up was Signal Hill with its Cabot Tower. I took the long
route through downtown and drove along Water Street to experience a piece
of its character. The Hill itself was, well, windy. Its a common
feature which is probably why Marconi chose it to fly his kite 100 years
ago. They have some panel describing the history of the Hill and its
role in the development of St. John's below. I did a quick tour of
the Tower and then moved down to the Interpretive Centre which has some further
info on Signal Hill, Cabot Tower and St. John's.
Fully informed on these issues,
I headed out to Cape Spear and the easternmost point of land on the continent.
There wasn't much to that part of the site so I headed up past the
WWII artillery gun barrels to the lighthouses. They have the current
one as well as the original from 18-something that has been reburbished and
furnished to reflect the keeper's life at that time. The guide was
quite good and gave a few tidbits about the life that I hadn't heard
before.
As some tour buses were unloading their cargo, I headed back to town
in search of a mall. There were probably other sights to see, but I
wanted to catch up on a movie or two so I went off to find the 12-plex at
the Avalon Mall. I stopped for some Wendy's and then got on the
Trans-Canada to drive into town. Seems that the Trans-Canada has been
moved since the map I had was printed and I soon found myself far north of
town and on my way to the airport. I turned back into town and had
an impromptu tour of Memorial University before the Avalon Mall appeared
before me. I found a spot and headed in. The movie Final Fantasy:
The Spirits Within was starting in 15 minutes so I picked up my ticket and
settled in. It is a completly computer-generated movie that tries to
depict real people (instead of toys and bugs) in a science fiction story.
The hardest part is matching the faces to the spoken words - they did
a great job on the character voice by Donald Sutherland. Visually
stimulated for a while, I wandered the mall for a bit and picked up some
dinner. I decided to go in for some good acting, too, while I was there,
so I headed back to the cinema to see Robert DeNiro and Marlon Brando in
The Score. Also quite good and a dramatic contrast to Final Fantasy.
Caught up on my pop culture, I headed off to try and catch a Ghost
Walk in downtown St. John's. I had a half hour and though this would
be plenty of time but soon found myself having a tough time getting downtown
and then finding the church that I needed. As 9:30 came and went, I
decided to give up and next concentrated on getting out of downtown. I
eventually did and decided to stop in at a Shoppers to check email and upload
some pictures. The pharmacist working, Heather, was quite nice and
allowed me to borrow the fax line to do my thing. We chatted a bit
about the province and the state of pharmacy before I headed back to the
campground. The winds continued to gust pretty strong for most of the
night so I had to tune out my flapping tent to get to sleep but eventually
did get there.
Day 76
With the highlights of St. John's out of the way and no highlights
left to catch on the Avalon Peninsula (for me), I decided to head back to
Nova Scotia. I tried calling to get a spot on the nearby, but much
longer, Argentia ferry back to North Sydney but the next few sailings were
booked so I decided to drive back across to Port aux Basques and catch the
ferry there.
The drive started out with some traditional St. John's weather - rain
and fog. That cleared after about an hour and the rest of the day was
mostly sunny. I stopped for gas and lunch in Gander and more gas in
Deer Lake and soon found myself nearing the end of the 880km trip. I
stopped at the Port aux Basques Visitor Centre and called the ferry service.
I had hoped to reserve a spot on the trip the next morning but the
best she could offer was the 11:30pm trip the next day. Not wanting
to spend a whole day in the area just to take an overnight trip, I decided
(with the Visitor's Centre staff's encouragement) to head to the terminal
and try my luck going standby on the 11:30pm crossing that night.
I headed down and paid my fare and got a free vacuum and wash of my
car (something about soil?) before lining up with the other hopefuls. I
left my car and did a quick tour of the terminal but soon returned to try
and take a nap. It didn't really work so I did a bit of travelogue
and listened to the radio.
They started loading around 10:45pm and soon all the other cars were
on. Around 11 they started letting us on and I easily made it. All
the standby cars that were there got on, too. Since this was a different
ship than the previous trip, I took some time to look around before finding
my way to a nice deck area near the front of the boat. I stayed there
while we left port and while we headed out to sea. I saw a few shooting
stars and then headed inside. I had noticed some electrical plugs in
the cafeteria and with the Ship's Steward's permission and cautions, I sat
myself down and set up the Libretto. I listened to some mp3s and did
some reading before my eyes started to get a bit tired. As I got up,
I realized that my body doesn't like it when I read on a moving vehicle.
I headed outside for some air and then found a few chairs in a darker
part of the ship to get some sleep.
Day 77
After
a few hours of interrupted sleep (to change positions) I decided to get up
and do some more wandering. I headed back to the deck where Nova Scotia
was quickly approaching. I headed to the caf to look at some travel
stuff and then headed back to the deck to watch our approach to the harbour.
OK, the main reason was to see the nose of the ship open up. After
the show was over, we all headed back to our cars to disembark. Once
back on land, I headed off in search of breakfast at Tim's. I took
some more time to look at local campgrounds since I was still a few hours
short on sleep. I headed to one but wasn't impressed so I headed to
the next one and registered for a night. I set up my tent and then
jumped in for a few hours of sleep. Mostly refreshed, I toured the
campground and then the nearby city of North Sydney. I
found some gas
and then headed off to see what the area had to offer. I found the Point
Aconi Light on the second try and took a few pictures. I toured the rest
of the island and the nearby section coast of the Bras D'Or lakes and then
returned to the campground. I made a bit of lunch and then did some
laundry. As a humid evening approached, I made some hotdogs for dinner
and then headed to try the internet at the pay phones. I had had some
difficulty connecting in Nova Scotia before heading to Newfoundland and,
surprise, surprise, I still had problems. I managed to connect using
a test password but kept getting kicked off. After a few tries (and
a few quarters) I gave up. In the meantime, I had the chance to speak
with a couple who had circled Newfoundland as I had. Once I gave up
on the internet, I headed back to my site and headed to bed.
Day 78
I slept in a bit to completely catch up on sleep and then packed things
up. I made an appointment to get my car checked up at the dealership
in New Minas and then gave the Sympatico Help Desk a call, just for kicks.
They weren't able to really help me but promised to call me back with
an update. I headed off to the nearby CAP site to finish checking email
and then hit the road.
I continued along the coast of the Bras D'Or lakes and after waiting
at a draw bridge for some sailboats to pass, I stopped for lunch at a picnic
park. I considered going to a museum for a walking tour but the heat
was a bit much so I decided to pass. I soon arrived at the Ben Eoin
campground and registered for a night. The total was over $26 - quite
different from $7 a night in Newfoundland. I toured the campground
for a bit and reserved a ticket for a theatre performance the next night
in Antigonish. I made some steaks and rice for dinner and decided to
check out the movies playing in Sydney. I drove past the waterfront
where a festival was going on so the going was a bit slow. There were
no movies playing that I wanted to see (or hadn't already seen) so I got
some gas and returned to my site. I made some hot chocolate but used
some generic powder and ended up tossing most of it before heading to bed.
Day 79
The heat continued and interrupted my attempt to sleep in so I got
up and started my day. I packed up my gear and continued along the
coast of the lakes on my way off of Cape Breton. I crossed the Canso
Causeway back to the mainland and picked up some fish and chips for lunch.
I soon arrived in Antigonish and registered at the Oasis Motel and
Campground and then went on a tour of the town. I found a bank machine,
grocery store and DQ for a rather small banana split. I remember them
being a bit bigger - I guess the bananas must have been smaller back then.
Back at my site, I looked over some more travel stuff and took some
time to suntan in the warm sun. I made up a few hotdogs for dinner
and then headed out to see some live theatre. I went to see a production
of Blythe Spirit as part of the Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre series.
It was quite fun and the ability of the actors to ad lib as a bat flew
through the set a few times was quite enjoyable. Once back at the
campground, I spent some time looking for, and watching, a few shooting stars
before heading to bed.
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