328 XC x 2

Woke up to rain today. It let up some in the morning but never really quit. Stopped at the worlds longest covered bridge (1280 ft) early, it is surprising they don't charge to drive over/through it and it is still fully functional as a bridge. Next stop was on a potato farm where I got a tour of the operation, all I can say is western farmers still have a thing or two to learn about input costs. Toured around Fredericton, legislative buildings are not in a big park like in other cities I visited, just set among the other buildings uptown... a short drive to Moncton and I rolled up the magnetic hill.. it really does look uphill but my GPS showed a 4 ft drop in elevation. another short drive and I was in Amherst NS where I will be staying tonight. Booked on Ferry to Newfoundland tomorrow at 6 pm. Not sure when next post will be, not sure of availability of high speed internet in NF. BY the time I get online again I will have been in 9 of 10 provincesand travelled most of the Trans Canada highway. The best parts of the trip so far have been the two lane sections with all the character. I can see where four lanes moves the traffic along but you don't get to see the points of interest very well, I never would have seen the potato farm for sure, and I am sure I missed a lot of the character of Quebec by driving the autoroute, I know I never had the opportunity to get good pics from the autoroute.

Pic 1 Worlds longest covered bridge
Pic 2 Potato barn... soon to be McCains French fries or Humpty Dumpty potato chips
Pic 3 John Deere B still used to mow the lawn
Pic 4 Potatoes and Canola being grown for seed in NB
Pic 5 Legislative Building in Fredericton
pic 6 Magnetic Hill at Moncton
Pic 7 Welcome to Nova Scotia
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Another rainy drizzly day. Headed out through Nova Scotia headed for North Sydney on Cape Breton Island to catch ferry to Newfoundland. The road goes along the north side of Nova Scotia passing by Bras Dor Lake, Canada’s largest inland sea, home to Alexander Graham Bell. To make sure I arrived at ferry at the appointed time I did not stop too much and the weather was not good for picture taking, so I will have to catch it on the way back. The weather improved later in the day and it was sunny in N. Sydney for the ferry departure. Stayed over in Port Aux Basque Newfoundland… literally on a rock…. Many moose strikes here on the highways so definitely will not be driving at night… In a couple of days I should be at my goal of Cape Spear... furthest east point in Canada.

Pic 1 Stanfields factory Truro NS
Pic 2 Harbor at Brasdor Lake Cape Breton Island
Pic 3 Bridge over an arm of Brasdor Lake on the way to the ferry
Pic 4 Cabot Trail across the valley
Pic 5 Cabot Trail across from Trans Canada Highway
Pic 6 Ferry terminal North Sydney NS
Piic 7 Maritime Atlantic ferry
Pic 8 North Sydney from the ferry
Pic 9 Leaving mainland Canada behind
Pic 10 Sailboat in the harbour
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Yesterday was a long day... ferry left late and didn't arrive in Port Aux Basque until after 2 AM. It was also an eerie day; started off by seeing my 2nd accident of the trip near Antoginuish NS and travelled through VICTORIA county to SYDNEY to catch the ferry to the ROCK. On my second day into the trip I saw my first accident on the Coquahalla while on my way to the ferry to SIDNEY and VICTORIA... Seeing Port Aux Basque this morning leaves little doubt why Newfoundland is nicknamed the rock. The Trans Canada here is very reminiscent of driving on Alberta highway 63 from Wandering River to Fort Macmurray and on The Trans Canada near Sicamous BC. ou could definately call the lay of the land mountainous so far. Made it to Gander for the evening, no moose so far, which is a GOOD thing


Pic 1 Welcome to Newfoundland
Pic 2 Port aux Basque
Pic 3 Interesting rock outcrop
Pic 4 Looks like a mountain to me
Pic 5 The most interesting camp site I have ever seen... what's with this...Christmas in July???
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

The weather has not been kind today, there was fog with the rain and drizzle, no real opportunity for pics... hopefully on the return trip the weather will co-operate. Made it to St John's today... waiting for tomorrow and some sun to find the end of the road... within 5 Kms of the end of the Trans Canada highway.. another mile ZERO. and about 20 Kms to Cape Spear... the farthest east point of Canada. Explored uptown here a bit.. very colorful old houses and shops. The boats here are accessible... right along a downtown street... the harbor is very small compared to others I have seen on this trip... going to head out into the Avalon peninsula tomorrow also. Today was the first time on this whole trip I was asked if the car was "real"... not bad considering how long i have been on the road.

Pic 1 the most excited gas station attendent on the whole trip.. he was real excited about seeing his first Ferrrai
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Finally the weather co-operated... a bit of sun and reasonable temperatures. Started out the day by finishing my drive of the Trans Canada and down to Mile Zero. Only a bit in PEI to make the drive complete. From there I went out to Cape Spear, the farthest east point in Canada, around 10,000 kms from the start in Lloydminster, not sure how far from Tofino, but it was on July 3 that I was in Tofino, farthest west that I went. At Cape Spear I saw my first whale, which was jumping fairly high out of the water.. no pics because it was hard to time but it was fairly close to shore. After Cape Spear I headed to Signal Hill where Marconi first recieved wireless signals from Ireland. It is a breathtaking view of St John's and the harbour. Lunch at the famous Velma's, fish and chips of course. I then went north on the Bacalieu trail, Conception Bay on one side and Trinity Bay on the other... a trail that goes through fishing villages along the shore peaking at Grates Cove where John Cabot first landed in 1497. It is a rocky desolate place, can't imagine why anyone would live there. On the way back passed through Hearts Content where the first transatlantic cable came to shore, unfortunately it was too late to check out the museum.... and how could I not stop a little further down the trail in Dildo to mail some postcards LOL. Lots of original Salt Box homes being refurbished as summer homes in these little villages. The people here seem to have a lot of pride in maintaining there properties.. most are freshly painted and look good. Amazingly; so far language has not been a problem.

Pic 1 Mile Zero East Coast
Pic 2 Mile Zero - Canada starts here
Pic 3 Lighthouse at Cape Spear - farthest east point in Canada
Pic 4 Signboard at Cape Spear
Pic 5 Lookout at the top of Signal Hill
Pic 6 St Johns and the harbour from Signal Hill
Pic 7 Grounded coastal freighter at Harbour Grace... left to rot
Pic 8 Grates Harbour .. where John Cabot landed in 1497
Pic 9 Dildo Newfoundland... what else can I say LOL
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Today was sunny and warm again, a walking tour of downtown St John's and the harbour. The downtown area is congested with narrow winding streets, no parking of any extent, it is quite hilly and there are very few traffic lights. There are many color houses in the core which makes it very interesting. The boats on the harbour front are very accessible.

Pic 1 Coastal freighter
Pic 2 Fishing boat
Pic 3 Container ship
Pic 4 Cruise ship
Pic 5 Houses
Pic 6 More houses
Pic 7 Government House
Pic 8 Even more houses LOL
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Raining in St. John's again but it let up as I went west. Stopped at Come-By-Chance to see the refinery. I think there would be some Health Safety and Environment issues if it was in Alberta. Stopped at the memorial for the largest Canadian air disaster near Gander and checked out the airport. Headed north to Twillingate, the iceberg and whale watching capital. Only problem: no icebergs this year and no whales near shore. Oh well. There is also a winery there, I have no idea how it gets it raw materials and how it would get any amount of product to market.... Will overnight in Gander Meeting an old friend in Springdale tomorrow hopefully we can get out on the water...

Pic 1 Why is it called the ROCK?.. remove any doubt here
Pic 2 Come-by-Chance refinery
Pic 3 Memorial for Canadas largest air disaster
Pic 4 Gander International Airport terminal
Pic 5 Winery... it is for real... LOL
Pic 6 Grubbies....World Famous Fish and Chips... actually not bad
Pic 7 That fishing boat has seen some better days
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

No access to the net for next two days... going fishing today in a small town and on the ferry back to mainland tomorrow night...

 

Overnight in Gander, morning is bright and sunny... head for my friends place in Springdale. I got a tour of the mining towns here.... this was not primarily a fishing area, it is a mineral rich area of Newfoundland. We went to see 3 different abandoned mines here... one from the 1880's, there is still pieces of the machinery left behind. One mine collapsed into an older mine and was abandoned when it flooded. We went out on the ocean for some fishing but not much luck there... until we saw some whales. I don't get too excited about stuff but I was real excited when we got within 100m of one of these huge animals. At one point the whale pointed noise down and was slapping its tail on the water at least 10 times, probably for over a minute... this was the only time on the trip so far I wished I had video. It was impossible to catch the action that was happening on stills. One of the blows had to be at least 30 feet in the air. My friend had never seen this much animation from a whale before and he was impressed also. After the whale the rest of the fishing trip was pretty anticlimatic.

Pic 1 Collapsed copper mine... most of what you can see is copper ore
Pic 2 Ocean bay at St. Patricks... Harolds boat
Pic 3 Whale breaching surface after blowing
Pic 4 Whale twisting and diving
Pic 5 Up close and personal with a whale
Pic 6 Whale slapping tail on surface
Pic 7 Whale diving
Pic 8 Millions?? of jelly fish floating through he bay... the water here is very clear
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

From Springdale I was retracing my steps back to Port Aux Basque to get ferry to mainland... nothing much new here... Stopped to see a drilling rig near Georges Bay on Trans Canada but couldn't tell if it was oil or mineral related... and access was restricted but i know this area is where oil drilling is taking place onshore. It was a clear hot day and the ocean was extremely calm... people were out on the ocean tubing and using Seadoo's, first time i saw this in Newfoundland... boats seem to be only for work here, not for fun.

Pic 1 Drilling Rig.. not sure if oil related
Pic 2 Port Aux Basque harbor on a nice day....bringinging a big boat in here is like threading a needle
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Started out as a nice sunny day, but by the time I was leaving Cape Breton Island it had started raining again. I stopped at the Alexander Graham Bell historic site in Baddeck on Lac Brador. Bell is best known for the telephone but he was a researcher of many things including airflight and airplanes (first in Canada) and hydrofoil boats (he held the boat speed record of 114km/h for over ten years). I headed off the Trans Canada for this part of the day and went south to the Nova Scotia coast on Highway 7, through logging, farming and fishing country. Hilly, twisty, SMOOTH roads here, it was a great change from Newfoundland, so I had a fun afternoon DRIVING the car. It is here where you can get right down beside the water you can see the effects of the fishing restrictions... abandoned boats, houses and poverty is obvious; unlike Newfoundland. By the time I got to Halifax the sun had re-emerged so driving on the four-lane was quick. I returned to Amherst (where it started raining again, LOL) to spend the night and will be headed to PEI tomorrow.

Pic 1 What can I say, of course I stopped LOL
Pic 2 Alexander Graham Bell museum, his last project... HD-4 hydrofoil water water speed record holder
Pic 3 Huge Sawmill on edge of saltwater
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

12784 KMs by GPS including the ferrry trips

 

Breakfast in Nova Scotia, first time one of the meat choices was BOLOGNA...LOL..., a quick jaunt through New Brunswick and across the bridge to Prince Edward Island. Can't see much, the Ferrari is lower than the sides of the bridge, but at least i don't have to deal with crosswinds. I did a tour of central PEI and hit Cavendish... home to Green Gables and a huge beach or two... PEI appears to have only two industires... potatoes and tourists, a lot of tourists. Other than the farming a lot of real estate is dedicated to 'tourist trap' type places and you better like to eat lobsters. Going to check out Charlottetown tomorrow and then loop the east end of the island. Hopefully some of the traffic encountered today will subside. Did I mention there is a LOT of tourists here?

Pic 1 Welcome to Prince Edward Island
Pic 2 Confederation Bridge from New Brunswick
Pic 3 Green Gables, a huge deal here...
PIc 4 Cavendish beach
Pic 5 Confederation Bridge from PEI
Pic 6 Potatoes, the ocean and the BRIDGE
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login