Homeward Bound

I haven´t had access to my blog in about ten days or so and a lot has happened. My five days in St. John´s were a lot of fun. There were a lot of interesting people coming and going at the hostel. It only had about 10 beds so there was a better chance of getting to know people. Got screeched in at this place called Christian`s which was apparently the place to go. The man who performed the ceremony was wearing his oilskins and a sou´wester hat in true fisherman´s style and was barely intelligible when he spoke fast. We had to sing some Newfoundland songs, recite a phrase, eat a piece of mystery meat, kiss a frozen cod and down the screech. It was a pretty fun event. The funniest part was watching three Italians try to say their lines. On George street where the bars are, the street itself is pretty small but there is nothing else on the street except for bars. It was kind of quiet except during the weekends. Another fun place was O´Reilly´s where there were a couple good bands playing Irish and Newfoundland music.

My car insurance papers arrived on time so decided to head across Newfoundland. On my last morning in the hostel, Bill who worked there, cooked up a breakfast of toutons and beans. He was really friendly and clearly enjoyed meeting all the travellers coming and going.

On my way across Newfoundland I camped the next two nights but it was getting very cold in the mornings so that´s probably the last I´ll be camping. Most of the places worth seeing are along the coast so you have to go off the Trans-Canada onto the side roads. Place names are pretty offbeat sounding like Heart´s Delight, Heart´s Content, Come by Chance, Dildo, and so on. Most places along the coast are quite scenic such as Bonavista, Trinity, Twillingate, and Rocky Harbour. The hostel owner in St John´s recommended staying with a woman near Twillingate on New World Island. It felt like staying at a relatives home. The first thing she did was sit down and have a cup of tea with me. She doesn´t get a lot of people staying with her as she is 15 minutes away from the main tourist town, but just does it to meet people and a bit of extra money. There wasn´t much to do in Twillingate as the tourist season was pretty much over and most things were closed, but I did have a really warm windy day for a really long bike ride. Tried to go kayaking but they said it was too windy.

My last major stop was at Gros Morne National Park on the west coast of the island. It has some of the most spectacular scenery I´ve seen in Eastern Canada and is renowned for it´s geological formations. I managed to see Western Brook Pond, the Tablelands, and around Bonne Bay. The weather was beginning to get nasty and it was here I decided that my trip was over and I should head back home. It´s been quite a trip!

I took the overnight ferry from Port Aux Basques and went through 4 provinces in 24 hours. Right now I´m at my aunt´s house in Quebec City. I will leave for Ottawa on Tuesday stay there 2 nights or so and then head for Edmonton. Will probably be there a week from now and then go through Calgary and be in Cranbrook by the 21st of Oct. Should be back in Coquitlam in two weeks.