0516 Cape St George to Corner Brook

19^th May 2016

Waterfalls, sunsets, and Toyotas !

After waking up in my almost perfect camping spot at Cape St George to find almost clear blue skies yet again, I headed off for a short run up to the top of the hill before setting off to go back along the southern coast of the peninsula, along the scenic shore of St George’s Bay.   Not 30 minutes after I set off, I saw a tiny little hand painted wooden signs saying “Hidden Falls”, and after backing up, I turned down the little dirt road.  About 300 metres along the track, it suddenly dropped down to a little fishing harbour, but it wasn’t until I turned around that I saw the Falls – They were actually up under the road, dropping down into a lake before flowing out to the sea.  

 

I got out and went for a walk down across the beach to some rocks where there were lots of “balancing” rocks, and another small water fall flowing into the sea.  The small bay housed just a little fishing operation, and it was they that had put up the sign on the road, and built walkways up around the rocks.  Nothing overly spectacular but very pleasant.  Sheaves Cove.

I then continued on along the road, and half an hour later was at the narrow strip of land joining the Port au Port Peninsular to the mainland – Known as The Gravels.  Apparently the first explorers landed here in 1534, and in 1951 a flood actually washed the Gravels away and cut off the Peninsula from the mainland of Newfoundland. Lots of driftwood along the beach there……

From the Gravels it was only just over an hour to Corner Brook where I was to meet up with friends Robbie and Kristen who I had met last year in Tierra del Fuego, and their new 10 week old daughter.  It was a beautiful drive in the sunshine, with lakes and forests beside the road, and then as you drop into Corner Brook, there are snow covered hills in the back ground, around the spectacular inlet that comes all the way into the city from the Bay of Islands. As I had some time up my sleeve, I went into McD’s and over a cup of coffee managed to get a

lot of my blog uploaded before heading over the Robbie and Kristen’s place. On the way to their place I had to pass a land skier heading up the road – Wasn’t sure who had the right of way !! 

Found Robbie and Kirsten, and met their new daughter Clare, and had fun catching up over a bbq and beer before Robbie took me out to see a bit of the area.  This really is a spectacular part of the world – A little reminiscent of BC or Alaska, but a lot less people around because it is not so much on the tourist trail. Down past the Old Man in the Mountain, who is supposedly guarding lost treasure, and then down the valley to the Humber Valley Resort, which was built which much fanfare but hasn’t quite taken off fully yet, although it is set in a great location and does have an interesting 10^th hole on the golf course, that disappears down into the valley below.

From there it was past the local Marble Mountain ski field (just outside town !), to the spectacular Steady Brook falls which drop some 200 ft down into the valley below. Robbie says that in the summer they can swim in the pool right at the edge of the falls at the top, but right now there was more water in there than he has seen in a long time.  We drove down to the bottom of the falls before heading back into Corner Brook in the evening sun, beside the Humber River and up to the Captain Cook lookout on Crow Hill, overlooking the city.  One of Cook’s first assignments, he mapped this area between

1763 and 1767, and did such a good job he was later sent to the South Seas where he also had a lot of influence on Australia !   Small world !  The sun was just setting behind the Bay of Islands as we reached the lookout – Robbie’s timing was perfect !   And as the sun went down, we went back to the house and to bed.

Next morning Robbie had organized for me to go down to the local Toyota dealer, Western Toyota, so they could see my car, and Sales Manager Steve Cave, photographer Dave LaRose, and many of their staff came out to see Troopie, take pictures, and ask questions about both the vehicle (which they cannot get here), and my trip.  They could not have been more fun or welcoming, and the fact that they also presented me with a couple of fuel cards to help me on my way down the road made it even better.  Thank you Steve and staff, very much appreciated. I have to say that I have used Toyota dealers for my servicing wherever possible on my trip, and every single one of them has been excellent. Western Toyota maintained the excellence.

After leaving Western Toyota, we did some shopping to stock up on supplies and fuel, loaded Robbie’s truck with BBQ, bikes, prams etc, and then got ready to set off North to Gros Morne National Park for the long weekend – A traditional getaway for most Newfoundlanders to mark the start of summer.