0519 Norris Point to Badger, via Trout River

24^th May 2016

Lakes, moose, and clear blue skies – Again !

It took a while to get away this morning – Mainly because once I had said my goodbyes and left the house, I then kept meeting people on the road out of town !  I bumped into Marie twice as she was taking Clare for a walk, and then I stopped opposite Gavin’s yacht and sent him a message to see if he could wave goodbye.  When he didn’t appear on deck I assumed he was still asleep, so headed out, onl y to get a phone call from him to say he was sitting just below where I had been parked, doing school work with his son in the sunshine !  So I whipped back for a chat, showed his son all the stickers on the car and chatted about the places he was about to go to on his adventure, said my farewell and thanks to Gavin, and finally set off down the road.  Hopefully will catch up with Gavin and Val and family when they reach Australia – Whenever they do !

Many people had told me that the drive out to Trout River was excellent, and seeing it was a sunny morning, I decided to do that before I headed east.  As the crow flies Trout River isn’t that far from where I was – Trouble was it was on the other side of the Bay of Islands inlet, so I had to go all the way round the inlet !  But the people were correct – It really is a pretty drive.  In fact I went right around the South Arm of the inlet that we had been sailing in yesterday – Didn’t see any more whales, although Robbie had said that when he took Clare for a walk late last night, he could hear (but not see) whales blowing as they surfaced, so apparently they had been around all night.

It was all blue water and little fishing huts or villages all the way alongside the road – So pretty in the morning sunshine. Eventually, after an hour or so, the road cut west from Woody Point, heading inland through the southern part of the Gros Morne National Park. Geologically this park is a blueprint for our planet and supplies evidence for theories such as plate tectonics. Specifically, the bronze coloured tablelands are made of rock that comes from deep within the earth’s crust. Nowhere in the world is such material

as easily accessed as in Gros Morne – It is usually only found at unfathomable ocean depths.  Such attributes have earned the park its “Galapagos of Geology” nickmame.  Driving down this rift valley between the two totally different coloured types of rock is quite special – Especially after seeing the area in Iceland where two of the tectonic plates meet on the surface.  I am no geologist, but I do recognize how special it is to be able to see these areas that exist no where else in the world.

I eventually arrived at the little fishing town of Trout River, and drove all round the little town, seeing the colourful fishing boats tied up in the harbour, and even having a goose lead me down the high street ! There are a number of apparently very good seafood restaurants on the water front, but I wasn’t ready for lunch yet – And have eaten my fill of seafood already this week ! So it was back through the rift valley again, and on back alongside South Arm back to the main road, seeing some moose crossing the road before I finally got onto the (somewhat boring) Trans Canada Highway heading east.

I stopped in Deer Lake for minor food supplies (milk, because my milk previous carton had worn through rubbing against the fridge inside during the dirt road drive on Friday !  I also got a free tank full of fuel courtesy of Western Toyota who had kindly donated a fuel card to me during my visit with them in Corner Brook last Friday.  Then it was off on the main road – And the weather just got sunnier and hotter by the minute.  Soon it was 25 deg C and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky – unbelievable.  And when I checked the forecast, it is supposed to be -1 and snowing in a couple of day’s time !  They say you get 4 seasons in one day in Melbourne, but I think Newfoundland takes the cake !

I was getting quite weary as the afternoon wore on, so when I saw a camp site on a lake just before 4 pm, I decided to stop and enjoy the afternoon, and sat ready my book in the warm sunshine.  I had a good steak for supper, and also cooked up some mincemeat into Spag because it say rain is forecast (as well as the snow) so I may be cooking inside for a couple of nights, so by cooking the mince now I can just heat it up easily inside the van.

So warm this evening that I hardly need my sleeping bag, (2 nights ago I needed 2 sleeping bags and the liner !), and I am back in sandals and T shirt again – Although not for long, I fear !  On to the Avalon Peninsula tomorrow, with some detours likely along the way ! 





Rest of the pics are here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/6288590103373401617?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmYq6vhkZy35gE