0524 Elliston to St Bride's

29^th May 2016

Puffins, Icebergs – And our 40^th Wedding Anniversary !!

I would be in a pickle if I didn’t acknowledge (or worse still, remember !) that today is Janet and my 40^th Wedding Anniversary !  We did actually text each other last night (when it was the 29^th in Aus !), but as I was out on a desolate peninsula chasing puffins, there was no wifi that would enable us to skype.  As Janet texted to me, Where did those 40 years go ? We have had an amazing time around the world, many wonderful adventures, and we have 3 beautiful children, who each have wonderful partners, as well as 2 gorgeous granddaughters – What more could we ask ?  Janet and I will celebrate when we meet up again, maybe in Alaska in August ??  I only thought old people had 40^th wedding anniversaries !!   But thank you Janet for each and every one of them.    Now, back to the puffins !!  

Fortunately the snow didn’t settle last night, and by the time I got moving this morning it had even stopped raining, although it remained very overcast and cold.  Last night I had a power connection in the camp site and was able to plug in a little electric fan heater and thus my night was spent in blissful warmth for a change.  And to be able to roll over and turn it back on about an hour before I got out of my sleeping bag meant it was a pleasure getting dressed in a leisurely manner for once ! 

I set off to find the puffins again, this time with no rain to get on my lens.  A quick iceberg check revealed several new ones had come down during the night, one or two of them way out to see and looking enormous.  Then it was off to the puffins – And it started to drizzle !  I couldn’t believe it !  Nevertheless I rugged up and set off out to the end of the string of cliffs that lead out to the colony, and fortunately by the time I got there the drizzle had stopped, but it remained bitterly cold in the wind and after a couple of minutes taking photos one had to put gloves back on and warm your hands up again.  Watching these little animals is so

much fun – They really are amazing.  And if I was a puffin living in this kind of weather, I would have a little hole in the ground to snuggle up in during the cold nights too -  Smart little birds.   I took lots of photos, and hopefully some of them will turn out OK, and in advance I make no apologies if there are quite a lot – I probably won’t see puffins again so I want to keep any that are OK.  (Edit – Later – I deleted a LOT, but it still leaves quite a few !!)

While watching the puffins I noticed a couple of black and white birds with red legs crouching precariously down on the cliff face – Not puffins.  I don’t have a clue what they are so will have to ask someone.  But with their webbed feet they are obviously sea birds. It seemed odd that there are only two – Maybe they have got blown off course somewhere ?  There was a couple from BC there, and we chatted about what these birds might be, but no clue.  Len was his name, and they are heading in roughly the same direction as I am, so I may catch up with them later.  (Edit later – They are Black Guillemots – see tomorrow’s post !)

The cliffs around the puffin colony are rough, with the seas rushing between the rocks even on a calm day like today.  I can only begin to imagine what it must be like here in a storm, or in winter.  Looking across the bay to Spillars Cove there was a large iceberg right in front of the church, and an even larger one coming in, like a cruise ship ! It appeared to have an enormous crack across it, and I was hoping it would crack off while I was there, so I set off round the tip of the Bonavista Peninsula to see if I could get closer to it. Having got round to the lighthouse, it turned out the iceberg was

already further into the bay, and it just wasn’t possible to get really close to it.  But it certainly is a big one, and when that big piece breaks off it will make a spectacular splash !  A small bay I passed  had lots of bits of ice all over the beach – It would appear that quite a few icebergs meet their end in this bay.

One can’t walk around Elliston for long without coming across yet another root cellar.  In fact, I believe there are some 130 in the area, the oldest from 1839 and it is still in use ! 

By about 10.30 I was headed out – And the phone rang !  It was Janet, giving me a call to wish me Happy Anniversary before she went to bed !  It was great that we managed to get a signal and talk.  I was trying to get a place with wifi, but all the villages out here are really small, and today being Sunday absolutely nothing was open.  I eventually found a Tim Horton’s in Placentia at about  1 pm, but by then it was too late Australia time !

At one stage the sky was absolutely darkened with 100’s of gulls circling around – Almost like the clouds of vultures in S America !  I couldn’t see them landing anywhere, so I wonder what that was all about – Maybe just a murmuration ?

It was then on around the bays and off the Bonavista Peninsula where I rejoined the TCH (Trans Canada Highway for quite a long stretch.  From this road I spied a beach down beside a bay that looked ideal for lunch, so I dove off into a tiny little village called Adeytown, and found my way down to a deserted beach where in the increasingly warm sunshine, out of the wind, the temps reached the dizzying heights of 12 deg, the first time we had seen double figures for several days !  Just before I dropped into Adeytown we passed a vehicular milestone of 400,000 kms – Must be something about the number 40 today  !!

I turned off the TCH towards Placentia, and the sky was getting clearer and clearer the further I went south.  After stopping for a coffee and wifi at Tim Horton’s (hey the coffee wasn’t bad today, and the wifi worked well !  Things are looking up at Tim Horton’s !), I then continued down the scenic west coast of the Avalon Peninsula.  Numerous small townships and numerous blue and scenic inlets from Placentia Bay made the drive very pleasant, although as usual the road conditions were trying.  I found the pretty Gooseberry Cove Provincial Park, and while it was a lovely bay, there didn’t seem to be any “park” there – I was hoping for a campsite. 

So no choice but to continue on down the road a little further, and when I got to St Bride’s, there was supposed to be a campsite somewhere there, so I pulled into a gas station where there were some people standing and asked.  “I have got a perfect campsite for you” one of them said, and promptly jumped into my passenger seat (full of maps etc !) and we drove round the corner to the Bird Park Resort and he said “Camp anywhere you like” !!  Len was his

name (2^nd Len today !), originally of Irish extraction as are most people around here, he told me, and like so many Newfoundlanders, couldn’t have been more friendly.  So tonight I am staying in a lovely sheltered spot, and hoping the weather tomorrow is as good as this afternoon.  As I go to bed, the sky is looking a bit ominous, and it changes SO fast round here, that I have reluctantly put up my wet weather fly sheet again so that if it does rain during the night, I can lie there and know all is waterproof.  Tomorrow there is a big bird sanctuary just down the road which I shall be visiting…….

A good puffin and iceberg day, and a fun way to celebrate my 40^th wedding anniversary, although it would have been better if Janet was here to share it………

Pics here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/6290925867649514049?authkey=Gv1sRgCPOWkvGm_a6lBQ