0529 St John's to South Brook

3^rd June 2016

Toyotas, Lakes, and more scallops !!

I was ready to leave as Ben and Marie went to work, and thanked them SO much for their kindness and hospitality to me not only over the past couple of days in St John’s, but also the previous week over in Norris Point.   They could not have given me a better time, and I only hope they can find a way to come out to Australia before too long so I can repay their kindness. 

I was due at the Toyota Plaza Dealer at 10.30 am, so I had a couple of hours to go back up to Signal Hill and elsewhere in an effort to replace my photos from yesterday.  Although it was not as sunny as yesterday, it was still a nice morning as I set off through the rush hour traffic to the top of Signal Hill.  This time I drove right up to the top car park, instead of walking up the hill like I had done with Marie yesterday !  Much easier !!

By about 9.30 I had managed to take a whole lot more photos of where we had visited yesterday, and I headed down

towards Toyota Plaza. As I had done with Western Toyota in Corner Brook, the plan was just to show the car to the people there because they do not have this model in Canada, nor do they have the diesel engine.  Pat Power, Paul Moores, Trevor Bradley and others were very interested in the car and the trip, but after we had chatted for an hour or so they had to get back to work, so took their leave, but not before very kindly giving me a couple of fuel cards by way of thanking me for coming in, which were very much appreciated, especially since the fuel prices have all just gone up in Newfoundland !  A big thank you to Toyota Plaza.   

After that, I headed out of St John’s, preparing myself for a somewhat boring day driving on the Trans Canada Highway, or TCH as it is known locally.  A bit like sitting on the freeway all day – Just not the most inspiring way to travel !  Despite that, it was a nice sunny day, and even got up to about 16 or 18 deg C by the afternoon, so I just turned my music up, and kept going.

Once again, it was a day of alternating between forests beside the road (so you see very little except the trees alongside the road), and then gorgeous blue lakes or ocean inlets. The lighter green of the new leaves on the deciduous trees contrast with the darker green of the spruce trees, and the variation of tree colours, interspersed with the blue water, helped to pass the journey very pleasantly. 

I stopped for lunch at a layby at a road junction – Canada does not provide rest areas on the TCH – You have to turn off onto a side road to find somewhere to stop.  At this junction were about 20 cars parked – I had seen this before and wondered if if was cars for sale, or what ?  In this parking area there was also a guy with lots of iceboxes on his truck, selling fish.  So I asked him about all the cars, and he said they are the cars of workers who are

working on electrical installations or oil rig workers who work 12 hour shifts, and pool their cars to share fuel costs, and also to minimize the chances of hitting moose either early in the morning or late in the evening, which is when they travel.  And while I was chatting to the fish man, he had some nice scallops, so I bought a bag for supper !!

I kept going till about 5.30 pm, and made it to a little town called South Brook where there was a campsite Robbie and Kristen had told me about, called Kona Beach, down beside a lake. They were right – It was a lovely camp site, and I set up, cooked about half of my scallops to have as a starter, and then finished of the other steak I had had for a few days.  Delicious supper, and went to bed happy that I had broken the back of the somewhat boring drive across Newfoundland, and tomorrow would set off up the Northern Peninsula, towards St Anthony and the ferry to Labrador from St Barbe.  

Pics are here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/6292359696040593281?authkey=Gv1sRgCOOKkOy6oNCzdw