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Old 12-29-2013, 07:12 PM   #21
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You are in for a big trip Breezyway. Gene has provided a really accurate picture and not much has changed in 10 years except there are more moose and it is way more expensive since they are now a " have" Province. Don't under estimate the size and the amount of time between action. I drag my Airstream to Atlantic Canada 3 times a year. Leaving from the Toronto area I spend the first night a the Montreal South KOA, which is now really easy to get to since the 30 bypasses Montreal on the South Shore. It is also convenient to down town Montreal. 20 minutes via the Champlain Bridge. Take the 20 to Quebec and then on to New Brunswick. There is also a handy KOA on the 20, just west of the bridge to Quebec City. I normally zoom by and stay at the Kiwanis Campground in Saint Andrews by the Sea, although it is a long days drive from Montreal. Next place is the Blockhouse Campground in Lunnenberg, NS. Shubie Park in Dartmouth is a great location when visiting Halifax and on your way to Sydney, Rita McNiel's Tea House in Big Pond is great for lunch, but don't forget about the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck. Also near Sydney is the fortress at Louisberg. Your time frame will only allow for an appetizer of Atlantic Canada but that's what Streamin is all about. Again, Newfoundland is big and is really deserving of all the time you can manage. Jim
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Old 12-29-2013, 08:20 PM   #22
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I’m a Canadian who thanks Gene for his kind comments and agrees that Newfoundlanders are even nicer than the rest of us.
Gene’s observations all ring true too.
I spent 94 days traveling Toronto to St’ John’s and back last year - so, a nice leisurely trip. 25 days were spent in Newfoundland and, people are right, it was too short a time.
You’ll have story-a-day happen to you there. Here’s one example:
I was parked in the rig in the middle of tiny Gambo, Newfoundland on Bonavista Bay one late afternoon when a ball-hatted guy astride a bicycle asked “ You alright?” “Yes”, I said “ I was going to get a bottle of wine at this grocery but they don’t stock liquor anymore. I’m just looking at the map to see where the next town is”. “ What do you need – just a place to park this thing?” he said, motioning to the rig. "Follow me, I got a place brand new right on the Bay, 700 feet from here”
I followed his command, somewhat apprehensively, wondering what kind of dead-end he’d lead me into as we rolled down to the shoreline but we turned right at the water’s edge and there it was, a brand new home with a typical, gloriously rock-strewn Newfoundland front yard, looking right out onto the Bay and into the North Atlantic.
“ Park here, stay the night,” he said before tapping on my door ten minutes later to present a nice bottle of Chilean red.
Turned out he was Lawrence Lush, just returned to his Newfoundland birthplace with his wife Josie, also born there, after taking early retirement from 30 years in the Alberta oil patch.
You’ll have a human warmth story like that every day in Newfoundland; the only equal that I’ve experienced is South Africa, a long way from The Rock.

Sergei

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Old 12-29-2013, 09:37 PM   #23
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What a wonderful story, Sergei! sometimes being " open" to the adventure really pays off!
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Old 12-30-2013, 04:58 AM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gene View Post
We went to Newfoundland 9 years ago and I wish we'd have given ourselves more time—Newfoundland is big! It doesn't look like it tucked into the corner of a map of the Atlantic Provinces, but it is 500 miles (or a gazillion km.) from Port au Basque to St. Johns.

The TCH runs through the middle of things, but there are lots of roads to the coast—this means a lot of traveling to see everything, especially the Northern Penn. We only had about 10 days and that was not enough. It is not only the sights—national parks, St. John's, the bird sanctuary near St. Mary's, but the feel of the place and, of course, the people.

Canadians have a deserved reputation for being nice people, but the people of Newfoundland are even nicer. They mostly live along the coasts (and half of them in St. John's) and you have to take all those side roads off the TCH to see for yourself. In between you will see endless bogs, trees, rivers and more bogs. Many of the roads were in poor condition—often heaved in all sorts of directions, so travel was not quick. The TCH was 2 lanes.

I think there are 500,000 people and a moose for each one. Their only predator is the automobile and the thought of a 1,000 lbs. of moose coming through my windshield is daunting. They blend into the dark and most likely are moving at dawn and dusk, but you can find them standing in the middle of the road at any time looking at tons of steel hurtling at them and then they may casually move as if nothing were happening. They have poor eyesight and aren't too bright either, so they probably don't really understand a car or truck is a threat. Hit a deer and mess up your car, hit a moose and mess yourself up, probably fatally.

Aside from the moose thing, Newfoundland is a delight. Super warm sweaters at low prices are a bonus—try to find the co-op store in Stephensville (not easy, we stumbled on it). And, Newfoundlanders (or Newfies) do not have a reputation for healthy eating, so we found few good restaurants. But you can bring your own food.

If you can find more time, you can get to Labrador—I think the highway around a good part of it has been open for a few years, but is surely devoid of most tourist services. You can drive around to Goose Bay and come back through Quebec, but I think this would take a lot of time. I've wanted to do it for years, but still haven't.

We hope to get back there in a few years. During the short tourist season, the ferry probably needs reservations. They will cost a lot! We went early, so we made reservations a week beforehand and the ship was pretty empty. There was still ice on the Bay of St. Lawrence and icebergs were starting to come south around the island.

They used to permit people to camp in the roadside gravel pits—don't know if they still do.

If you want the flavor of Newfoundland, read the Shipping News. The plot is kind of far fetched, but you'll learn about the culture. Then see the movie. The province had excellent free road maps and tourist booklets—order them soon. It was hard to find much in travel books about Newfoundland—it is kind of an afterthought at the back of a book on the Atlantic Provinces. Maybe there's more available now.

So, get there fast and then slow down and enjoy it. Once you're there, you'll be one of 2 or 3 Airstreams in the whole province. One is owned by a Forum member, not sure about the other one.

Gene

...and here it is...

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Getting the kids up at the moment and ready to go out for breakfast. Should be a treat! Breezyway, I will pen a reply later today with a few suggestions for your trip. Sergei, my wife has a good friend who grew up in Gambo and she will be pleased to hear you were so well treated. Hope you enjoyed your trip.

Don
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Old 12-30-2013, 07:28 AM   #25
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Hi Breezyway:
Well, to say I'm jealous is an understatement! We went to The Rock about 10 years ago and happened to stumble across a private campground in Rocky Harbour (Gros Morne). The first thing the owner asked is 'paying cash or credit'? Cash saved us about 50% - not a bad way to start out! Also found the local diner. If you like clam chowder, they have the best on the Atlantic coast - we had it just about every afternoon we were there!
Now, for our experience with the locals....
We decided to do a weekend jaunt over to St. John's. On our way back on Sunday evening, I heard a strange noise coming from the back end of the car. Pulled over, couldn't see anything, then pulled away. BANG - one of the rear wheels came off the car and jammed up into the wheel well! Now it's getting dark, pouring rain and I don't have a cell signal. So I'm out in the middle of nowhere, walking up the highway to find a cell phone signal, when this fellow stops, offering help. After a short chat, he offers to turn around and find us a tow truck to come and get us. We have to wait for it to come from Cornerbrook and he offers to take us back to the campground! We decided it would be best to wait, so off he goes. Couple of hours later, this monster flatbed arrives - takes him over an hour to wrestle the car on (because the wheel is still jammed up into the well). He takes the car to a local shop in Rocky Harbour and delivers us to our trailer. I'm in shock by now, with all the help and service! So, the bottom line is, my aluminum wheel has come off, destroying the brake drum, but no other damage. They order in a NEW drum and replace all the lugs. So, needless to say, when I ask for the 'damage', I'm expecting a bill of at least $500.00 and would have paid it gladly! He hands me the bill, I look at it, then look at him and ask him if he's kidding me??!! "Why", he asks, "too much?"
Including the tow, parts and all the labour, taxes included, just over $158.00!!!
When I ask him how in the hell he can stay in business, he just shrugs and says 'boyse, if we don't treat people right, we'd be out of business pretty dam quick, wouldn't we?'
Do yourself a big favour - try and make it a longer trip - everyone is right.....you'll be very disappointed in just how fast your 'adventure' will fly by.....we took a drive to the top end - St. Anthony's - came back at night (what a mistake!). The moose made it a white knuckler all the way back. Do iceberg/puffins/whale tours - amazing!!
No doubt you'll have a great time!
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Old 12-31-2013, 09:14 AM   #26
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We had a car problem too—suddenly way up the Northern Penn., the oil gauge went to zero. I wasn't sure how long it had been there, but figured it the engine hadn't seized by then, it was the sending unit. It was, but we were nervous all the way to the nearest Toyota dealer many, many miles away. They found a technical bulletin saying some sending units were faulty. The dealer asked where we were going and I told him, "St. Johns". He called the dealer there, arranged for the part to be overnighted to that dealer and when we got to St. John's, the unit was replaced in less than an hour. Some other dealers might have said we had to stay there and wait, but this guy did everything to make it easy for us and not stop our travels; no charge either for the diagnosis. Everyone was really nice and the price was reasonable (later I got Toyota to refund the price of the part).

DMT, I hope to visit you someday. Life keeps getting in the way.

Gene
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Old 12-31-2013, 09:49 AM   #27
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We did the cross Canada trip in 2008 from Kelowna B.C. We did PEI and Cape Breton before heading towards the ferry from NS toNewfoundland.
We had made reservations but had met up with another lovely couple who were taking their grandchildren to the Rock and they told us that they often go and never make reservations. We followed them a day earlier than planned because we realized that we needed as much time s we could get. No trouble getting on.
We had only one dog at that time and kennelled him in the complementary kennels one deck down, so we could visit often. The ferry trip was a lot of fun as they had a folk singer in the lounge where we spent most of our time.
We met some wonderful people on board and even met a couple who owned a hotel in Port O Basques who invited us to park our trailer outside on their lot as the ferry arrived late. They even ran a long cable out for power and gave us the code to the Wi-Fi.
Our planned 10 day trip turned into 3 weeks and it still wasn't enough as whenever you do a trip into a small town, you have to take the same road out. Out of the total 27000 km we put on the truck that trip ,
5000 were in Newfoundland.
If we ever get the chance to go again ( there is so much to see in North America) we would plan for a month minimum.
Have fun on your trip, the people are the nicest I have ever met, and I am a Canadian.

George
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Old 12-31-2013, 01:05 PM   #28
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While in Port au Basque, I watched orcas in the harbor—probably hunting, but to me it looked like they were playing. Maybe they were—they are very smart and like to enjoy themselves, but when are they are hunting, they work together and live up to their other name, killer whales.

We were there before tourist season started and too many things were closed, but there were hardly any tourists, so it was good and not so good. Winter was still coming back from time to time and then there were beautiful days too. We didn't have a trailer then, but found places to stay. Some were quite marginal and one place had yellow water—probably from runoff affecting their well. One thing you don't find most places—all the bathroom light switches were outside the bathroom so you could see them before you entered.

Bologna is very popular—we even saw it as part of a Mixed Grill on a menu. Bring your own food, but check for what you can't bring before you leave. Despite Newfies' eating habits, they all look healthy and live to an old age. I think raw potatoes were banned when we got to the ferry. If you are coming from the US, Canada usually has no problems with food (except sometimes potatoes), but check that. If you come through the US, check carefully—fruit was a big problem in 2010 and they will take it from you. Their rules change all the time and seem quite arbitrary, so check carefully.

There is little industry and no farms. The soil is not good and the weather means a short growing season. The fisheries have been fished out by foreign factory ships. There's oil and gas offshore, but such development usually doesn't help many people except if taxed heavily to provide provincial income to help develop the province. St. John's is a metropolitan city with anything you need, otherwise most people live along the coast in small towns that are quirky. Houses used to be painted bright colors, but white vinyl siding has taken over—lasts through awful weather and is cheap. That's unfortunate, but the towns are still quirky.

I hope we can go in 2015.

Gene
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Old 01-01-2014, 05:26 PM   #29
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We went on the WBCCI caravan to NL this past summer. It was a very well planned caravan. I would reccomend it for anyone who likes caravans and has the time. I am sure we camped in some spots and saw some entertainment we would not have found on our own.
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Old 01-01-2014, 06:00 PM   #30
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Bill, would you mind sharing the itinerary including your travel up the coast: # days in each city / area, campgrounds, places of interest, etc. I am planning our 1st long trip in July / August from Atlanta to Newfoundland and would appreciate any tips, either via the forum or PM. We have spent time in Maine and 10 days in Nova Scotia in the past and love the area.
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Old 01-01-2014, 06:03 PM   #31
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Oh, in addition the caravan is already full for 2014, and other posts indicate the caravan leaders were not willing to share info.
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Old 01-01-2014, 06:49 PM   #32
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I am also planning a trip to NL in 2015, and I would also love to get ideas and locations for boon docking or campgrounds.

Thanks,

-J
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Old 01-04-2014, 04:10 PM   #33
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Try: Newfoundland - Reviews of RV Parks and Campgrounds - RV Park Reviews

I didn't read any of the reviews, but there seemed to be lots of campgrounds.

And: Campgrounds

There were many pages of campgrounds. When we sent for the Newfoundland tourist info years ago, they had about the best stuff of any state or province—we found it helpful. The website will show you how to send for it.

Gene
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Old 01-07-2014, 08:18 AM   #34
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I think I have the 2011 caravan itinerary. Probably the same locations as 2013.
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