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SilverEagle6 · 07-04-2015, 04:15 AM

I reserved us with the ferry at 49 feet in length. Total cost round trip with no reserved seating (short ferry) was about $783 CA and what was charged to our visa was about $640 US.

The TCH up to Springdale has been great. We have travelled up some secondary roads and they are pretty good. We have explored some roads into small coastal towns, such as Rattling Brook, where I would not take the trailer, very narrow in spots and lots of pot holes.....saw the same thing in NS, NB, QE. To be fair, I-40 is just as bad in TN, AR, and NC, only wider!!!

DMT · 07-04-2015, 06:10 AM

We were heading west yesterday on the TCH after a week at Terra Nova National Park. Kept a lookout for another Airstream (rare in these parts) as I thought you might be passing through. Enjoy your stay here. Should be plenty of icebergs up Lewisport or Twillingate way if you at so inclined. Kids up that way will often sell bags of iceberg ice - great stuff in a drink as the ice fizzes. From your posts your itinerary looks well researched but if you have any questions let me know.

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Hiawatha · 07-04-2015, 06:41 AM

Hey Silver Eagle and DMT - we're heading up to PEI and then NS in about two weeks! We only have two weeks and are coming in from Upper Michigan.

Planning on visiting PEI National Park then on to Cape Breton National Park, then down to Fort Louisbourg National Historic Site.

I've tried reading through the whole thread... I'm a little bleary eyed doing so!

If I'm reading this right, there are a lot of campgrounds that are not listed and there is availability. I'm hoping I don't have to make in-advance reservations for overnight stays "along the way". Your thoughts?

There is no way I'm making Newfoundland... I can only get away from work of rip to 17 day increments.

Gene · 07-04-2015, 10:58 AM

Silver', thanks for info on ferry fares. For a 46' rig, we are paying round trip of about $480 US to go to Vancouver Is. from Pt. Angeles, Wash. At that rate, going to Newfoundland would cost $1,500-2,000. Newfoundland subsidizes the ferry, BC does not. Next year we may go to Newfoundland and I hope to remember the proper abbreviation for the province because I am tired of typing out the whole word.

Glad to hear the roads have improved. We had a lot of bumpy and hilly roads and while with only an SUV they were tolerable, with a trailer, they would have been a chore. And, yes, a lot of US highways are in worse shape.

Gene

SilverEagle6 · 07-04-2015, 02:28 PM

DMT, we are in King's Point until tomorrow then Twillingate for a couple days. We'll also check out Lewisporte. We were kayaking at Nicky's Nose Cove and were near several icebergs. Will post some pics later.

We are working our way to St John's where we have our only reservations...Pippy Park from 15-20 July. I have a badly cracked windshield that needs to be replaced. Hope to do that the Ford dealer in Gander this next week. Hope to get to the Bonavista area before St John's. If not, will catch it after we leave the Avalon Peninsula. If you are near any of those areas, let me know, I'll by you a round of Screech!!!

SilverEagle6 · 07-04-2015, 04:16 PM

Hiawatha,

We are doing Cape Breton and PEI after we leave Newfoundland in early September, so best I can offer you is plan your route, if going to popular areas, call and see if they have availability when you want it. July and August are peak season.

Gene · 07-04-2015, 04:56 PM

Silver', be sure to go to the bird sanctuary near St. Mary's. Fascinating place with a gazillion birds including the ones that twist their necks around each other. I wish I could remember the name of it, but it is on the Avalon Pen., I think.

The part of St. Johns around the harbor is very cool. I recall a good Chinese restaurant at the harbor. And south of St. John's is a place that is closest to Europe. There are WW II bunkers there that bring you back 70 years.

Since you are from N. Car., I'll tell you this story: We were in a store looking at sweaters in St. John's and the saleswoman asked me where we were from. We told her "Colorado" and she asked if that was next to N. Car.? She was only 2,000 miles off. Newfoundland is a great place to buy sweaters—I got one in St. John's and one in Stephensville from a sewing co-op downtown. Great sweaters, perhaps too warm for N. Car., and reasonably priced too.

If I were there right now, I'd pass on the screech and seal flipper pie too. We've seen bologna on the menu as part of mixed grill. I'm not sure why such nice people love bologna so much. My mother used to make me bologna sandwiches for lunch every day when I was in grammar school and I learned to hate it.

Gene

Cyclist · 07-04-2015, 09:55 PM

"Silver', be sure to go to the bird sanctuary near St. Mary's. Fascinating place with a gazillion birds including the ones that twist their necks around each other. I wish I could remember the name of it, but it is on the Avalon Pen., I think. "

Cape St. Mary's which is about an hour south of Placentia. Don't take the trailer as the road is awful even by Newfoundland standards. We were there last Labour Day by which time only the northern gannets were left - these are the birds where the males and females do the neck hug ( I got a great photo of one pair). I believe there are around 10,000 nesting gannets pairs and equal numbers of mures and kittiwakes in season. It truly is an amazing spectacle where you can get within a hundred feet or so of the "bird rock".

When in St. John's try to check out Quidi Vidi and the brewery by the same name (quidividibrewery.caÂ*|Â* About Us). They had a Friday night "kitchen party" at the brewery with great music and beer (get there early - by 5:30 for a good seat).

The Anglican cathedral in St. John's (Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist) had a wonderful organ recital during the week - Wednesday if my memory is correct.

You can also drop by the Crow's Nest Club (The Crow's Nest) in downtown St. John's for a beer. It's a private club but they welcome visitors. I like the periscope from a U-Boat mounted beside the bar.

SilverEagle6 · 07-05-2015, 03:49 AM

We were planning to camp near St Catherine's, just west of the Avalon Nature Preserve, then drive the two peninsulas. I also want to go Admirals Beach and kayak.

Gene · 07-05-2015, 11:28 AM

Cyclist, thanks for clarifying the location of the bird reserve. I have to go back someday because I can't find the photos I took there. Since I don't have a dog, I assume the computer ate them.

I don't recall the road being that bad, but we had a very comfy SUV and no trailer then. We were there early in the year—June—and all the birds were there and one other person. We could walk onto the rock towering over the ocean (kind of scary) and be within feet of the birds.

Gene

JenNealy · 07-06-2015, 06:06 AM

I've been following this thread closely as we are just wrapping up our stay on PEI and we are headed to Nova Scotia today. Bluecornstal - we only found 2 campgrounds close to Charlottetown - a KOA and a private park called Vistabay. We originally were staying at the national park campground in Cavendish. We found the Cavendish are to be rather touristy/tacky, but worse than that - the mosquitoes were horrific in the campground. We really couldn't spend any time outside. So we moved to the KOA nearly Charlottetown. It's very busy and crowded, but we did get a nice waterfront site. There are several provincial parks on the island that have camping but we didn't visit any of them.

SilverEagle6 · 07-06-2015, 04:53 PM

Some photos to follow. My apologies in advance. In spite of my reading directions and help from Artic Fox, I am unable to post more than one photo at a time. Maybe just slow wifi.

This is us loaded on the ferry, lowest deck, #3. Very comfortable trip over, arrived right on time.

SilverEagle6 · 07-06-2015, 05:32 PM

We debarked quickly and easily, and headed up to Doyles, where the Grand Codroy campground is located. Great campground, full hookups, wifi, around $30 CA.

This photo shows the weather about 10k's inland. It was cold, rainy and near zero visibility when we arrived. This was our first real view, another 15k's to Grand Codroy and nearly clear blue and 22.

SilverEagle6 · 07-06-2015, 05:49 PM

We had decided to stop for the night in Deer Lake at the Gateway to the North campground. We took one look and kept on going...not our kind of place.

While at a quick supply stop in Corner Brook, after exchanging pleasantries with a local couple told us to go to King's Point as the icebergs were in that bay. This confirmed what we had been told earlier at the welcome center. It made the decision to by pass Deer Lake. When we arrived at our campground, there were dozens of "Bergy Bits"....small chunks of icebergs which had broken apart. It was still early in the day so we walked up the coast about .5 miles and below is a picture of what was right off shore. We drove up coast of Grren Bay to Rattling Brook and there were many more icebergs.

Note...this is a municipal campground with elec/water was about $15 U.S. King's Point is a nice little village, super pottery shop, two decent restaurants.

SilverEagle6 · 07-07-2015, 03:31 AM

This is Jeanne with a great back drop. This iceberg is near Nicky's Nose, about twenty miles from our campground. There was a couple there taking photos and between the two of us we estimated the height to be around 175' to 200'.

SilverEagle6 · 07-07-2015, 03:39 AM

That's me in the bottom right corner. I was still a safe distance, this iceberg was just big.

SilverEagle6 · 07-07-2015, 03:47 AM

We have been in Twillingate for the past couple days. Great lighthouse, super views, and lots of hiking. We also took the ferry to Fogo Island for a day. We saw a couple icebergs while in Twillingate, but the were much further out then at King's Point.

Note...we stayed at Peyton's Woods campground. Nice spot, great wifi, full hookups for $30 CA per night. We had considered Dildo Run PP, but with elec only, that was $27.
Note...we finally found some bad roads. About 50% of the roads up this way are really rough, in the town of Twillingate especially. They have undertaken a repaying project on the south end of town and making good progress.

Hittenstiehl · 07-07-2015, 10:33 AM

Silver eagle those last three photos are spectacular. Kayaking is on our to do list and we follow all the threads. Thanks for the great incentive.

SilverEagle6 · 07-08-2015, 03:35 PM

We hit the jackpot again with our last minute visit to Eastport, just outside Terra Nova NP. We checked in to our campground at the Duffetts Shirner RV park. We explored Salvage, Eastport, Burnside, St.Chads, Sandy Cove, and Happy Adventure. We found the High Tide Trail that is on the north side of Eastport Bay, and it connects three beaches. We met a couple from St John's and chatted for an hour and we ended up at their cottage for nappy hour. I was introduced to another great rum, this one from Guyana called El Dorado, 15 years old, very good. We spent a few hours listening to them tell us the history, folklore and more about Newfoundland. They gave us lots of info of things to do and see on the rest of our journey. Great evening, lots of fun.

Woke up this morning and another Airstream was parked next door. A couple from Corner Brook. They were off to a conference in St John's so we only spent a few minutes with them, may meet in Corner Brook near the end of our visit.
We went back to Sandy Cove to see about kayaking and discovered a trail to a lookout, 500 meters, nearly straight up, about a mile. The view was spectacular. The winds and seas were a little much so we went back to the trailer for lunch. Sun came out, temp about was 72 degrees so we headed back to Happy Adventure. This is a small village on the edge of Terra Nova. A young man came out while we were launching our kayaks and suggested a paddle tour which ended up in a small brook where we could pick mussels for a snack. We were actually paddling into Terra Nova on Newman Sound, must say it was great.

While at Sandy Cove, we met a young family, both born and raised in Bonavista. We are headed their next, armed with lots to see and do.

Pictures will be coming soon.

Note.....the Duffetts Shirner RV park is big, lots of seasonal campers, most not there. Typically not our kind of place to stay, but clean, well maintained and the only show in town aside from Terra Nova. We will stay there when we head back west.

DMT · 07-10-2015, 03:15 PM

Gene, Gene, Gene..... apparently Maple Leaf Foods sells more Bologna here than the rest of Canada combined. If you want to fit in it is pronounced Bolonie in these parts. Yes we have different takes on all sorts of words, phrases and place names, but then again having our own time zone makes us feel special so liberty with the English comes naturally.

The official abbreviation for Newfoundland and Labrador is NL, but don't use that in a European GPS. It will route you past tulips instead of whales and icebergs. I think some of the old timers still use NFLD, however the 10 people that live in Labrador got up in arms over that, thus we are all politically correct now.

SilverEagle6 - I'm back home on the east coast now but left Airstream on the west coast. Heading back there toward the end of the month for my annual salmon fishing pilgrimage. Disclaimer - I'm the reason it is called fishing, rather than catching, although the sales of Cuban Rum coincidently takes a noticeable bump up about the same time. Not sure why that is. PM me if you like while you are "in town". The owner of Quidi Vidi Brewery is a good friend - not sure if the kitchen party is on over the summer - he is an avid salmon "catcher" and not usually home - but if you're interested we could sample some refreshments there or somewhere else. Good luck with the windshield, mine's been cracked for 3 years - self inflicted when the wiper arm slipped out of my hand. Can't seem to remember to replace it, and my wife never complains about it. I guess that means it's a safe bet to stay.