Traveling on The Rock

Just one of the RV lines waiting to board the ferry

For our adventure in Newfoundland we had to take a six-hour ferry ride from North Sydney, Nova Scotia to Port Aux Basques, the entry point to western Newfoundland. So there we were at the ferry terminal at 8:00 am—me, Russ, the motorhome, car dolly, and car, all 59’ of us—lined up in the RV line to board the ferry. It was a pretty amazing process to see how they loaded everything onboard from minicars to semis. 

Packed in like sardines on the ferry

The stevedores packed all those vehicles in like they were working a Rubic’s cube. At the end of our ferry ride as we pulled into Port Aux Basques I could see why they call Newfoundland “The Rock”. The lighthouse standing in the harbor as we cruised in was built on a massive rock island with a cluster of tidy houses scattered on a rocky shore behind it. 

First look at Newfoundland from the ferry

View of Port Aux Basques where the ferry pulls in to Newfoundland

 Like many first-timers planning a trip to Newfoundland, we had originally figured about eight days to travel through the entire province. It quickly became clear after talking to campers we met who were on their way back from Newfoundland that we’d need more time than that so we tore up our calendar and decided to leave our return date open-ended.

In the end we chose to stick to the Viking Trail portion of Newfoundland that winds along the western coast with a side trip to the southern coast of Labrador. Both Russ and I wanted to slow down our travels enough to really explore the coves and fishing villages and to talk to people living in them to get an understanding about what it’s really like to live in such a remote place.

Tour boat on Western Brook Pond

Marveling at the massive mountains and colorful wildflowers along the road, we took off on the one and only highway in the province. We immediately noticed the lack of commercialization. There were no billboards or fast food joints along the way, just miles of gorgeous scenery dotted with occasional mom-and-pop B&Bs or local convenience stores.

Our first destination was Gros Morne National Park, which reminded me a little bit of Yellowstone, primarily because it has such distinct and unique geologic areas. We hiked in for a boat trip on Western Brook Pond which is a deep water-filled canyon with 2,300’ steep walls carved through the rock by glaciers. At one time it had been a fjord but since it had closed off to the ocean and is filled with freshwater instead of saltwater it is now classified as a “pond” or what we call a lake.  The water is crystal clear and so pure that it has hardly any mineral content. While we were on the boat tour we were surprised to learn that the Appalachian Mountains extend all the way into Newfoundland and Labrador.

A completely different part of Gros Morne is the Tablelands area. The Tablelands is a group of mountains created when the earth’s mantle was pushed up above its crust millions of years ago. According to the Visitors Guide, the Tablelands are “a slice of ocean floor”. They look very other-worldly: flat plateaus of orange-brown rock formations dropped into the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately it was raining on the day we went to the Tablelands so we didn’t get any good close up photos but we do have one where the Tablelands are in the background.

The Tablelands form the golden plateau in the distant right of the photo

Our home base during our stay in Newfoundland was near Rocky Harbour. One of the things people said we absolutely shouldn’t miss was the local band Anchors Aweigh. They’re so popular they sell out three times a week and we had to go two hours early to the show to get good seats. And they really are that good. They play traditional Newfoundland music but with a modern twist like playing a traditional song like Led Zeppelin would play it. They also incorporate jokes into their act. My favorite was “What do the Titanic and the Maple Leafs have in common? They both look good until they hit the ice.” 

Playing the ugly stick

The band also did an impressive bit where they asked the audience members what province or state they were from and played a relevant song for that place—Jimi Hendrix for Seattle, Margaritaville for Florida, etc. It was fun to see the more traditional parts of their gig too—playing the traditional “ugly stick” and ending the night with jigs that got people out on the dance floor.

Rocky Harbour was a big town compared to most that we saw. Usually the town consisted of a small group of houses in a cove—sometimes as few as five or six—with a few small, open fishing boats that we couldn’t believe the fisherman actually take out on the ocean. There are no chain stores or restaurants in any of the towns, no supermarkets, only small local groceries—with no fresh tomatoes, a real shock to me—and maybe a B&B or two that look like all the other houses. The houses are small and modest saltbox-type houses that often jut up right to the water. 

Even ordinary scenes are beautiful in Newfoundland

For two people who don’t like to fight crowds it was a spoiler of a trip—most of the time we would be driving the only car on the road for miles in either direction. Unlike in the States there were long stretches of beaches that are uninhabited and undeveloped.

Canada provides a free guidebook for Newfoundland and Labrador that has absolutely gorgeous photos of the provinces. And in this case the photos didn’t lie. At almost every turn we took the scenery looked postcard perfect. Even with our little point-and-shoot camera we got lots of good shots.  

We decided to leave the RV behind, storing it at the campground at Gros Morne, while we left to travel to the heart of the Viking Trail in Newfoundland and over into Labrador.

A "hanging valley" in Western Brook Pond

The "Tin Man" Rock in Western Brook Pond