Yesterday (Monday) we met up with Craig and Susan and, after coffee and a partridgeberry muffin at Tim Horton's (yay!) we hit the road to Cape Spear, North America's easternmost point, just 18 km down the coast from St. John's. The weather had turned cold, rainy and wet, but the rain stopped shortly after we arrived and though the clouds stayed fully overcast the sky brightened. After inspecting the coastal fortifications we were delighted to spot two Minke whales making their way up the shore line, quite close to us. We followed and watched their steady progress, marvelling at their size and power. They were clearly having a good time rolling along just under the surface and coming up regularly for a leisurely breath.

After the whales had passed we went up to the lighthouse, a recreation of the nineteenth century lighthouse built for the tourists in 1982. (The current lighthouse, just below the "old" one, is concrete, fully automated, and rather boring.) The Parks Canada guide in the entranceway gave us a very interesting little history lesson on the life and times of the early lighthousekeepers. One family ran the Cape Spear lighthouse for eight generations! Considering how cold, windy and desolate the spot was, in August!!!...

From Cape Spear we continued our way down the coast. In Witless Bay we stopped for directions to a lunch place and were very glad we did. We ended up at the Captain's Table for our best fish and chips to date.

Just down the road from Witless Bay we came to our destination, Stan Cook's Sea Kayaking in Cape Broyle. Craig wasn't interested in joining us, but Susan, Anne and I set off with a group of 9 others and two guides for a 2 1/2 hour tour of the bay. After a half hour tutorial on shore we set out in two-person kayaks. They were stable and dry and we progressed well, working our way slowly along the shore line at first as we got used to the rudder mechanisms. When we crossed the bay we got some bigger waves, but were able to keep up a good pace and found the craft much easier to handle and steer than canoes would have been. By the end of the tour we were pretty tired. We drove back to St. John's, stopping for supplies in Bay Bulls.

At 8pm we met the rest of the choir in the lobby of the hotel. Most flew in during the day, though Stephanie, Bruce and Julia arrived just in time by car, having driven from P.E.I. in just over 24 hours. After a welcome and briefing from Steph and Brian Power, whose family live here, we gathered a group to go back into town. We had a lot of inefficient walking before finding ourselves back at the Pasta Plus Cafe on Duckworth for a slow but delicious meal. After dinner we were joined by Gabrielle and Mary in Susan and Craig's room for a game of Kill Doctor Lucky, the other Cheapass game I'd brought, a kind of reverse "Clue".

That brings us to today. We started with a huge breakfast at the Bagel Cafe across the street from Tim Horton's, then walked up Church Hill to St. Andrew's Presbyterian, where we'll be performing tonight, for a rehearsal. We were still full from breakfast after the rehearsal, so we walked slowly back to the hotel, stopping for bookstores, CDs, postcards and stamps en route.

So far, Newfoundland has been great! Nice people, good food, beautiful scenery... It's a refreshing break from the city, and I'm very pleased to have found it... And it's so close to Tornto (and the currency so similary to ours :) ) that we'll have to come back. More to follow...
posted by Tom at 9:00 PM | link |