Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick

A sic hour drive brought us to Fundy National Park where we stayed for two days. The park is beautiful, green, and plenty of trees unlike a lot of the private campsites that try to crowd in as many RVs into a space as possible.

The main reason to visit Fundy Park was to visit the Hopewell Rocks. The whole Fundy region has the biggest tides in the world rising to as high as 50 feet at times. The Hopewell Rocks are the result of glacial and ice age geological effects. The huge tidal changes in the area have carved and separated these rocks from the cliff faces. These are also referred to as flower pot rocks because of the vegetation that grows on the top of the rocks. The high tides wash away any growth in the lower parts of the rocks.

We went at low tide in the morning - we went down 98 steps to the ocean floor and walked around the rocks. John was frustrated that he could not photograph the formations without people milling around. I thought that provided a good perspective to the size of the rocks.

We then went back at high tide - now we had to watch from the observation deck as the entire beach area was now under water.

The tall one to the right looks like a standing bear1

The neck narrows as it gets eroded and finally breaks away

Many of the low lying rocks get covered in kelp

At high tide: you can see the kayaks down where we walked earlier in the day

New moon was two days away and the tides were higher than usual. Here it has come up 40 ft.










Chalk this down to another wonderful experience.

Two weeks in Newfoundland - Part 3 of 3

August 20 - 28

We left St. Anthony on the 20th and the second day saw us in Tors Cove about 10 mi south of St. John's Newfoundland.

The campsite was once again a gravel surface with hardly any trees. However, the site was atop a cliff and the view of the Atlantic Ocean from there was beautiful. It was so nice to be able to sit out there and take in the scene even when it was shrouded in fog.

Here we met two couples from Murphy NC - our first interaction with someone else from our home state. We spend a pleasant evening sitting around a pit fire and chatting.

View of St John's Harbour from Signal Hill

We had a good time in St. John's. We visited Signal Hill. This is where Marconi waited to receive the first transatlantic wireless signal in 1901.

More importantly it also served as a defense site for the harbour from way back in the 18th century to World War 2.

The view from here is again breathtaking particularly as the fog gently rolls in.

At the eastern most point in N. America.  A bad hair day for sure!

Cape Spear Lighthouse is a five minute drive from downtown St. John's. It has two lighthouses -the older one is now a museum and the relatively newer one is a functioning lighthouse.

Cape Spear juts out into the Atlantic and has the dubious distinction of being the eastern most point in North America. So of course, we had to have this documented.

Just in case you doubted me.

     


                       

View of harbour from restaurant downtown

A few more pics from the area:

As always I cannot resist photographing sunrises or sunsets.
This is sunrise, taken through the RV window on our last day before heading back east to take the ferry.









We had planned to visit the Bonavista peninsula just north of St. John's. I had heard that the puffins congregated very close to the shore in a town called Elliston. Unfortunately, John was under the weather for a few days and so we relaxed and stayed in. It was then time for us to head back east to Port aux Basques to take the ferry back to Nova Scotia.


In the meantime, Irene was threatening to head our way. We crossed over on Sunday. The crossing was very smooth and uneventful - just the way I like it.  We decided to stay in North Sydney for an  extra day to allow Irene to go by. We got some heavy rains and strong gusting winds until mid morning and then things quietened down.

Waiting in line to board the ferry back to Nova Scotia

In the meantime, Irene was threatening to head our way. We crossed over on Sunday. The crossing was very smooth and uneventful - just the way I like it.  We decided to stay in North Sydney for an  extra day to allow Irene to go by. We got some heavy rains and strong gusting winds until mid morning and then things quietened down.

So.... was Newfoundland worth it? Absolutely, inspite of many rainy days. The land is ruggedly beautiful and the people are friendly. If you are an outdoor type of person, there are lot of hiking trails to explore. I would not have missed the icebergs for anything - see my previous blog. However, I was disappointed at missing out on the puffins and the boat tour we took cheated us out of seeing any whales as the operator decided to not ventur too far out into the bay that day. John was disappointed at not finding any fresh fish to buy straight from the fishermen. We spent quite a bit of time in every place we went, trying to locate local fishermen - to no avail. I ate mussels at every opportunity and gave the Cod a miss - as far as I am concerned it is a very bland fish that even my South Indian pickle failed to improve the taste.

Well, until we get to New Brunswick.