Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Easter Break Day 6: L'Anse-aux-Meadows/ Norstead Viking village

Alright, so we are finally convinced that the first week of April is not the best time to go visit the Northern Peninsula. After traveling the 400 km and a bit distance in order to finally be able to see the old viking site, when we got to the gate for the path to lead into the UNESCO historical archaeological site, the path was covered in snow 1-2 feet high. It was impossible for our little sedan to make it through. So instead we followed another sign to visit Norstead, the nearest community to the UNESCO site. Since Norstead is still an active community where people live all year around, the road was cleared and we were able to drive to do a quick tour. 


Walking through the reconstructed viking site in Norstead. I heard that in the summer, they have interpreters dressed up in period clothing to take visitors through the history of when the vikings were here. I need to go back some day since I absolutely love these types of guided/interpreter visit. I apologize for not being to able to include more interesting information with this post, since I really did not get the chance to learn much this visit. Next time.





Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Easter Break Day 5 and a bit: St Barbe, Seals, Iceberge, Labrador, Blanc Sablon

This post documents our attempt to visit Labrador. It was a long eventful day, full of things that didn't go according to the plan. 

So we were told, that with the unpredictable weather and water conditions to always call in advance to the ferry terminal to verify our ferry departure time. We had reserved for the 1 pm ferry crossing to allow ourselves time to enjoy our breakfast at the B & B in Port-au-Choix and the time to make our way leisurely up to St Barbe, an estimate time of 1h20 drive which leaves us more than sufficient time to be at the docks an hour prior to boarding. That morning, when we called after properly waking up around 8:45 am, we had discovered the 1 pm crossing had been canceled, and that the remaining crossing was at 10:30 am! With that, we scrambled to pack our bags, and wolfed down a what-would-have-been lovely hearty breakfast in 45 mins time and made it out the door. That left us one hour to cover 1h20 route. Thank goodness we never got a ticket, or experienced any accident. We arrived in tight time at 10:26 am, with just 4 minutes before the supposed departure. Marie-France runs into the terminal and yells "Are we too late for the ferry!?" and moments later, Andrée-Anne runs in screaming, "As-tu l'argent?!". We had a communal envelop of money for our expenses, and in her haste, Marie-France had left the car without the money. Anyway, the lady at the empty terminal must have though we were crazy.    

Empty terminal with a small scaled shrimp net

It turns out the ferry was not to leave until 11:30 am. We had broken traffic regulations, put our lives at risk and didn't digest our breakfast properly, all for nothing. In retrospect, if we had in fact arrived with 4 mins to departure, we would not have been allowed to board anyway, since the ferries all start loading about an hour or 30 mins prior departure. We drove down to the docks and took our place in the line. Came 11:30 am, no sight of any boats at the docks... Alright, so maybe they were running late. We entertained ourselves. Around noon we finally see the icebreaker come in. By this time, we had really needed to use the toilettes which were back up at the terminal. We would have had to walk up there since our car was packed in with the other rows of cars in queue. We ended up holding in our urges, because we were worried that there would not have been enough time to make the trip to and from the docks to the terminal before they called to load our car. Plus the entire dock area was covered in slush, and really, it would have been a challenge to keep our footwear dry.

The ice breaker drives in front of the ferry to clear a way. These vessels don't usually carry passenger, because the impact from the ice and rocking motion from the decreased stability of the design of the boat makes for a very unpleasant passage on the boat.
By 1 pm, the icebreaker had done a good enough job, that the ferry was able to dock and ready to load us. The ferry did not leave until 1:30 pm, so really, we left around the same time as our initial reservation. We were some angry, for the many reasons I have recounted by now. Well, we weren't the only ones who went through this "ordeal" (I'm being a bit dramatic here). When we talked with other people, we found out there were passengers who had called the previous night and were told the ferry would depart at 8:30 am  in order to avoid the snow storm which had been forecast for that afternoon. When they had arrived at the terminal 7:30 am to load for the 8:30 am departure, they were told, the ferry had been delayed, and would be leaving an hour later. So by the time we had called to verify our departure time at 8:45 am, the ferry had been delayed yet again until 10:30 am.

Alright, so how bad is a delay of 5 hours? Weather and natural phenomena do not go by anyone's schedule, but their own. Well, when we chatted up some truckers, it turned out they had been scheduled to leave two days ago! And for the last two days, they were told the crossing was delayed, and delayed, and finally canceled for the day. Those truckers, all delivering goods to Labrador and Blanc Sablon, QC had been stranded in St Barbe for two days. They all ended up grabbing a beer with each other to pass the time.

See the path our ferry had just cut through in the ice? Yes, that is ice returning to its rightful place after having been disturbed and displacedd by our ferry. I now understand why there are occasions when it is impossible to voyage across iced in and frozen waters. 
Another unexpected event in our already very off scheduled day was the extended crossing duration. Normally a crossing to Blanc Sablon, QC from St Barbe, NL would take 1h45, that day, the crossing took us 6h instead. It certainly allowed for us plenty of time to make friends with the other passengers.

Note, normally the crossing to Labrador is a lot more punctual and on schedule. The day we took the ferry (April 2, 2013) was an exception, because it was the first crossing of the season between those two ports.

One positive and pleasant aspect of the crossing was having plentyof occasions to observe the seals out in the ocean, slipping, and sliding on the "troublesome" ice. (I was quite entertained by them, and took photos where ever I had the chance.)



Most of the seals I was able to pick out from the ice were the older ones with their black coats. I did see a few half white baby seals growing out of their infamous white coats. Then again, the babies only wear their white fur coats for approximately 12-15 days before turning grey and finally black as they mature.

Marie-France, Candide, Andrée-Anne 
Making the best of the very long journey


The ferry terminal is situated at the border of Labrador and Quebec, but is in fact located in Quebec at Blanc Sablon. Blanc Sablon is also one and a half time zone behind. About 3 km right would take you to Labrador, and voilà, back in the Newfoundland Atlantic time zone. The time zone part was slightly confusing, because that night we had stayed in Quebec, but the departure time for the ferry was still in Newfoundland time, despite departing from Quebec territory. One needs to be good at math and organized to be able to catch the ferry.

The girls happy to be back in Quebec, their homeland,
where they can receive service in their own language. 
(We all know Canada is in practice not bilingual as we claim.)
Even though we were in Labrador, we did not get to explore much of it, because the night we had arrived, the snow storm that was threatening our afternoon crossing had indeed arrived. We had so much wind and snow, the roads were completely white-out and we could not see anything but fly snow one meter in front of the car hood. The little exploring we did was in car the next morning when we took advantage of the "gained" hour and a half time difference.

Driving into either L'Anse-au-Clair or Forteau
Such vast land with such few inhabitants
Path climbing out of Forteau
More seals; my favourite photography subject, of course. Toss in a chunck of ice, or possibly an iceberg? I'm not sure if that chunck is sufficiently immense to be considered an iceberg. How many seals can you spot?



Back on Newfoundland on route to St Anthony... Ice, ice, ice... all across the horizon.


Sunday, May 5, 2013

Easter Break Day 4 Part II: Arches Provincial Park, Port-au-Choix

As we were driving out of Gros Morne, we noticed a sign for Arches Provincial Park, except when we turned on to the trail as indicated by the sign, we came upon a gate, blocking the entrance. Since no one was around, we left the car at the gate and walked down the path to discover the secret to this mysterious park. Some times taking risk results in great rewards. This was what we saw. 



(Photo credi: Andrée-Anne)


Geological explanation of the creation of the arches
That night we stayed in Port-au-Choix, but since we were exhausted and the weather was extremely cold and windy out, we only visited the restaurant for our supper. This was one of the art pieces on the wall of the restaurant: knots. Combined with my other photo collection of knots, I'll soon have a repertoire of them. 


Saturday, May 4, 2013

Fauna: Caribou

We had heard about caribou sighting up in the Northern Peninsula, and have been periodically warned about their crossing, but with wildlife sighting, some times it's all about luck.

Caribou road sign
Source: Trafficsignstore.com
Moose road sign
Source: Trafficsignstore.com
*Note how the caribou antlers are skinny branch like, while the moose has wide antlers a bit like the palm of of hands.

Since I'm on the roll with animal warning road signs, I'm going to include the signs of the rest of the deer family. 

Elk road sign
Source: Trafficsignstore.com
Elk is the second largest of the deer family after moose. The elk also has skinny antlers like the caribou, but don't worry, you will never see signs for both of them in the same region. The elk is mostly in western Canada and parts of the United states, while the caribou is found much further north. The elk also has thicker fur on the neck, while the caribou has a lighter coloured fur on the neck that resembles a beard. Here is a website which describes the difference between elk and caribou. 

Deer road sign
Source: Trafficsignstore.com
I guess they ran out of ideas on how to distinguish between the caribou, elk and deer, so they name the deer sign jumping. If the signs were a photo and not a mere black silhouette, it would be easier to tell the three deer apart.  


Between St Barbe and St Anthony:

Why did the caribou cross the road?

Because there was less snow covering the lichens on the other side?!
He/she is beautiful.
Caribou is the only deer where the female grows and sheds antlers like the males.
Between Western Brook and Arches Provincial Park:


Between Arches Provincial Park and Port-au-Choix:

In their environment

Close up
They have been quite easy to spot, because
their light colouered winter coast create a good contrast with the dark and barren land.
Last fact of the day. Are caribou reindeer? They sure look alike. It turns out reindeers are in the same classification as caribou, except that it is the domesticated form. They got domesticated by Santa Clause. Caribou are the wild herds that can't be domesticated.