Gander II: Cobs Pond Trail

The Cobs Pond is a really cute short trail where the boardwalk winds around the pond. Here is a photo collection of wildlife and vegetation I encountered on my early morning walk. 

A grouse maybe?

See the fluffy green stuff on the tree? -Old Man's Beard, a type of moss

You can often find a boggy soil when you see bunches of dried grass. It's the oddest feeling when walking on it, because it feels a bit like walking on heads since its texture is a solid clump around the tuft all the while contrasting with the soft moist gluey texture of the surrounding bog.

Rich diversity of low ground vegetation

PEI I: Dans l'air

Mon vol de Halifax à Charlottetown était dans un avion le plus petit que j’ai jamais pris de ma vie!

Le début novembre, mon travail m’a envoyé à Charlottetown pour une formation de travail. Bien que la Terre-Neuve soit vraiment juste à côté de la province d’île du Prince Éduard, ce voyage m’a pris 1.5 jour pour me rendre jusqu’au là-bas. Le seul vol pour Charlottetown quittait à 6h00 le matin de Gander, mais comme j’habitais à Springdale en automne, la ville était deux heures de l’aéroport. Vu que je n’avais pas une auto, j’ai du prendre le bus et puis une chambre d’hôtel pour la nuit en attendant pour le vol du 6h00.  Cette formation pour moi de juste quelques jours était dispendieuse pour mon employeur!

De Gander, mon vol m’a déposé à Halifax pendant 5 heures avant de me rendre à l’ÎPE. C’était dommage que les deux fois j’étais à Halifax avec 5 heures entre connexion des vols, c’était toujours très tôt le matin ou très tard le soir, alors je ne pourrais rien visiter. 

Il y avait juste 20 siège de passagers et nous pouvons même voir la tête d’avion et nos pilots. 

Je n’aime pas trop les petits avions, car le vol n’était pas très confortable. La cabine est très bruyant – on entendre tout le bruit des moteurs; ils n’ont pas un bon moyen à régulier le climat à l’intérieur de la cabine, alors j’avais très froid, et finalement, j’avais l’impression que l’avion sois plus touché par la turbulence.  À mon insu, j’avais d’autres voyages en petit avion durant mon séjour à Terre-Neuve.

Malgré l’inconfort du 30 minute du vol, j’étais privilégié avec une vue magnifique de la Nouvelle-Écosse et de l’ÎPE en air. 

Le sol de l’ÎPE est effectivement rouge!

Des fermes

Easter Break Day 8: Tablelands, Pasadena

Barren land

The Tablelands is a mountain that is famous for its "red" rocks which according to scientist is thought to have originated from the Earth's mantle (the liquid layer under the Earth's crust). Since the mantle is rich in iron and nickle, it gives the rock its reddish-orange colour. All the documentary say the Tablelands is red, but on both the occasions I have hiked that trail- the first time at the beginning of April when it was still covered in snow, and the second time at the beginning of June- the rocks have always been yellow-brown to me. I wonder, maybe the Tableland rocks reveal a different colour in the summer and in the middle of the day and under the sun?

André-Anne's "shistaouk"

The Anna inukshuk, et non shistaouk (André-Anne mistaken the word shistaouk for an inukshuk).  After an hour of trekking in at times thigh-high snow, we arrive at the end of the Tableland trail to this view of the meeting of the mountains. I was very glad that I was not hiking this trail on my own in the middle of the "winter", because although the snow is beautiful as itself and preserves the pristine, non-disturbed state of the surroundings, it can feel a bit eerie when the wind whistles and when the clouds take over the sun.  It is then you really reminded that there is indeed not a soul around, not even visible signs of life from plants since there is little vegetation. .

Pasadena. I don't have a good photo from our stay in Pasadena, but I just wanted to comment it is a really quaint little community along the Humber River, and that we had a lovely stay with Gaëlle and Yoan our other Odyssée colleages. Out of the thirteen moniteurs assigned to Newfoundland for 2012-2013, I am happy to have the occasion to meet up with nine of them all scattered around the island, and in Labrador. It is true what they told us at training, that our colleagues in the room would be our "family" for the next year, people with whom we embark on adventures with, friends who we can visit, companions on this chapter of our Odyssey in Newfoundland.

Little Bay on ATV

More on motorized vehicles...

Thanks to Colleen, I had the chance to visit her in Little Bay, to go out on ATV (All Terrain Vehicle), and to explore the hidden gems of the back-country trails. Here are some photos taken back in autumn at the end of October. Just like snowmobile, I found the ATV really heavy and had difficulty steering. In a way, I feel less secure on ATV than snowmobile, because with the rough terrain of the back-country, you are in motion with every single bump off a rock, tree root, or sunken pit. With the snowmobile, at least, it's on smooth surfaces most o the time gliding along.

Little Bay

See the tiny yellow dots in the water? That's a mussel farm.

Beachside, the last village down the Little Bay junction

Sunday drive in the Twilingate area

St Patrick's day, I was invited to go for a Sunday drive up to Twilingate - the iceberg capital of Newfoundland. Here is a map of the 240 km drive and all the coves we stopped to visit.

Point A= Lewisporte
Point B = Micheal's Harbour (Cute coastal community with high islands enclosing the harbour giving it an intimate feel.)
Point C= Boyd's Cove (Beothuk Interpretation Centre--> The Beothuk people are an extinct aboriginal group. The last of that ethnic group died in 1829.)
Point D= Summerford
Point E= Cottlesville
Point F= Herring's Neck
Point G= Durrel, Township of Twilingate (Winery)
Point H= Crow Head, Township of Twilingate (10 miles of coastal hiking trail!)
Point I= Indian Cove
Point J= Lewisporte


Agrandir le plan

If I get the chance, I want to bike back to explore all the hiking trails along the way.

A crab pot. That's some big crab.

Cottlesville. 

Note the houses dotting the perimeter of the cove.

Herring's Neck

Whore's egg, or sea urchin according to the more scientific sounding term.

Durrel

Buddy and Patches - dog cemetary

Pans of ice. 

Kids use to jump from one pan to another for fun.

If you look really carefully, you'll see a tiny iceberg. 

The Newfies don't consider the small ones icebergs; they call the small ones growler. 

Cow Head, Twilingate

Frozen waterfall at Indian Cove

Small town, big entertainment

So apparently bubbles do freeze in ice. 

"Northern" explorer with a cheesy thermometer gimmick... novice still. 

Spruce and birch

Electric pole

My enchanted forest