Farewell Newfoundland

Our last view of Newfoundland from the ferry

We left the island today and I have to admit, at one point, I was sitting in the lounge listening to Dave and Judy (two Newfoundlanders) sing jolly songs, the sun was glistening on the water and the porpoises were playing in the waves in front of our ferry – and I got a little choked up.  I am not sure what we expected to see when we got to Newfoundland, but we didn’t expect what we saw! It is a beautiful place with awe inspring scenery around every corner and over every hill – as I said in yesterday’s post.

Wild flowers are abundant and they changed from week to week and from one side of the island to the other. When we first arrived, we saw loads of pink, purple and cream coloured lupins. Then we saw bright yellow buttercups, fields of white daisies and purple wild iris. As we moved west, the roads were lined with pink clover, Queen Anne’s Lace,  wild roses, sumac in bloom, blue bells and now fields of pink phlox. We spotted many tree tops that looked like whale tales – they had that very distinctive V of the humpback whale. 

Whale Tales on the tree tops

Oh yes, and then there are the “mother-in-law” doors.  We had commented for weeks about the number of homes we saw with a front door half way up a house– and no steps leading to it. Well it turns out that is the door your mother-in-law is supposed to use to enter your home, if you don’t like her, and if she does get in through the back or side door, you can always throw her out the front door. Or, so the book of Newfoundland language says.

Mother-in-law Door

I have too many photos to include them all in the blog, so plan to create an on-line photo album some time soon. I will post the link as a separate blog entry.

Tonight we attended a "kitchen party" at the campground. There was a sign that announced music at in the barn at 7:15 tonight. We went over about 7:30 and only stayed about an hour. The barn is really nicely appointed for a party. The old wide plank boards were painted a chocolate brown; the interior part of the roof and rafters, a bright yellow and the low walls were a rich cranberry colour. The room was filled with comfortable chairs, square tables, a couple of large rocking chairs, and some decorations, like wooden wheels, and milk cans, a Texas star etc. 

A decorated lawn - we saw many

Well, the party was a geriatric kitchen party with music played by 3 old guys, one on a keyboard, one on guitar and one on the violin. It could have been fun, but the music was music of our parents generation, not ours - there was nothing faster than waltz music and the first song I heard them playing was Edelweiss - that should have given us a clue. They didn't play any jigs, fiddle or lively music. It was all old style VERY easy listening music. 

As we begin our travel back home tomorrow, an early night was welcome in any case. 


To the left are a few photos that I had to share.

Rugged Beauty along the Port au Port Peninsula