The Rock will not disappoint
The painted houses, local language and even the place names are truly a Heart’s Delight
Newfoundland had figured prominently on my bucket list for months, and I finally decided to follow the advice of English poet and philosopher G.K. Chesterton: “The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.”
The Rock is at once Canadian and foreign, as I discovered upon arrival in the capital, St. John’s.
Dense fog drifted in from the sea on the drive from the airport to the city, lending visual credence to stories of spectral beings and pirate treasure — St. John’s is, after all, called the City of Legends.
Locals claim that if you come upon a rock with a white line encircling it while strolling on Middle Cove Beach, just minutes from the city, good luck is in your forecast.
Such spookiness is not all St. John’s has going for it.
“Jelly bean” houses — named for their vivid hues of lime green, purple, pink, yellow and carmine — are a feature throughout the downtown of the city. Fishing boats rock at anchor on a sunlit morning amid scenes of painted prows, rope coils and lobster pots. Shopaholics enjoy a visit to Woof Design, the place for hefty Newfoundland sweaters.
Mainlanders are encouraged to stop off at O’Reilly’s pub to take part in an induction ceremony that makes participants an honourary “Newfie.” With the ceremony underway, inductees were invited to swallow a shot of screech, a potent amber rum.
“Are ye a screecher?” the MC shouted. Wannabe Newfoundlanders replied: “Deed I is me ol’ cock, and long may your big jib draw.”
The kiss of a codfish or the rear end of a puffin then confirmed the status of new “Newfies.”
A quaint settlement a short drive out of St. John’s is home to the Quidi Vidi Brewery, which was started in 1996 by David Fong and David Rees. Brewery visitors had a choice of 1892 Traditional Ale, Honey Brown Ale, Eric’s Cream Ale or a seasonal cherry beer to sample. The Iceberg brew is made from water frozen for thousands of years in a Greenland glacier.
En route to Twillingate, a detour was taken to the Bonavista Peninsula. Huge signs on the roadside alerted drivers to moose hazards, as there are approximately 120,000 moose in Newfoundland and they make frequent road crossings, especially at dawn and dusk.
On the shores of this peninsula, small fishing villages are tucked away into rocky coves, and lighthouses are perched on massive cliffs. Village names such as Heart’s Content and Heart’s Delight-Islington remind visitors this is a land settled by romantic Irish emigrants.
Fishers’ Loft Inn overlooks the ocean in the small village of Port Rexton and served as home base for two nights. Twenty guest rooms each have panoramic views of the ocean, and dinner at the inn was a gourmet delight.
The quaint eight-building complex has had its fair share of celebrity stay-overs. Dame Judi Dench and Kevin Spacey were guests for months when on location filming The Shipping News. Kevin Spacey’s suite was No. 5, and my suite, No. 6, was where he put his Ping-Pong table.
The tiny town of Trinity nearby presents an old-time ambience. Homes date back centuries and feature gardens with fresh spring greenery and flowery patches surrounded by white picket fences. Road signs are delicately lettered in calligraphy.
Bonavista was next on the itinerary. Birds are the draw here — thousands of them. Puffins, gannets, storm-petrels, falcons, ospreys, eagles and owls are just some of the species that make appearances.
Thousands of puffins gather each May at Cape Bonavista Lighthouse Provincial Historic Site to build nests in holes in the ground that date back centuries.
Twillingate was a four-hour drive away, and it impressed with dramatic sea cliffs, sheltered coves, peat bogs and beaches. This town lays claim to being the finest place in all the world for viewing icebergs, as well as humpback, minke and orca whales. Seals and more seabirds are also on hand.
Beginning in early spring, up to 40,000 giant slabs of ice calve from 10,000-year-old glaciers in Greenland and make their way down the east coast of Labrador toward Newfoundland’s southern Grand Banks. This migration route is called Iceberg Alley. It was in these waters that the “unsinkable” Titanic collided with an iceberg and plummeted to the seabed.
As the season progresses, close to 800 sculpted ice towers of every shape and size reach Twillingate, gliding in majestic flotillas past the Quirpon Lighthouse Inn on Quirpon Island.
A two-hour tour with Iceberg Quest was the highlight of my trip. The sea was particularly rough, and the group was warned it could be an uncomfortable journey. Although seated throughout, I was able to contort my body to photograph one of nature’s most magnificent sights. Looming alongside our tiny craft was a massive sculpted ice castle. Majestic, but potentially lethal should the boat get too close.
If you wish to walk among the oldest rocks on Earth, experience the friendliness and charm of islanders and feel the cold breath of a 10,000-year-old floating ice castle, Newfoundland will not disappoint.