AN EPIC ROAD TRIP
Randy Nickerson of Courtice, Ont., discovers the wild beauty and warm-hearted locals of Newfoundland’s west coast
Randy Nickerson of Toronto discovers the wild beauty and warm-hearted locals of Newfoundland’s west coast.
Iused to think that the best drive in our great country was from Calgary to Jasper by way of the Icefields Parkway, but I am going to let you in on a secret, the west coast of Newfoundland is every bit as amazing. I know many people who have travelled to the eastern part of the province and have raved about it, but the west coast is rugged, full of small fishing communities and some of the nicest people you will ever meet.
Being from Toronto, we don’t have the type of rugged landscapes nearby that oer a glimpse of what Eastern Canada truly has to oer. You can imagine my surprise at the wondrous vistas before us the minute we got o the plane at Deer Lake. Our visit was to take us to Norris Point, then to Lobster Cove, Gros Morne, St. Anthony and then back to Port aux Choix and finally to Lark Cove, west of Corner Brook.
Our first stop in Norris Point was to give us a home base to get to Gros Morne, but one of the wonderful people we met gave us the opportunity to climb one of the mountainous hills close to our accommodations.
It took a while, but the struggle was worth it when we saw the view from over 600 metres above Neddy Harbour. After an hour of taking some great landscape shots, it was time to call it a day with a sunrise call at 3 a.m. to get the view of Neddy Harbour from Main Street.
It was like the sun never really went down, when the rooster crowed to get us up and at ’em. With a hot co ee in hand, o we went to the harbour and what we saw made our eyes as wide as saucers. The sun was starting to rise but was still behind the hills, and a slight layer of cloud was just hanging above the water. We set up our tripods and began clicking away, capturing some quality photos that I have been challenged to get since.
A couple of hours later, it was time to travel to Gros Morne. This natural beauty, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was high on our list. Spectacular in its beauty, you are dwarfed by the size of the valley of cli s that the tour boat passes. Ninety minutes later, as we departed the boat, we could not stop talking about what we had witnessed. Waterfalls and cli s that match the ords in Norway were a surprise for us and occupied our conversation as we travelled to Lobster Cove for lunch.
We really did not know what to expect at Lobster Cove, but we’d heard back home that we needed to stop by there to experience the vistas. The century-old lighthouse once served as a beacon to safely guide fishermen and sailing vessels into Bonne Bay. It did not disappoint as a terrific focal point for our afternoon shoot.
One thing that became clear was the slowed down pace of life that we were starting to adapt to. Back home it was always go, go, go and here it is slow, slow, slow. It was now time to return to our home base in Norris Point and get a good night’s sleep before our trip to St. Anthony to hopefully get a shot of an iceberg.
It was a mere four-hour drive up the western coast of Newfoundland to get to St. Anthony, which is close to the northernmost point of Newfoundland and the gateway to Labrador. It was wonderful. We spent the rest of the day climbing the more than 400-steps on Dare Devil Trail to get a great shot of St. Anthony from above. It hit us that we were so far north when we realized it was