With no
showers at the campsite we finally today got to use our last on
board "toy" our shower. It was pretty good, the only downside is
getting the floor dry again afterwards. All in all it probably took
as long as going to the shower block if one is available so it will
only be used as a last resort.
For the first time in ages we were up and out early today, leaving
the campsite just after 9:00am. We spent time over the last few days
trying to map out what we want to see and do in Newfoundland and how
it works with the connections across to, and on, Labrador. Not
surprisingly at this time of year all the ferries run on the same
day so we either need to miss bits out or add in extra time. The
former option won.
We backtracked a fair way along the trans Canada highway stopping
first at Tourist Information in Goobies (great name) where they
confirmed our suspicion that the ferry to France was a non starter.
Just off the coast are two islands, St Pierre and Miquelon, that are
still officially French. We had thought it would be a curiosity to
visit them but not enough so to add a week to our total journey
time. Instead we carried on through the Terra Nova National Park and
on to Gander. The scenery along the way was again expanses of trees
surrounding lakes (normally called "ponds" here) and very beautiful.
Each day more of the leaves are starting to turn and what was
totally green on our way across to St John's is now, just a few days
later, dotted with yellows, bronzes and reds.
At Gambo we pulled in to look at the Joey Smallwood Interpretation
centre, having stopped at his lookout on our way across. Despite me
seeing someone inside, the centre was closed. The person I had seen
was a life sized model of Joey. He was the first Premier of
Newfoundland after the province joined the Canadian Confederation
and I have built up a picture that he was a pretty influential chap.
Around the centre there is a small park with a life sized bronze
statue of him and some memorial walks. He is clearly very important
to this small village and is a good icon to kids from small places
that they can make an difference.
At Gander we stopped at the Aviation Museum. A small town, Gander
has played a key role in aviation history as one of the first places
to cater for transatlantic flights, home to tests of boat-plane
landings, a WWII air base and more recently giving support to people
caught up in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on New York. Gander's
location has been key to its aviation role. Close the the coast of
Newfoundland and therefore near to Europe it is still far enough
inland not to get fog bound.
The museum itself is small and is based in what looks like an
aircraft hanger. The tail of a DC3 sticks out above the front door,
the cockpit is at the other side of the museum and you can sit in
the seats and pretend to have a go at the controls. Outside are four
other planes, including an air force jet and a supply plane. The
airport at Gander was established late in the 1930's and it became
important as a supply base in WWII. Displays chart the growth and
expansion of the airport, their battles to cope with snow and the
role they played.
Many of the WWII buildings have now been replaced but some are still
used as hotels for the local town. Even Joey Smallwood played a role
here. To feed the troops stationed here the was a piggery to provide
bacon, pork etc. The piggery was run and looked after by one Joey
Smallwood so he went from pig farmer to Premier of the Province. Not
bad! They have a Tiger Moth training plane inside on display. Its
really basic and little more than ply board - quite scary to think
that without these the history of the world would be quite different
to what it has been.
How many points for a
yellow plane?!?
After the war Gander became a key hub for transatlantic flights.
They have displays relating to the airlines of the times (Eastern
Province Airlines which later became Air Canada) including uniforms
of the crew, match books, cocktail stirrers and other bits and
pieces used in flight. In 1995 they were given another exhibit, a
first aid cupboard which had been sealed years ago and moved from
place to place as the airline moved offices. When they opened it
they revealed a time warp. The cupboard must have been sealed for
about thirty years and many of the items inside were still
undisturbed in their original wrappings. They included stretchers,
bandages, eye patches, blankets and pillows all of which looked a
bit dated today.
Its mainly national flights that seem to go through Gander these
days but they still do have international traffic. After the 9/11
bombings many flights to the US got stranded, a fair few of them
here at Gander. They have pictures of the runway with big planes
just stacked up as if they were parked in a car park. The local
community rallied round and few, watered and housed the stranded
crew and passengers until they could continue. It sounds like this
was for quite a few days. At the museum there is a whole display
about this showing newspaper cuttings and files with letters from
the affected passengers thanking the people of Gander for their
help.
After the museum we popped into the centre of Gander for a quick
check on mail before carrying on and up. Its a soul-less place and
seems to be just a big mall style shopping centre as its central
hub. Stef tried to get in touch with the company who run the ships
from Labrador to Quebec but with no luck. We have no mobile
reception and the local payphone was also on the blink. We then
carried on up the 330, 331 and 340 to Twillingate, a small village
at the end of a peninsula and the nearest place with an open
campsite.
The weather was turning again as we drove and the wind and rain
picked up making for an unpleasant journey. When we crossed from the
New World Island to South Twillingate Island it was still just
daylight. We took the scenic route around Bayview, more stunning sea
views and pretty fishing villages. It was almost dark when we got to
Twillingate. We stopped for a few essentials and tried the ferry
company again, this time getting through only to be told that we
needed to have called before midday today to make a reservation. As
Stef was getting crosser with the person on the end of the phone, I
was getting cross trying to quickly find information he needed about
Mortimer's size and weight to get a quote and the rain started
again. All in all a bad combination!
We drove through Twillingate in search of the campsite, missing it
first of all because it was empty. We were the only people there. I
joked to Stef that word would have gone out in the village to the
campsite owner that he had business that night. About five minutes
later a car turned up with the campsite owner. He had seen us
driving through but had also been called by others telling him he
had business. Aubrey was very friendly, ran through what was what
and where and bade us goodnight. We had the whole site to ourselves.
It is great for us that places like this are still open but there is
no way they can be making money from it.
