Nova Scotia & Newfoundland

Preparations
South America
North America
Asia
Africa
Europe
Returning home

Canada
Québec & New Brunswick
Nova Scotia & Newfoundland
Québec & Ontario
Manitoba to the Pacific

32 Off to Nova Scotia
33 Whales, Digby Neck
34 Yarmouth and beyond
35 Through to Lunenburg
36 Lunenburg
37 To Halifax
38 Halifax
39 Halifax and Bluenose II
40 Halifax
41 Halifax Citadel
42 Fixing Morty
43 Greenwich & Stanhope
44 Charlottetown
45 Canadian Confederation
46 Whisky and Ceilidh
47 On to Broad Cove
48 Glace Bay and Marconi
49 Arriving in Newfndlnd
50 To St John's
51 St John's
52 St John's
53 Avalon Peninsula
54 To Twillingate
55 Rain to Rocky Harbour
56 Gros Morne
57 Vikings up north
58 Wind and ferries
59 Labrador

Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland & Labrador

We carried on through Nova Scotia which was different again with a slower pace of life and yet more fantastic scenery. Here we saw a good dose of humpback whales, learned about the fishing industry in Shelburne and Lunenburg and enjoyed the buzz of city life in Halifax. If you get chance to go for a cruise on Bluenose II do it - it is well worth the money.

We took a provincial detour up to Prince Edward Island which is worth it to see vast tracts of land devoted to farming. The beaches on the north shore were superb and there is a great floating board walk across the dunes at Greenwich. If you are a fan of Anne of Green Gables, you can also visit the house and area where it was based, a worthwhile stop. Charlottetown was like a smaller version of Halifax. We timed it well, arriving at the start of the International Shellfish Festival. I have never seen so many mussels being eaten in one place before, it beats Belgo's in London's Covent Garden.

Back over to Nova Scotia we toured through Cape Breton and the Highlands National Park. Words fail to do justice to the scenery and while pictures will help, the best way to experience it is to come and see for yourself. From Sydney we caught a ferry across to Newfoundland and spent about ten days there, unfortunately at the same time as lots of heavy wind and rain.

Newfoundland is a vast island with a strong Irish and Scottish heritage which is present to this day. People in St John's who have never left the island sound as if they come from Ireland, 3700km away. Here we saw moose, aviation heritage, Beothuk Indian heritage and the only Viking site in North America. It was in the Gros Morne National Park that the movement of tectonic plates was proved and you can see and walk on part of the earth's mantle. Fabulous scenery in the National Park hits both of our "most amazing things I have seen" lists.

Would I go back? Again, definitely because again we have only scratched the surface. There is so much more to see here and I could happily spend a week in Gros Morne alone. We did not even hit the national parks in Nova Scotia and they will be well worth exploring. It would also be great to get closer to the people who live here, something it is proving increasingly difficult to do living on campgrounds and going to remote areas where there is not even a village pub!

Should you go? Again, oh yes, but I would go earlier in the year. Campgrounds and sights to see are starting to close down and there is now a definite feeling that winter is around the corner, let alone autumn. This has advantages on the one hand because it is not busy but sometimes you need the buzz of lots of people to get the opportunity to experience an area more.

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