"> NEWFOUNDLAND by Irwin Patterson - Weddings & Honeymoons
 
TEL : 416-653-4986    EMAIL : BARWED@ROGERS.COM
Diamonds International
MAIN MENU
Home
SITEMAP



NEW GIFT FOR GUYS

Their very own Porsche
- Advertisements -
Wedding Planning

Mother of the Bride
• Traditional duties
Kids in the Party
duties, behavior & outfits
WEDDING SHOW CALENDAR
Visit W&H at Canada's Wedding Expo
MOVIE WEDDINGS
Miley Cyrus' romance film
ATTRACTIONS IN TORONTO
Caribana Art
THEATRE REVIEWS
Shaw, Stratford, previews




| NEWFOUNDLAND by Irwin Patterson
A Honeymoon in Newfoundland

Picture perfect of whales and icebergs


Many tourists are discovering Newfoundland is an unknown, beautiful Canadian treasure with many places honeymooners would enjoy exploring together


by Irwin Patterson
Great Places on a Budget
The six hour ferry to Port aux Basque Newfoundland leaves from North Sydney, Cape Breton Island. I soon discovered the island is an unspoiled beautiful province with quaint fishing villages, icebergs, whale watching, rugged scenery, a beautiful capital city, St. John's, pictured left, with a spectacular view of the harbour from Signal Hill, federal parks and world class historical museums.

I saw my first iceberg in Twillingate, pictured right, a town of 3000 off the Trans Canada Highway on route 340. Icebergs come down from Greenland, we only see one eighth of the iceberg and it is made up of fresh water that is 10,000 years old.

Continuing on the Trans Canada Highway eastward, I visited Tera Nova National Park that offers hiking trails, fire pits with fire wood supplied, secluded coves and an interpretation centre featuring a touch tank that allows you to lift out star fish and more for a closer look.

In Cape Bonavista, visit a replica of the Matthew, the ship John Cabot sailed when he discovered Newfoundland in 1497 and The Ryan Premises, a multi building site that illustrates the salt fish exporting business in the 19th century.

The capital is St. John's with a population of 102,000, a city that is easy to navigate. The James O'Mara Pharmacy Museum, formerly a drug store, illustrates old prescriptions, the pill tile, spatula and machine the pharmacist used to make pills, 19th century shelves, bottles for medicine and their labels.

The Newfoundland Museum at The Rooms, which also houses the provincal Art Gallery, explores 9000 years of Newfoundland and Labrador history and is well worth a visit. The Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Gardens in Pippy Park displays plants native to the province in a 110 acre site.

Nearby, the Fluvarium (www.fluvarium.ca) allows you to see underwater life through windows below the Nagle's Hill Brook, a tributary of Rennie's River. It originates upstream, about 3 kilometers north of The Fluvarium, at a place called Three Pond Barrens. They diverted a section of Nagle's Hill Brook to flow past nine underwater viewing windows to allow visitors the opportunity to view the underwater world. The Fluvarium is designed to be an "open system", allowing trout to swim freely in and out of the viewing area and is therefore influenced by nature.

The Fluvarium was officially opened to the public in November 1990, and is the "jewel in the crown" of the Quidi Vidi/Rennie's River Development Foundation (QVRRDF), serving to educate the public about the importance of preserving freshwater habitats. Admission prices are on their website.

Signal Hill offers a spectacular panorama of St. John's. Hundreds of years ago, Cabot Tower, an attractive stone edifice, used signal flags to announce the arrival of military and mercantile ships.

Similarly, a few miles away and not to be missed is Cape Spear, the oldest lighthouse in Newfoundland and Labrador that has stood since 1836, providing guidance for mariners approaching St. John's. The lighthouse is a museum today. This cape is the most easterly point in North America.

South of St. John's is Bay Bulls. The O'Brien's Nautical Experience offers boat tours to Witless Bay Ecological Reserve and on to see icebergs and whales in season. They also offer a Marine Safari in a small zodiac to the world famous spout and unique geological attractions such as sea stacks, sea caves and towering waterfalls, one of the highlights of my trip.

Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve, pictured right, features tens of thousands of birds such as gannets and murres on cliffs overlooking the sea. On the way, Fort Royal, founded in 1662 in Placentia, was designed to protect the French fishing interests in Newfoundland.

The museum illustrates the small size of the fishermen in those days, the poor quality of the French Fishermen’s cloths compared to the oil skins worn by the Basque fishermen. Models illustrate the poor fishermen and soldier's living conditions, and paintings illustrate the process to catch, cut and salt the cod. After photographing this world class museum, a guide gave me a tour with explanation that brought the history to life for me.

Heading west, I visited Salvage, a quaint fishing village of 200 inhabitants.

Gros Morne National Park on the Northern Peninsula is a rugged wilderness with a two hour narrated boat trip on Western Brook Pond Fjord. There are cliffs around you as you view Blue Denom Falls and much more. Reservations a must.

At the top of the peninsula is L'Anse Aux Meadows, a National Historic Site of Canada. It has four buildings built of peat as was done by the 90 or so Vikings who landed here in 1000 A.D. looking for hard wood. This fascinating museum complex features costumed workers explaining how the settlers made iron and how they lived in their long house.

Nearby is Norstead, another museum illustrating the same history with costumed workers making delicious flat bread out of five different flours, a standup loom, a game called kubb and a full scale replica of the Viking Ship Snorri.

Motels and bed & breakfast homes are the same price as the rest of Canada.

I recently met a woman from Toronto who told me her first trip to Newfoundland was "the trip of a lifetime and I'm sorry to be home."

IRWIN'S TIPS:
• For a free Newfoundland travel guide and map 1-800-563-6353. Visit  www.newfoundlandlabrador.com.
• O'Briens boat tours in Bay Bulls 1-877-639-4253 www.obriensboattours.com.
• The ferry from North Sydney to Port aux Basque Newfoundland takes six hours. 1-800-341-7981 www.marine-atlantic.ca.
• The web site for L'anse Aux Meadows and Norstead museums www.pc.gc.ca and www.norstead.com.
• The best times to see icebergs are May and June.
• Gros Morne National Park Western Brook Pond boat tours reservations 1-800-563-9887 or through the Ocean View Motel in Rock Harbour at 709-458-2730. Visit www.bontours.ca.
• Departure Point: Western Brook Pond Dock - an easy three-kilometer (1.8 miles) walk from parking lot along the Western Brook Pond Trail.
• Check Departure times online for: June, August, September Departure Times
• Tour Time: Approximately 2 hours.
* Check Prices online for: Adults Children (12-16), Children (11 & under), Family (2 Adults & 2 Children).
Purchase your tickets on the day of the tour either at the Ocean View Motel in Rocky Harbour with credit card or right at the dock after the 3km walk in, with CASH ONLY.



WeddingsHoneymoons.com | Destination Weddings & Honeymoons | July 17, 2010
Copyright 2010 Weddings & Honeymoons. All Rights Reserved

CMS Powered by c-Seven's Mantis