1st September, St Johns – Cape St Mary’s, NL

This morning we decided to head to the south western tip of the Avalon peninsula, Cape St Mary’s. Part of the adventure was actually getting to Cape St Mary’s as thick fog rolled in making driving particularly difficult. Visibility at times was no more than around 50m. Upon arrival at the Cape all we could see was the car park and the sound of a fog horn. We saw some people and walked towards them which led to a track. One hundred metres along the track was a huge “discovery centre” with displays of birds and other wildlife. It’s funny to think that we didn’t even see this building on a large grassy cape. We commenced the 1.4 km walk from the interpretative centre to Bird Rock, the third largest gannet nesting site in North America and most accessible. A couple of hundred metres in and we stopped to peer over the edge. We could hear the ocean crashing against the rocks at the bottom of the cliff but couldn’t see a thing because the fog was thick. The wind was also so strong we were a little concerned we might be blown over the edge if we got to close. Further down the track, we came across a flock of sheep on the side of the hill. One large ram in particular sat in the middle of the path and wasn’t moving for us or anyone that came across the path. We finally made it to the end of the track where the gannets nested and the site hosted some 70,000 birds. The birds nested here as the isolation of the rock meant they were free from predators. We could see the birds with there chicks sitting on the rock and flying overhead. It was amazing to see so many birds in such close proximity. They were getting buffeted by strong winds and mists and after sitting out on the rocks for a while getting covered in mist.We headed back to the interpretative centre to warm up before heading out to the nearby lighthouse. Oh what, you can’t see it – neither could we until we almost stumbled across it. We only heard it. While we there we told some people how to find the interpretative centre in the fog. On the way out a weasel run along the road next to us for about 10m before going back into the low scrub.

We stopped in the town of Placentia, which was originally the French capital called “Plaisance”. We had a traditional roast dinner in a little cottage style restaurant. Everyone seems to say “You’re Welcome!” when complimented.

We headed back to St Johns – a long 400 km round trip. The fog still hung around and Dan who was driving also had to contend with rain so heavy that the wind screen wipers could barely keep up. Driving conditions were treacherous and we aqua planed down the road a number of times although weather conditions dictated that we were driving well under the speed limit. It made moose spotting difficult also with poor visibility though one did run across the road in front of us, stopped looked either way and then belted up the hill on the other side. Too quick to capture in a photo but slow enough for us both to see it. We made it back to St Johns in one piece!

We went to dinner in George St which is packed with heaps of pubs, mainly Irish. We ate at O’Reilly’s with an approximately 70 year old man putting on an awesome tap dance demonstration to traditional Newfoundland music. An Irish band of around six provided some great music and Dan bravely tried a Caribou Bourguignon. Stringy meat he said, but not too bad.