This morning was all about seeing the native to Newfoundland and the province emblem, Puffins. What are Puffins? Small birds that resemble mini penguins with orange beaks and feet. Very cute and very small. We both thought they would be a about the size of a seagull – they are actually about half that size. We drove out to Bay Balls and checked out one boat tours. They weren’t going for another three hours and they pointed to a boat on the other side of the bay and said that one will leave in 10 minutes. We droved carefully as sign on the street mentioned about “Children at play” and “Deaf child in the street!”. Seriously! 
We pulled into the car park and Tan got out while I parked. We paid, they held the boat up for us two and then we were off. The Witless Bay ecological area is another large bird breeding colony, in particular, for puffins. It was blowing pretty hard, but the boat was 65’, so it wasn’t too rough. As we rounded the point, it was amazing to see green meadows and short shrubs up against the cliffs and rugged cold sea. Tan and I remarked that it looked much like Ireland and Scotland even though we hadn’t been there... yet.
On arrival to the island we were greeted with 1000’s of puffins in the air. The puffins are quite cute but are terrible fliers. They eat the capelin, a schooling fish, which appear in summer which also bring the whales, cod and everything else which wants to eat them. 
The swell was large and Tan, the avid sea farer was turning green. She had to lie down for a while to stop the dreadful feeling of being sea sick. 
The puffins were pretty cool but diminutive compared to our expectations. On the way back after seeing no whales, thought that would be the case as it is late in the season, a Newfie fella gave us hints on traveling in Western Newfoundland. The lady on the microphone found out there were two Aussies in the boat from some of the other passengers and come up especially to say “G’day”. The hospitality over here is really good and as the bloke said “You will like us here because we are much like you guys!” Pretty true.
We didn’t run over any deaf kids on the way (luckily) and headed south and had lunch in a little cove over looking islands. We turned around run over a garbage bag that attached to the underside of the car, drove past rows of yellow school buses you see in the movies.
Over the wind swept plains, Dan decided to stop to pick some berries. Within 10m from the road, near a small river, we found a huge blueberry patch. Tan was amazed and we pigged ourselves on the plump sweet blue berries. We collected a bottle full in the cold winds and continued on our journey. 
Next stop was the Salmonier Wildlife Reserve where sick and injured animals are housed in large enclosures to rehabilitate. Today is the Sunday, the middle of the Labour Day long weekend and since the weather is pleasant everyone was out on the road. I pulled into the reserve a little too fast and screeched the tyres. Oops! In the wildlife centre there was a selection of moose and caribou antlers and some pelts. Did you know that Tan doesn’t like furs? In particular fox tails are not her forte!
Along the 2.5km walk we saw a lot of animals. Two bald eagles, two different types of owls, a moose, caribou and otters. The lynx was difficult to spot and the only way I found it was by it hissing at us as we left.
The marten is like a large ferret with a long tail and it was running around like it was possessed. It was fast and it was doing backflips as it run up to the fence. Quite humorous to watch. The beaver dam, not a fallen over tree, had lengths of wood upto 6ft all neatly stacked but alas no beavie.
The track also had the odd bake-apple bush. We sampled this amber coloured sweet berry much like a blackberry / raspberry. The arctic fox, not snow white like we imagined, looked like an inquisitive grey puppy. It’s fur changes when the weather gets colder. 
Back in town, we dodgied our way across the world’s longest pedestrian crossing. Funny you don’t really need it here because as soon as you even look like you are going to cross the road even without white stripes both lanes of traffic will stop for you!! Tan dodged the falling ice sign and we ended up in Kelly’s Irish Pub on George Street. 
The pub is less commercial than some of the other pubs and the pub grub come with a mountain of chips. I sampled the QV beers (Quidi Vidi – a nearby town) and then listened to this Newfie (with Irish roots) sing traditional songs. One song in particularly was extremely moving, And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda was belted out. It was funny as we were along way from home, with song talking about a spot we visited last year. 
Belinda, the neighbourhood cat, was waiting for her nightly pats next door to the Abba Inn.
We pulled into the car park and Tan got out while I parked. We paid, they held the boat up for us two and then we were off. The Witless Bay ecological area is another large bird breeding colony, in particular, for puffins. It was blowing pretty hard, but the boat was 65’, so it wasn’t too rough. As we rounded the point, it was amazing to see green meadows and short shrubs up against the cliffs and rugged cold sea. Tan and I remarked that it looked much like Ireland and Scotland even though we hadn’t been there... yet.On arrival to the island we were greeted with 1000’s of puffins in the air. The puffins are quite cute but are terrible fliers. They eat the capelin, a schooling fish, which appear in summer which also bring the whales, cod and everything else which wants to eat them. The swell was large and Tan, the avid sea farer was turning green. She had to lie down for a while to stop the dreadful feeling of being sea sick. The puffins were pretty cool but diminutive compared to our expectations. On the way back after seeing no whales, thought that would be the case as it is late in the season, a Newfie fella gave us hints on traveling in Western Newfoundland. The lady on the microphone found out there were two Aussies in the boat from some of the other passengers and come up especially to say “G’day”. The hospitality over here is really good and as the bloke said “You will like us here because we are much like you guys!” Pretty true.We didn’t run over any deaf kids on the way (luckily) and headed south and had lunch in a little cove over looking islands. We turned around run over a garbage bag that attached to the underside of the car, drove past rows of yellow school buses you see in the movies.
Over the wind swept plains, Dan decided to stop to pick some berries. Within 10m from the road, near a small river, we found a huge blueberry patch. Tan was amazed and we pigged ourselves on the plump sweet blue berries. We collected a bottle full in the cold winds and continued on our journey. Next stop was the Salmonier Wildlife Reserve where sick and injured animals are housed in large enclosures to rehabilitate. Today is the Sunday, the middle of the Labour Day long weekend and since the weather is pleasant everyone was out on the road. I pulled into the reserve a little too fast and screeched the tyres. Oops! In the wildlife centre there was a selection of moose and caribou antlers and some pelts. Did you know that Tan doesn’t like furs? In particular fox tails are not her forte!Along the 2.5km walk we saw a lot of animals. Two bald eagles, two different types of owls, a moose, caribou and otters. The lynx was difficult to spot and the only way I found it was by it hissing at us as we left.
The marten is like a large ferret with a long tail and it was running around like it was possessed. It was fast and it was doing backflips as it run up to the fence. Quite humorous to watch. The beaver dam, not a fallen over tree, had lengths of wood upto 6ft all neatly stacked but alas no beavie. The track also had the odd bake-apple bush. We sampled this amber coloured sweet berry much like a blackberry / raspberry. The arctic fox, not snow white like we imagined, looked like an inquisitive grey puppy. It’s fur changes when the weather gets colder. Back in town, we dodgied our way across the world’s longest pedestrian crossing. Funny you don’t really need it here because as soon as you even look like you are going to cross the road even without white stripes both lanes of traffic will stop for you!! Tan dodged the falling ice sign and we ended up in Kelly’s Irish Pub on George Street. The pub is less commercial than some of the other pubs and the pub grub come with a mountain of chips. I sampled the QV beers (Quidi Vidi – a nearby town) and then listened to this Newfie (with Irish roots) sing traditional songs. One song in particularly was extremely moving, And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda was belted out. It was funny as we were along way from home, with song talking about a spot we visited last year. Belinda, the neighbourhood cat, was waiting for her nightly pats next door to the Abba Inn.
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