We made our way on to Highway One (reminiscing that we are on the opposite end of it from Victoria, Vancouver Island – Mile 0). Our first stop was a town planners LSD trip (or something like that). It was donger, schlong, nope… it was called Dildo!!! Yes, DILDO! Why, why, why? It was probably or innocent (or was it!) We went to the Dildo Interpretative Centre and saw Captain Dildo (why of course!) and a replica of a giant squid they caught here a few decades back.
The centre had information on the cod fishing (now completely over fished) and the hatchery that has fallen into disrepair. They had a tank here with a few fish, including some wrasse, cod and some cool halibut (like a little flounder). Tan picked up a scallop (didn’t look as tasty as the one from the night before) and I played with some crabs in a small touch tank. The scallop coughed which gave Tan a small fright!
We have decided that everywhere we go we put a bit of Australiana in all of the visitors books along the way. Yesterday at Cape Spear it was “Noice” and Dildo is was “It’s a ripper!”.Now onto to town planning. Cupids, the town and bay is on the way to Baccalieu. After you leave Dildo you arrive at Heart’s Delight, then Heart’s Desire and finally in Heart’s Content. Someone was messing with the innocents’ minds to get this one by town planning. We just chuckled and took photos along the way.
As we arrived in Heart’s Content, which had a fishing boat in dry dock and lots of lobster pots, we wandered into the Heart’s Content Telegraph station. 
In the mid to late 1800’s, Asia, Africa and Europe were connected by a wire telegraph system. The New World, the Ameirca’s was internally connected and after a bathimetric survey it was decided that the Atlantic Ocean, here a relatively flat plateau, could sustain an underwater wire link from Ireland to Newfoundland. A grat idea. They successfully laid the cable and after about 6 weeks it failed. The fellow was a hero and then a villain. With opportunity in mind he raise more money and laid another one. Success!! Not long after that he grappled the mislaid cable and repaired it! Two transatlantic cables in a couple of years. More cables were laid with the last one in 1894. It is amazing to think how valuable this link become in times of war and to transmit weather details for ships about to cross the Atlantic. The lead covered cables are still visible in the shore line, though they fell into disrepair in the 1960’s. The station museum had the whole gamete of telegraph equipment and it made me laugh to think of the switchboard and Dad’s first job as young fella in Foster. We entered "It's beaut" in the visitors book.
Tan was keen for a drive and the last time she drove on the wrong side of the road was in Tuscany where she nearly hit a pheasant and met two cars on a narrow gravel road ( which was enough for her to not consider driving in Europe again!). As we were driving along the coast road in and out of small towns and cove, I spotted a moose. “Tan, stop, moose!”. Here we were stopped on the side of the road, looking at a cow moose slowly chewing away of the hawthorne bushes. It was wonderful to see this creature in it’s somewhat natural environment. Actually, moose were introduced at the turn century and since then the four have turned into around 125,000. Great for wildlife lovers but not so great for a couple of aussies in a pissy little car. Moose strikes here average one a day for the island of Newfoundland. 
After a bite to eat in Winterton on the pier with it’s ducks and jellyfish we made our way to the northern points. Grates Cove was a lovely spot, “God’s Country” as it was described by an old fella chatting to his mates on a chair overlooking the area. We agreed but it was clear and sunny and not in freezing fog and cold of winter!!!
Next stop was Baie Verte, with it’s pretty church and lovely coast line. The houses here are different, weatherboard and often white or brightly coloured. The colours are probably needed as winter and the fog would be a bit much in the cooler months. We made our way home along the other side of the pensinsula and eventually got back to St Johns, a quick drive was 350km!!!!St Johns is a lovely city, the capital with only 100,000 people. The town is loaded with Victorian style house and I think it is better than the ones in San Francisco, apart from the fact Full House wasn’t shot here. The houses in every street look like a postcard. Here is a shot from one street down.
That night, we ended up at Kasbah with an awesome meal of stuffed chicken and I had Snapper with a tops Greek salad. A great introduction to Newfy! Surpising to us both, Tan had an AFD (Alcohol Free Day).
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