Battery Prov Park to Kings Point NL

NL near Wreckhouse in the Long Range mountains

 

Saturday June 3

On Saturday Diane and Gary left Battery Park in good time, to do some running around before catching the 11:45 PM overnight ferry to NL. Cathie and I simply lazed around in the van all day. It only got up to 9C/48F during the day with wind most of the day and rain off and on. With our electric heater the van stayed warm, and our Kobo ereaders got a lot of use. Just a relaxing day.

Sunday June 4

Ferry day for us today, catching the 11:45 AM day ferry. Since the ferry ticket stressed that we MUST be checked in by 2 hrs before the ferry departure or we would lose our ride, we left quite early for the 1 hr 15 minute drive to the North Sydney terminal. We got there about 9am, after a stop at the Sydney McDonald's for a travelling breakfast.

It was a foggy day with low clouds, and would stay that way for most of the ferry ride:

 

There were 2 ferries at the dock. We were loaded on the right hand one when the time came, and it looked like the other one had been sitting there for a while. Maybe for the longer Argentia run once it starts up in mid-June. 

There were cormorant nests on every light fixture:

And even on the idle ship's rigging!

As usual, the loading was handled well. These guys repeat this every day and know what they are doing:

The crossing took about 6+ hours today. The weather kept us inside, and it was so foggy we couldn't tell when we actually left. Once we got into open water the swells lifted the boat up and down, up and down... The staff came around and replenished the supplies of sick bags. Surprisingly I was ok today. Especially surprising since I'd just had a couple of days of vertigo to deal with. We found a good description of the Epley Maneuver though, and that helped a lot. Maybe the Gravol helped too, even though its best-before date was July 2022. 

The day cleared up a bit as it went along. Here's the ferry backing in to dock at Port Aux Basques, relatively clear by then thank goodness:

 

We made it safely, and upon landing drove right to nearby JT Cheeseman provincial park, and managed to get another electrical site. Once again there was another Mews van there, as Diane and Gary had checked in here much earlier in the day. There were also many other non-NL license plates, like Montana, Georgia, Florida, BC, Alberta. NL is open for business. Lots of people want to see icebergs.

Monday June 5

The road into Cheeseman park was really potholed:

They were going to do some major maintenance to it this morning, including replacing a culvert, so if we were leaving today it had to be before 9am. We were gone by 8, and the equipment was already arriving.

We were soon driving through the famed Wreckhouse area in the Long Range mountains. Due to the pattern of surrounding hills the Wreckhouse area is renowned for high winds. Today's wind warning was for up to 120 kph / 75 mph winds, although we got through before they really started.

Notice the little house nestled at the base of these hills

We needed some supplies so stopped in Cornerbrook. A snowy mountain seems to loom over the town:

After a short jaunt to Baie Verte, hoping to see some icebergs and being disappointed, we ended up on another sideroad, to King's Point this time. The little bay beside the campground we're staying at (for 2 nights) was choked with ice when we arrived:

A woman staying in our same campground mentioned they had been looking for icebergs from St John's to Twillingate, and these were the first they had seen this trip. These aren't the really big ones of course, but right up close and personal.

Some of you may notice the maps are Google maps tonight. We have a good WiFi connection here, so can use Google ok.