The Big Land

July 8-9, 2015 – Day 23-24

This is a two-day installment because we haven’t had enough connectivity to post a blog.  There is so much to share from this adventure, I hope I can fit it all in!

On Wednesday after Spot took a brief walk on the rocks,  we drove up the northern peninsula of Newfoundland to St. Barbe where we parked the Lundcruiser, packed a suitcase and walked a few blocks to catch the ferry to Labrador.  This trip was without RV’s so Spot stayed behind to take care of things!!  Marlene our dog whisperer was the watchdog, (really the dogwatcher)…thank goodness for Marlene!  It was pretty neat that one of the group (Bev, my star blog student) met up with her son’s mother-in-law that lives about 30 minutes from here!  Elva joined us for the crossing to Labrador. 

The ferry crosses at the Strait of Belle Isle, about 17 miles, a 2 hour journey from Newfoundland to Labrador.  This ferry was not as new or as nice or as large as the last one i.e. food, but no bar.  But it did have a Pacman machine! 

We actually landed in Blanc-Sablon Quebec, and travelled by bus about 4 miles to the first village along the highway in Labrador, L’Anse-au-Clair, where we had a great cod dinner, and stayed for the night at the Northern Lights Inn.

They call Labrador “The Big Land”.  There are only 30,000 people in all of Labrador, which is about 184,000 square miles of land.   Most of the land is “Crown Land” which means government-owned.  The roads weren’t built here until the 60’s. There are several small communities along the southern coast, and only one road that goes through the area.  It is very scenic, but also very remote.  The vegetation and trees are very low to the ground…the glaciers took the top soil when they moved across the land, so there is very little that can grow on the rocky land.  There are huge boulders also deposited by the glaciers which dot the landscape.

 

Everything in Labrador is imported, except fish and fish products, which they export.  There are no farms in the area—only small villages with about 250 people each.  We saw work being done for a hydroelectric plant being built to send power from Goose Bay to Newfoundland, and it has been a boost for employment in the area.

There is still snow in some areas along the hills, and we stopped along the roadside for a snowball fight…it was really fun to have a snowball fight in July!  Our driver said he has never done that, but our group urged him on (Jim led the charge, and hoisted the first snow bomb!).

Our guide told us black flies are “part of the experience” of Labrador!  Because it was cool and a bit windy, we didn’t get to experience the flies here, but we had our share in Newfoundland. 

Labrador has two flags…the provincial flag which includes Newfoundland, and their own unique Labrador flag.  They were not able to display the Labrador flag at the borders until last year, when the laws were finally changed to allow Labrador to fly its own flag!  It is blue green and white, signifying sea, land and snow, with a spruce twig in the left side for new growth.

After a great breakfast we headed to Red Bay, which is a National Historic Site.  In the 1500’s, whalers from Basque Country in northern Spain hunted here.  Whale blubber was converted into whale oil and valuable for use as fuel, soaps and pharmaceuticals.  We even got to smell some whale oil.  Archeologists have uncovered many artifacts, and a chalupa, or small wooden whaling boat that is 400 years old! An old galleon from the 16th century was also discovered submerged in the harbor.  A replica of the galleon along with many of the pieces, including the anchor were on display.   

We visited the oldest funeral monument in North America..L’Anse Amour Burial site, believed to be 7500 years old. It was excavated in the 70’s and they found an adolescent had been wrapped and placed facedown, with tools and weapons and a flat stone on the lower back.  Rocks were piled in a mound over the grave.  It’s hard to imagine humans occupying this area that long ago.

Point Amour Lighthouse is the second tallest in Canada at 109 feet tall.  It was first lit in 1858.   It is built of limestone from nearby quarries, and the walls measure 6ft thick at the base.  We were able to climb the 127 steps up to the top of the lighthouse and view the beautiful coastline from above. 

We returned to the ferry for the trip back to Newfoundland.  The ferry was full…we heard they had turned away half dozen people from the morning ferry (lucky we had reservations!)  The ride was choppy and there were almost a few sick people, but we were treated to an iceberg sighting along the way.   About 90% of an iceberg is hidden below the water, so these things have to be huge masses of floating ice.   These icebergs come from Greenland, and are carried by the currents to the coast of Labrador.

We made it back to the campground, and Spot was thrilled to see us.  We’ll all sleep well tonight after the adventure in the Big Land!