Anyway, having arrived to our hostel quite late, we were pleasantly surprised to find our room was an upgrade on what we thought. We had aircon and a private shower and toilet. Luxury! It really is the small things.
When we awoke, we didn’t really have a plan. We decided to go for a walk downtown and see what we could see. The first thing we noticed were the multi-coloured buildings lining the streets. All old, classic fibro houses, but in a multitude of awesome colours. Was very pretty and effective. We also later found out that they are nicknamed ‘jellybean row’. As we continued our journey downtown we came across an unusual and large bakery. This bakery is called ‘Rockets’ and we soon discovered it’s awesomeness! Fresh, healthy, granola to die for, and our breakfast place for the next 2 days as well.
Having come up with a game plan over breakfast, we proceeded to go to a place called ‘The Rooms’. We knew it was a museum of sorts, that it had exhibits dedicated to their fallen war heroes and a display with a giant squid, but we were not prepared for just how cool it was. For the bargain entry fee of $10 dollars, The Rooms impressed us immensely.
As a history teacher, I like to think I have a good grasp on world history in general. However, I will be the first to admit I knew nothing about Canadian involvement, in particular Newfoundlanders involvement, in WWI. Before 1949, Newfoundland was it's own country. In 1914, when England declared war on Germany, Newfoundland pledged themselves to King George and England. They originally sent a small force of 500 volunteers and as it would turn out, Newfoundland ended up sending more troops than mainland Canada. Many of these men perished or were wounded. The majority, at Beaumont-Hamel during the battle of the Somme. It was also interesting to discover that Newfoundland, when it decided to vote to become a Canadian province, only joined through a tiny majority of 2%.
What was also cool about the museum was the interactive art displays and the preserved animal displays. The interactive art displays were designed to test your skill and to also get you to think about your place in the world. Pretty cool. Then there were the stuffed animals. You had black bears, eagles, wolves, caribou, polar bears, and the piece de resistance, the giant squid! I personally thought it was hideously ugly and alien looking. Adrian on the other hand was like a kid in a candy shop. He loved the thing. He informs me that it was caught in 1982, the year I was born and in fact was only a baby at only 8 metres long. They apparently can grow up to 18 metres long. Creeeeepy! Also, Newfoundland is the unofficial giant squid capital of the world, there have been 60 if these monsters recorded to have washed ashore. Lastly, the view from The Rooms, over the Narrows and St Johns Harbour, is superb, as The Rooms are perched upon the highest street in St Johns. We really were impressed with The Rooms.
From there we thought we would see what one of the local brewery’s had to offer. Yellowbelly Brewery. It had super delicious ales, great seafood (we ate what had to be 2 pounds of mussels) and a really cool vibe.
The following morning we got up bright and early, visited our favourite bakery for breakfast and to collect lunch, and set off for Signal Hill, which was a former military outpost set up to protect St Johns Harbour. After a 3km walk to the base of Signal Hill, we began our trek around and up the hill. Along the way we had beautiful views of the harbour, the Narrows and the little lighthouse across the other side. We were actually pretty lucky with the views as it is usually shrouded in fog.
Upon reaching the top where the Cabot Tower stands, via Gibbet Hill (a gibbet being the wooden thing they hang a man from and named for the practice of displaying a dead mans corpse as a deterrent – there is only 1 documented case of this occurring here), we stumbled upon the daily 11am gun firing demonstration. Man, that thing had some power, I felt it vibrate through my chest and I was a fair distance from it. From there, there were amazing views of the eastern most point of Canada, Cape Spear and the cliffs and ocean. Spectacular.
We continued on after that and climbed up Ladies lookout and had our fresh cinnamon buns from Rockets, while staring out at the ocean in hopes of spotting some whales. But, to no avail. Surprising as this is the area of the world where there is the highest concentration of humpback whales due to the excellent feeding conditions. Then we followed a really cool hiking trail, hugging the cliff lines and eventually leading us back down to St Johns. Such a beautiful and unexpected walk.
After arriving back to our hostel, we had some lunch. Then had a nap. We were buggered!
For our last day in St Johns, we explored the town some more. We checked out George Street, which is just crammed with bars. Had a walk around the harbour, checking out the gigantic boats, and perused the local shops. At 1pm we were picked up by O’Briens Tours and taken to Bull Bay. From there we hopped aboard a boat and were taken into the fog in hopes of seeing whales and also some of the half a million puffins.
Well, on the puffin front, we were not disappointed. These crazy birds were out in force. In the water, on the water and flying everywhere overhead. We learnt that the puffins as well as their island buddies, the common murre, are appalling when it comes to taking off to fly. They have hybrid wings, which allows them to swim amazingly well. However, in order for them to fly, they need to use the waves, or launch themselves from up high. This essentially makes them look hilariously stupid and like little dive bombers. Also due to their burrowing nature, the island on which the puffins live, has no trees, but instead a bunch of holes.
We also learnt that at just three months old, the common murre chicks are booted savagely from their nests, and due to their poor ability to fly, are forced to swim their way to Greenland, which is a mere 2900km. These common murre also inhabit a rocky island called Green Island within the Witless Bay Ecological Park. This particular island has tens of thousands of birds perched on it, so you can imagine the stink. However, the smell is not from their faeces, but the rotten fish they store on the island. Unlike the puffins, the murre cannot carry multiple fish in their mouths, therefore they have to store them, causing the stink. This smell did serve a purpose though, it allowed sailor’s to use it to navigate around the island. Pretty cool. I certainly learnt more about birds on this trip than I had ever thought I would.
After an interesting and foggy trip, we got back to shore and to our waiting bus. Sadly, there were no whales on this trip and we were informed that the schools of capelin (a small bait fish), had moved on up the coast and the whales had followed. Despite this it was a great afternoon on the water. We both had a blast.
For our final night in St Johns, we revisited Yellowbelly Brewery. We again had the mussels and of course enjoyed their local brew. It was a fitting way to end our day.
Overall we thoroughly enjoyed St Johns. I would describe it as a hipsters paradise, yet very cosmopolitan. The people certainly continued the friendliness trend of GMNP. To me it was like a mini San Francisco, mixed with Newcastle Australia’s Darby Street, mixed with Melbourne’s St Kilda. Just a super cool city, seemingly undiscovered by the hoards of tourists.
Next stop, Halifax Nova Scotia.
Holly.
I was looking at that soldier pic thinking geez that looks like Adrian then i realised it was. Lol. Love the coloured houses. Remember we seen some in Ireland like that too. Good history lesson Leigh. Enjoy the next adventure. Xx
ReplyDeleteHaha yep, I wondered if people would pick that it was us. ;)
DeleteFantastic as well
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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