Gros Morne: This morning we were doing a tour of West Brook pond at 1100 but Kaff got up early so I got up and we were organised so we left early to get on the first tour of the day at 1000. West Brook Pond was about a 30 minute drive north, we parked beside the Highway, then it was a 3km hike into the lake across scrud & marshland. Once again the only wild life we saw was squirrels. So we took more interest in the plants. The Provincial plant is called a Pitcher Plant or a Death trap..as it feeds on insects, so we found a few of those. It was totally different, hiking through marshes on a boardwalk. The marshland itself is about 4 metres thick and apparently growing. There os supposed to be over 4000 moose in the Park, but we think they are telling fibs because we have seen none.
Eventually we got to the cafe where you get your tickets, we watched a little squirrel eating cake while we were waiting to get on the boat . They are so cute its a shame they are vermin. Once on the boat we went down a big Fiord and saw just waterfalls and rock formations..there was a lot of Geology talk which went over my head so I just sat back and went for the ride. Its a very diverse part of the country. Of course when we got back after nearly 2 hours on the boat, we had to then walk all the way back across the marshland to the carpark. It was lucky we went on the earlier trip as the carpark was full.
We turned north again and to see the old fishing hut 5 minutes up the road. It was interesting as it had the fishing hut full of lobster pots and boats and nets etc, and just back from that was the house. The property belongsed to the Mudge Family, two lots of them. Total of 10 people lived in this tiny house. I couldnt have done it with just two kids. It was interesting. On the way back into town we stopped and saw the SS Ethie ship wreck remains from where it run aground in about 1919. apparently all were saved including a baby who waqs put into a mailbag and rescued . The rocks here were beautiful and some so smooth they were shiny.
Next stop was the Lighthouse at Lobster Cove but as it was under renovation we couldnt get inside the house. So we took off to find some Lunch and as we were driving along we saw all these cars and small buses pulled over which is usually a sure sign of a Bear or Moose spotting..but as I was pulling to a stop we realised it was a funeral !!! They had parked beside the road and back a little was a cemetary..How stupid did we feel !
Lunch was finally found at a Snackbar which used to be a Chip Wagon beside the highway..all they had was fried food ...Fried everything so we indulged again. We had been good for a few days.
Coming back into town we found a bank to reload, and there just happened to be a store over the road with a giant moose & Cariboo out the front so we went and photographed that as I think that will be the only wild life we will see.. There wasnt too much to see in Rocky Harbour so we drove on to Norris Point where we were the other day and it was quite pretty. We filled up then for our drive North tomorrow. Big day in the car on our drive to the top of the North western Peninsula to St Anthonys.