Ferryland. Day Two.

This is another except from our recent August trip to St. John's, Newfoundland.

Before we embarked on this trip Shauna put in a request for information to the Newfoundland Tourist Bureau regarding places to go and people to see. I reviewed the Visitors’ Guide on the plane, but after awhile all the names and places kind of gelled together and it became hard to focus on specifics. We had a basic framework of what we wanted to see, but we were adamant that we wanted to remain flexible, because sometimes the places you least expect to visit leave you with the most vivid memories of a vacation.

At breakfast on Day Two, Kimberly, our host at Balmoral B&B, suggested we visit Ferryland, which was located about an hour an a half’s drive South of St. John’s. At that point I didn’t even know if the place was Ferryland or Fairyland. Should we be expecting Leprechauns? There are Irish roots aplenty in NL, after all. The Irish Loop signs alongside the roads of the Avalon Peninsula attest to that.

We drove off not really knowing what to expect. I pulled into the Tourist Centre in Ferryland to look around as a group led by a tour guide was just leaving the lobby. We quickly paid our admission fees and joined them.

As it turns out the Avalon Colony that settled here dates back to the mid-1600’s. The current archeological dig that is on-going here started about 20 years ago because people kept finding bits and pieces of pottery and assorted artefacts. There have already been about one million artefacts uncovered with no end in sight. We saw stone foundations for houses, stone-lined drainage systems, the original cobblestone main street, the central well and the blacksmith foundry. Items as diverse as iron nails, gold rings and a chunk of a head stone have been unearthed.

There was also a woman dressed in period costume giving a demonstration in a reconstructed 1600’s kitchen of what daily routine domestic life would have been like. It could have been Mary Walsh herself. I recorded a 3 minute video on my digital camera just so I could recall later some of the colourful Newfoundland expressions.

I will dutifully note here that up to this point in the day I had still not seen a Leprechaun.

The second half of our adventurous excursion happened almost by as much chance as the first. Probably more so, actually. I had overheard someone mention “lighthouse” in a conversation in the Visitors’ Centre earlier in the day and I retuned there after the archeological tour (and the obligatory trip through the gift shop) to ask if there indeed was a lighthouse close by.

A short drive down a one lane gravel road farther along the peninsula got us to a small parking lot overlooking a bay swarming with sea birds. “Authorized vehicles only beyond this point.” Armed with both film and digital cameras we set out on foot, not exactly sure what we would find.

Remember that scene from the Wizard of Oz where the troup is skipping along the Yellow Brick Road and all of a sudden around the bend appears a castle? I hope I have my fantasy movies correct because that’s how I remember that scene. Regardless of correct filmography that’s the image I had in my head as we emerged from the small scrub pine trees to discover a well maintained light house, complete with a bright red tower.

We had passed a sign located not far from where we had parked the truck that said “Lighthouse Picnics” with an arrow pointing down the trail through the trees. It hadn’t really registered at the time.

We walked up to the lighthouse to see a couple of couples sitting on plaid blankets; one couple was eating food from a wicker basket while the other had a little flag pounded into the ground in front of them beside the blanket. My first guess was that the pattern on the flag, since I wasn’t familiar with it, was the coat of arms from the province the people were from.

As it turns out picnics are available for purchase from the lighthouse. Full lunch meals can be ordered, as well as afternoon snacks. Shauna fell in love with this idea immediately and we placed our order for freshly baked sliced bread (baked on the premises! It smelled like my Grandmas’s kitchen from when I was a kid), pads of real butter, thick slices of white cheddar cheese, cake for dessert, and coffee with fresh cream. You choose a blanket, pick your ocean view near the lighthouse, plant your flag, and someone delivers your food right to the blanket. Now how many times have you ever done that?

To top it off we saw a couple of whales swim by off the coast, easily identified by the plumes of water sent skyward by their blow holes.

It was a very satisfying day overall. Little did we know it wasn’t over yet. As we approached our truck at the parking area I could see a small group of people gathered by the top of the cliff edge pointing towards the bay. Sure enough, more whales. Very likely the same ones we’d seen on the other side of the point while we ate. I got photos this time, although in order to really see anything in the water I had to enlarge the pictures in Photoshop when I got home to Vancouver.

Again, no Leprechauns.