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| Bell Island Ferry |
| Ivatans (Lost & Found) in the Avalon Peninsula |
| Indeed, it's Batanes, almost. The rocky coastlines are almost the exact replica of one or the other, but the similarity ends there, for unlike Batanes, Newfoundland has all the amenities of modern living, and St. John's the capital has all the facilities that one can see in any major Canadian city. Nevertheless, more than three-quarters of the province has been designated for ecological reserves. Historical sites have been preserved as well. We visited a few of these sites and reserves, |
| In Petty Harbour and Maddox Cove, we visited a small museum next to the town office (hall) where we accidentally rubbed shoulders with the part-time lady mayor. It was in Petty Harbour (pop. 949) that the 1977 Hollywood movie Orca (The Killer Whale) was filmed - produced by Dino De Laurentis and casting Richard Harris and Bo Derek. Taking ferry from Portugal Cove near St. John's, we visited the Bell Island Mine Museum, the deepest submarine mine in the world. |
| Bird Rock is reached by a 1-km footpath through the open meadows that top steep cliffs, where wild iris grow and sheep sometimes graze. Cape St. Mary's is within the Eastern Hyper-oceanic Barrens ecoregion, one of the world's most southerly expanses of sub-Arctic tundra. Mosses, lichens, alpine wildflowers, and low-growing shrubs carpet the seemingly treeless plateau over which visitors walk. The area has ponds, bogs, brooks-and sheer cliffs plunging down to the sea. [This trip was not completed due to foggy and windy weather.] |
| Cape Spear Lighthouse |
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| Ferryland Lighthouse Picnics |
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| Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve |
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| Canada's Batanes A trip to Newfoundland |
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| Toronto - Welcome to Newfoundland! In the summer of 2006 we travelled to the Maritimes or what's known as the Atlantic Provinces or Atlantic Canada. The travel was to visit a daughter that's taking graduate studies in St. John's, and at the same time to see the place that she said is almost like Batanes in landscape/seascape. mainly those in and around St. John's. We visited Signal Hill National Historic Site overlooking St. John's Harbour, the spot where Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic wireless message. We also visited Cape Spear National Historical Site, the most easterly point of land in North America, where the oldest surviving lighthouse in the province is located. The lighthouse has been restored to its 1839 appearance and shows how a lightkeeper and his family might have lived in the mid-19th century. The Visitor Centre contains exhibits on the history of lighthouses and the tradition of lightkeeping. The site is surrounded by spectacular scenery and wildlife such as whales, and seabirds. We joined a walking tour of the underground shafts and experienced what it was like to work underground. The island also has some of the best scenery around that can be enjoyed on a stroll along the cliffs and beaches just like Batanes. At the famous Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, we joined a whale and bird watching tour. Further south from Witless Bay is Ferryland and the Lighthouse Picnics where we were served exquisite food on the grounds overlooking the rocky cliffs of Ferryland Head. It was formerly the Ferryland Lighthouse, which was completed and in operation in 1871. It was built because of the particularly treacherous coastline along the Southern Shore of the Avalon Peninsula, but in 1970, when lightkeepers were no longer necessary, due to automation, the lighthouse was given over to the Ferryland Historical Society, which has since passed it over to the Ferryland Development Association. pairs of black guillemot, plus double-crested and great cormorant, and Northern fulmar nest there. Most of the Northern gannets, for example, make their nests on "Bird Rock" --- a 100-metre-tall stack of sandstone that is separated from the viewing area by a chasm only a few metres wide. The gannets' courtship, nesting, and feeding behaviours, interactions, and delicate flying manoeuvres over the crowded sea stack are endlessly fascinating and easily observed from the natural, cliff-top viewing area. Newfoundland even with its off-shore oil resources is still the poorest Canadian province Newfoundland even with its off-shore oil resources is still the poorest Canadian province and thrives mainly on its fishing industry. Still, I didn't see poor people in the streets of St. John's. The truth is that I see more poor people in the streets of Toronto - the economic engine of Ontario. Ontario is the most populous province that generates more than 40 per cent of Canada's wealth, but Alberta is the richest province on a per capita basis. This is puzzling because the poverty rate in Newfoundland is around a quarter of the population, or 1 in 4 Newfoundlander is poor (in Ontario or Canada and most of the richer countries, around 1 in 10 is poor). The question is where are the poor? One possible explanation to their invisibility is that unlike Toronto where the working poor or unemployed has to go out and find employment, in St. John's there are not much jobs so there's no point for job seekers to be out on the streets looking for jobs. Another possible explanation as to why there are no poor people in the streets is that there are few immigrants and migrants (from other provinces), and like Batanes, most are permanent residents of the place and homeowners. Nevertheless, the poor in Newfoundland or Canada are entitled to income support from the government and therefore they can not be compared to the poor in other countries. [Note: There are conflicting views on how to measure poverty, and there is no internationally, or even nationally, accepted formula or definition of who is poor.] The highways in and around St. John's were comparable to its kind in Ontario, partly due to the federal equalization plan and transfer payments. [Equalization's guiding principle is to give citizens of every province similar levels of service for similar levels of taxation.] Modern-day Robin Hood Commonly, people think of Canada's equalization as a modern-day Robin Hood that takes money from rich provinces and gives it to the poor partners in confederation. But the reality is that transfer payments come from the federal treasury and the money is raised through taxes from everyone. Wealthy taxpayers in so-called have-not provinces pay more into the system than poorer people in places such as Ontario. At the same time, Ontario's large population and greater wealth in general means the province pays more federal tax than smaller provinces. Lumped together, tax dollars from all Canadians are redistributed to provincial governments to help them pay for services such as health care, education and transportation. - vbc, August 2006 ________________________________________ Newfoundland and Labrador The province lies between the 46th and 61st parallels with the bulk of the island portion being below the 50th parallel. The island is located in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the larger Labrador portion is on the eastern part of the Canadian mainland. Newfoundland and Labrador is Canada's most easterly province and its newest having joined Confederation in 1949. Newfoundland has a number of historical firsts. The oldest known settlement anywhere in The Americas built by Europeans is located at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland. It was founded circa 1000 A.D. by Leif Ericson's Vikings. Remnants and artifacts of the occupation can still be seen at L'Anse aux Meadows, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The island was inhabited by the Beothuks and later the Mi'kmaq. John Cabot became the first European since the Vikings to discover Newfoundland, landing at Bonavista on June 24, 1497. On August 5, 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert formally claimed Newfoundland as England's first overseas colony under Royal Prerogative of Queen Elizabeth I. From 1610 to 1728, Proprietary Governors were appointed to establish colonial settlements on the island. John Guy was governor of the first settlement at Cuper's Cove. Other settlements were Bristol's Hope, Renews, South Falkland and Avalon which became a province in 1623. The first governor given jurisdiction over all of Newfoundland was Sir David Kirke in 1638. The island of Newfoundland was nearly conquered by New France explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville in the 1690s. Newfoundland received a colonial assembly in 1832, which was and still is referred to as the House of Assembly, after a fight led by reformers William Carson, Patrick Morris and John Kent. The new government was unstable and divided along sectarian lines between the Catholic and Protestant populations of the colony. In 1842, the elected House of Assembly was amalgamated with the appointed Legislative Council. This was changed back in 1848 to two separate chambers. After this, a movement for responsible government began. In 1854, Newfoundland was granted responsible government by the British government. In an 1855 election, Philip Francis Little, a native of Prince Edward Island, won a majority over Sir Hugh Hoyles and the Conservatives. Little formed the first administration from 1855 to 1858. Newfoundland rejected confederation with Canada in the 1869 general election. As part of the Anglo-French Entente Cordiale of 1904, France abandoned the `French Shore', or the west coast of the island, to which it had had rights since the Peace of Utrecht of 1713. Possession of Labrador was disputed by Quebec and Newfoundland until 1927, when the British privy council demarcated the western boundary, enlarged Labrador's land area, and confirmed Newfoundland's title to it. Newfoundland remained a colony until acquiring dominion status on September 26, 1907, along with New Zealand. It successfully negotiated a trade agreement with the United States but the British government blocked it after objections from Canada. The Dominion of Newfoundland reached its golden age under Prime Minister Sir Robert Bond of the Liberal Party. In 1934, the Dominion gave up its self-governing status as the Commission of Government took its place. Following World War II, the Commission held elections for the Newfoundland National Convention which debated the dominion's future in 1946 and 1947. Two referenda resulted in which Newfoundlanders decided to end the commission and joined the Canadian Confederation in 1949. ________________________________________ Batanes, almost, you say? Nestled into the northeast corner of North America, Newfoundland and Labrador offers a leisurely Old World pace, modern conveniences and a Unique spirit. It is one of the best-kept vacation secrets on the continent. The air is clean, the people are friendly and the vistas -- well, you'll just have to see for yourself. [Batanes, almost, you say?] It's on Newfoundland's west coast that you will find Gros Morne National Park, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its unique geology. Here you will find the Tablelands, flat butte-like structures that wouldn't be out of place in the American badlands. This is the northern extension of the Appalachian Mountains and some of the oldest rocks on the planet. Thrust high above sea level when huge geological plates collided, the Tablelands are unique in a park where there's a new natural wonder around every corner. At the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula is one of the most famous places in the world and the second UNESCO World Heritage Site: L'Anse aux Meadows where the Vikings lived 1,000 years ago. Their sod hut village has been reconstructed and an interpretation centre helps visitors discover a long-lost world. |
| For details: See: Lighthouse Picnics The furthest we traveled was to the Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve, a couple of hundred kilometers from St. John's. The reserve, which is also known as "the Cape" is one of Newfoundland's major seabird colonies. During the breeding season, it is home to 24,000 Northern gannet, 20,000 black-legged kittiwake, 20,000 common murre, and 2,000 thick-billed murre. In addition, more than 100 pairs of razorbill, more than 60 |
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