NEWFOUNDLAND – GETTING SETTLED IN.
Day 143 – We got up at 7:30 a.m. There was some fog but virtually no wind, 53 degrees & it had not started raining again – completely different than the continual rain we were expecting. We felt we’d made the right decision to drive this far south into the Park to camp, because we can see it all from here on the good-weather days.
We hung around in the morning, relaxing & spending time with the cats (who were loving the lack of wind noise & their heated pads). After lunch we drove into Rocky Harbour to check out the town. We located the Post Office – this morning we’d ordered our mail to be delivered to the Rocky Harbour P.O. & wanted to check in with them to let them know it was coming. We’d done our research on restaurants in the area – there were several of interest. (In NF there aren’t many restaurants, so when you are near a town that has several, you want to do your research in anticipation.) Java Jack’s in Rocky Harbour was the number 1 choice. We found the building but they were closed for the season – doesn’t that just figure. We spent part of the afternoon checking out which other restaurants were open still. We went to the Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse – too foggy to see much; we will come back again.
After driving through Rocky Harbour, we drove south and stumbled upon Norris Point & Neddie’s Harbour. OMG, the scenery there – even though it was very foggy, we could see islands & fjords – and we stopped in at a boat tour place to inquire if they were still doing tours. They had stopped the four-a-day schedule recently and were now down to one tour daily at 2 p.m. IF they had at least ten people to go on the tour. The boat ride is two hours long & travels around the islands & fjords and talks of the history of the area. We will wait until a nice, clear day and definitely book a tour. Nearby we found a restaurant, with views over this amazing location, the Black Spruce Restaurant. We went inside (they were part of a swank Inn) and got to look at the menu. Very nice, gourmet, local fish, but closed today. Perfect for a future meal after a beautiful boat tour.
We drove south a little more & went to a National Park Visitor’s Center. We spent some time there looking at all the displays, then headed back to the RV to relax until dinner time & a trip into Rocky Harbour and the Fisherman’s Landing Restaurant for dinner. No rain all day in spite of the forecast. But the fog remained and we didn’t take any pictures. We can revisit all this on future, better-weather days, and get pictures then.
Okay, back from dinner now. That meal wasn’t very good. I mean, it was okay, but pretty mediocre. Rob had the Pan Fried Cod dinner & I had the Fisherman’s Platter. We have eaten fresh cod at plenty of places in NF. This was not fresh cod – frozen probably. Everything else was just okay, except for the “fresh vegetable of the day” which was carrots. They were inedible, like rubber. And once again, anything green in NF is quite rare. But in their defense, the piece of salmon that was in my dinner was very good. The cod, shrimp, and scallops? Eh. We didn’t get dessert – we didn’t dare. So for the next several days at least, we’ll be back to our own cooking which was tons better than tonight’s dinner. It started raining lightly around 6 p.m. The high today was 57 degrees. It is still very foggy.