Vol. 28 No. 4 May 2010 - The Travel Society

Puffinsmostly Murres and Gannets, make their nests. To see thatmany birds sitting closely packed, side by side, is an unforgettableexperience. The lunch on the nearby, aptly namedGannets Nest Restaurant is excellent, but reservations (tel:709 337 2175) are recommended since this is the onlyrestaurant for miles around.Driving further north we visited the winery atWhitbourne, which makes some really good wines from thelocal wild berries.Our destination for the next few days was Clarenville,where we found comfortable lodging and good food at theHotel St. Jude, named after the patron saint of 'hopelesscases'; certainly a peculiar name for a hotel. The property isabout 25 minutes' drive from the Terra Nova ParkHeadquarters.Anyone travelling the Trans Canada Highway (theTCH) through the Terra Nova National Park should not missvisiting the Park Headquarters with its instructive displaysand videos; there is an opportunity to take a power-boat ridethrough the many fjords and islands along this section of thecoast, but we chose to hike along the coast on the beautifulNewman Sound trail.Another interesting side trip from Clarenville, particularlyfor history buffs, is a visit to Trinity on the BonavistaPeninsula. During the summer, the local history is stagedhere in several restored buildings in the village.In nearby Port Union one may visit the former headquartersof Sir John Coaker, the organizer and leader of thefirst fisherman's union. We took the opportunity to take aride on a mussel boat to see first hand how the famous musselsare farmed and harvested. In the afternoon we came toPort Rexton, where the Shipping News used to be published.There we hiked the beautiful, looped 5 km Skerwink Trail,which starts and ends at the village church, an easily notedlandmark. This hike features the picturesque shoreline withseveral sea stacks and fantastic views of the community ofTrinity. It is said that if you take only one hike inNewfoundland, this is the one to take.Along the TCH it takes only about an hour and a half toreach Gander, but this route misses a number of interestingplaces. We took the much longer 'Kittiwake' route, which israrely taken by tour buses because it is a curvy, two-laneroad. Our first stop was at the museum in Gambo, dedicatedto Joe Smallwood, the first Premier of Newfoundland,who, as we all know, was responsible for joiningNewfoundland to Canada. The Barbour Living HeritageVillage in Newtown certainly is worth a stop. This is areconstructed typical outport village, where the explanationsby locals in period costumes gave us a good impression ofthe very hard life of the fishermen families, about 150 yearsago, contrasted with the quite comfortable living of the localmerchant families. The local schoolhouse contains a rare,original wooden wall cabinet, shaped like a bible. Fartheron, the Banting Memorial Interpretation Centre in MusgroveHarbour honours Sir Frederick Banting, the co-discoverer ofInsulin, who perished in a plane crash near the town duringWW II.Gander's huge and modern airport is rarely used thesedays, since planes can now easily fly from Europe to NorthAmerica without refuelling. However, during the aftermathof the 9/11 attack, it served as a very welcome diversion portwhen all U.S. airports were suddenly closed. We found the22 meter wide mural in the main hall of the airport veryinteresting - it symbolically depicts the feelings humansoften experience in association with flying. Also in Ganderare the North Atlantic Aviation Museum and a memorial tothe 256 U.S peacekeepers from the Screaming EagleBattalion, who were killed in an air crash here in 1985 ontheir way home from the Sinai Peninsula.On the road to Twillingate we found several interestingspots to stop. Firstly, at Boyd's Cove there is the BeothukInterpretation Centre, near a clearing where archeologistshave excavated remnants of a permanent camp. The centrehas several dioramas and displays. The 1½ km walk to theclearing was a welcome interruption of the long bus ride.Farther on, at the causeway to Twillingate Island, DavidBoyd, a local fisherman has constructed a museum to the traditionalcod fishery, called 'Prime Berth'. This collectionprovides an interesting insight into the hard life of the fishermenin the past and an opportunity to see the primitive butvery effective tools of their trade in actual use. Mostastounding was a full-scale cod trap which was much largerthan one would imagine. Mr. Boyd then demonstrated howCape St. Mary Ecological Reserve12 www.thetravelsociety.com