Newfoundland Caravan - First 4 Days

Hello from Tom and Barbara - we are finally ready to send a number of posts about our travel to Newfoundland in July 2011 with 19 other Newmar motorhomes. The caravan spent our first few days in Halifax and Bras d'Or, Nova Scotia before taking the ferry to Newfoundland. This post covers our time in Nova Scotia. Note: if you click on any of the photos, you can see a larger version for more detail.

Our first adventure from Halifax was to drive south on the coast to the picturesque towns of Mahone Bay and Lunenburg.

The coastline is very rocky and convoluted, with many scenic vistas and secluded coves.



Mahone Bay is a town of many churches, narrow streets, and lovely homes. We were glad we weren't driving the motorhome, as the main street around the bay is very narrow!

We did not stop in Mahone Bay, but enjoyed the drive through the town on our way to Blue Rocks.

 Blue Rocks is a small fishing community built on the very rocky shore east of Lunenburg - we weren't at all sure we were on the right road, as signs were rare - but at the end of the road, a local resident assured us that we'd reached the right place.

Each little cove had a mix of working and pleasure boats at anchor. In the gap between islets in the photo above, you can see a group of sea kayakers, who were enjoying the sheltered waters and lovely day.

We wondered how this sailboat managed the narrow entrance into this small bay - the water is full of barely submerged rocks waiting for the unwary mariner.

Back in Lunenburg, we were entranced by the brightly colored buildings. The entire town is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We had a delicious lunch at The Old Fish Factory restaurant, overlooking the bay. It seems that each restaurant in Nova Scotia (and in Newfoundland) has a version of fish chowder - the Old Fish Factory served one of the best we had.

At the right is the view from the restaurant out over the bay.
After lunch, we toured the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, housed in an old fish processing factory and ice house along with the restaurant. The story of the rise and fall of the commercial fishing industry in Nova  

Scotia and the rest of Atlantic Canada is told through a series of interesting exhibits, and several ships are available to tour at dockside. Lunenburg was once a major ship-building port, and home of the famous Bluenose.

 

The next day we toured the Halifax waterfront, then walked up the hill through downtown to join the rest of our group for a back stage tour of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo - an amazing annual variety show of short performances by groups from around the world - everything from bagpipes to dance to acrobats to military demonstrations, all in a fast-paced succession. We really appreciated all the organization that goes into such a production as we watched the performance that evening.

After our time in Halifax, we drove the 245 miles to the northern town of Little Bras d'Or, where we stayed at the Arm of Gold campground before embarking on our long ferry ride to Newfoundland. This RV park is surrounded by grassy meadow along the northern tip of Bras d'Or Lake, which is actually a salt water inland sea that bisects the northen island of Nova Scotia. This church and its large cemetery on the hill were across a little cove in the lakeshore from the park. The park owners kept a wide swath through the meadow mowed as a walking path, and a great place to take our chairs out to watch the sunset.