Monday, June 7, 2010

Heading to Norris Point

We're leaving Port aux Basques and heading to Norris Point in Gros Morne National Park. It's cold and rainy...we have high hopes for better weather. These are the Twin Hills...

Beautiful scenery...

The water in this lake was turquoise...much like the glacier water in Lake Louise, Alberta.

Arriving in Corner Brook, our stop for lunch and gas...

A pretty location with the pulp mill right in the middle of the town...

The population is about 25,000. Somehow I thought it was bigger...

So far we have been very impressed with the roads. Well maintained with lots of passing lanes (necessary when travelling with Jim!).

Mountains on one side, lovely lakes on the other...

Arriving at Gros Morne park, a World Heritage site. Some parts of it get up to 33 feet of snow in the winter. Can you imagine??!

Still on the trail of the Vikings!

Supposedly the largest moose in Newfoundland. If it hadn't been raining, we might have stopped and taken our picture with it. I say "might!"

Our destination after Norris Point is St. Anthony, not exactly close by, and that's the wonder of Newfoundland!

We saw our first moose this morning, luckily on the side of the road...

You can see the road snaking up in the background. Lots of ups and downs...

Lovely scenery with lots of lookouts...



So interesting...where two glaciers have met, the bigger one dominates and the lesser one becomes a hanging valley.

Burridge's Gulch, an example of a hanging valley...

We passed a sign saying there have been 12 moose/vehicle collisions so far this year...

Stunning scenery...

Jim was fascinated with the thin layers of rock...

Mountains and water...

Yes, that is snow in the hills...

We're coming into Norris Point...

Norris Point is a "photographer's dream..."

The brown mountains in the background are part of the Tablelands, which look more like barren desert. They are made up of peridotite, which was thought to originate in the earth's mantle and was forced up from the depths during a plate collision several hundred million years ago. It doesn't have the nutrients needed to sustain most plant life, hence the brown colour. Supposedly underneath this the rock would be a dark green colour.

The town of Norris Point, population in 2001 was 785. I don't imagine it has changed much.

Beautiful backdrop for a town!

Another view of the tablelands...

The quaint town of Norris Point...

You're in Newfoundland for sure...I'se da b'ye...yessir!

Fascinated by those tablelands!

Pretty town...not a lot going on, but very pretty...

One of several restaurants in town...

Here we are arriving at our inn for the next two nights...

After checking in, we scooted over to Rocky Harbour about 8 km away to check out a boat tour for tomorrow...weather permitting.

Another fishing village...boat tour tickets are on sale at the Oceanview Hotel...

These towns are packed in the summer with tourists. Right now, it's pretty quiet...

We ate at the restaurant in our inn. It was excellent. One of the few places where nothing is deep fried. Hoping for good weather for tomorrow...

2 comments:

Stephanie and Randy Build First Canoe said...

Thanks for sending me your travels by e-mail. I really look forward to the Jim and Kim message. Otherwise it might be a bit before I got to see them. Newfoundland looks incredible. Randy's Dad is from Newfoundland, so it is on our list of places to go someday.

Pam said...

Those toutons look yummy!