Rex and Nancy's Travels - "ALL WHO WANDER ARE NOT LOST" - JRR Tolkein

We left Terra Nova National Park Thursday morning and drove north towards the Baie Verte Peninsula.   On our way we stopped in Gander at the Compassion Monument.   We all remember the events of 9-11-2001 and the closing of North American airspace resulting in 38 aircraft landing at the Gander Airport.   This monument sits on the lawn in front of the town hall. The rock that the beam sits upon signified Newfoundland (often referred to as The Rock). The shape of the rock is meant to invite people to sit down and ponder the events. This is the plaque that is on the side of the monument.  It reads: “Town of Gander Compassion Monument On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States resulted in the closing of North American airspace.   Gander received 38 aircraft with over 6,500 people from 95 countries.   Our population increased by 70%.   For 6 days, the plane people had a place to sleep, eat and feel safe. The Bethpage Fire Department, New York, gifted this World Trade

We woke to fog Tuesday morning and drove to Terra Nova National Park in fog and wind.   Luckily it was a short drive and when we arrived it was sunny and 88 o F with a heat index of 98 o F.   We are staying at Newman Sound Campground.   We stopped here on our way to the east coast for an afternoon hike on July 17 th and wanted to spend a little more time here. When we arrived it was too hot to hike so we waited until after dinner and hiked the campground trail which started with a descent down these stairs.           The evening view of Newman Sound was beautiful. Wednesday morning, we woke to rain, so it was a good morning to sort through pictures and work on the blog.   After lunch we hiked on the Coastal Trail.   This is the same trail we hiked on when we stopped here earlier but we are starting on the opposite end of the trail. We liked all the moss on the rocks. The view of Newman Sound and the overcast sky. The trail went down to a couple of small beaches. We found this jellyf

Monday, we drove to Conception Bay to the town of Cupids to hike the Burnt Head Trail.   On the way we stopped at the Seven Island Overlook just outside of Placentia.   Here we got a great view of the seven islands in the Northeast Arm River – although you cannot see all seven islands in the picture.                A beautiful place for a photo. We continued our drive to Cupids and found the Burnt Head Trail – a 3.1 km loop trail through woods and meadows to the cliffs on Conception Bay.           Every turn in the trail led to beautiful views. The trail wound through forest areas between the overlooks.                               Our first view of Burnt Head. More beautiful cliffs. We were surprised to find this arch in the cliffs with beautiful turquoise water flowing under it. Tacky taking a rest while we had a picnic lunch. Every direction we looked we had beautiful views. Sea stacks along the base of the cliffs. Another beautiful hike on this gorgeous island. Gunter and Susanne

Sunday, we took a drive along Placentia Bay to the southwestern tip of the Avalon Peninsula.   We stopped at Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve to view one of the most accessible sea bird colonies in North America.   Since 1983, this area has been protected as a provincial Ecological Reserve.   The views were spectacular as we hiked along the cliffs. We started seeing birds at Bird Cove. The cliffs are home to:   Northern Gannet, Common Murre, Black-Legged Kittiwake, Razorbill, Black Guillemot, Cormorants, and Thick-Billed Murre. The waves crashing against the rock formations were spectacular. Wild Iris – we have seen these beautiful flowers almost everywhere we have hiked in Newfoundland. More beautiful cliffs. Not sure what these purple bell-shaped flowers are but they were very pretty. Bird Rock had hundreds of nesting pairs of Northern Gannets. Their golden heads were beautiful to see up close.    We enjoyed watching the birds for a while but the noise the smell was a little over

  Saturday, we moved to the southeastern part of the Avalon Peninsula and stayed at Argentia Sunset Park in Placentia. After getting set up, we drove a short distance to Castle Hill National Historic Site.  By 1600, France and England dominated the European migratory fisheries to Newfoundland.  Small-scale English settlement began in 1610, and in 1662 France established the royal colony of Plaisance to secure its fisheries and check English expansion along the south coast. For the first three decades the defenses received little attention.  War between England and France led to the construction of newer and better defenses.  In 1692, defense works on Castle Hill were instrumental in repelling an English naval attack.  Between 1696 and 1709, forces from Plaisance conducted destructive raids on English fishing settlements.  By the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, France recognized British sovereignty over Newfoundland.  After Britain took possession of Plaisance it was renamed Placentia.  Afte