#6 NEWFOUNDLAND I
Here we are in Newfoundland Sorry for my head, this is the face of someone who had a sleepless night and didn't shower in 2 days - thanks to the ferry I left yesterday evening from North Sydney, Nova Scotia I took the night ferry to Newfoundland, it was about 7h30-8h of trip I had booked a "confortable" seat in a sleeping zone But it was still a seat, so I just didn't sleep To be able to sleep in these conditions I need to be really tired, and I wasn't, so no sleep I arrived this morning in Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland, around 7 am My goal in the ferry was to find someone with a car who could give me a ride to Corner Brook, where I have my rental vehicle I found it quickly, but I was pretty confident about it I asked to the people next to me - a couple of young retired - where they were going, they seem to be nice The woman was from Newfoundland, they were actually visiting family They told me "sure we can drive you, we have space left, no worries" So I went with them to Corner Brook But I have to explain my trip plan in Newfoundland First I have 3 days of road trip by myself I picked up a first rental vehicle to go to Gros Morne National park for 2 days Then I give back the rental to Corner Brook and I take the bus to Gander From there I get another rental car for 24 hours to go to Fogo island Then I give back the car in Gander and I retake the bus to Clarenville From there my new Workaway hosts are picking me up to drive me to Bonavista, where I will stay 2.5 weeks So this is the ideal plan But now what happened: The big deal is that I've been looking for a rental car here since March And already in March everything was sold out, on the whole island, I looked everywhere, it was madness And my backup plan was to rent a moving in vehicle With the Canadian company U-Haul - or American - anyways, North American I was supposed to get the smallest vehicle, a van actually But when I arrived, I was told that there was no more van, and that the smallest vehicle they have is a 15' truck Well let me show you what a 15' truck looks like So I can tell you that it was gonna be complicated It could already be tricky for me to manoeuvre a regular car, but a truck... And it's ridiculous, because in the huge trunk, there is only my suitcase It doesn't make sense, all this space But what was so nice, is that the couple who drove me said that they will stay with me until everything is good for me It took some time to get the truck, but they said they weren't in a rush, it was so sweet When I was given the truck they were like "ok well let's go!" But I was so lost, nothing is where it's used to, I've never seen that Like the gear is on the wheel I didn't understand anything Thank god the man who drove me showed me how it worked I was totally freaking out My first goal was to go to a gas station to use the bathroom and buy some sandwich And they said they were also going, so they told me to follow them, so they can see if everything is fine with the driving So I followed them But when I arrive at the gas station, I find out that I can't lock the truck, the key doesn't work Even worse, you can lock it from the inside, but once it's locked you cannot unlock it So it was very problematic So I had to go back to U-Haul And I spent another 2 hours there the time they change the door's locker A lot of adventures already this morning And I finally hit the road with my TRUCK But actually once you're on the road it's fine, the roads are large, it's not busy at all, so it's pretty chill I don't need to manoeuvre, so so far so good Now I'm heading to my hostel, not to work but as a guest, where I will spend 2 nights in Gros Morne National Park I did a little hike in the Tablelands, a very moony and rocky landscape With ocher coloured rocks, full of some metals that doesn't allow many plants to grow It was such an unexpected landscape, I thought I was in Mordor Tomorrow I have a boat tour on what looks like a fjord, even though it's a kind of lake I hope everything will be fine I caught an iceberg piece! Actually the iceberg behind me just calved A whole piece fell down and it did a huge splash, it was crazy And I got one of the piece I see you a bit later First I noticed that I haven't really introduced Newfoundland when I arrived As you saw on the map, it's the easternmost province of Canada And it's part of Canada only since the 1950s I think, before it was an autonomous British land The weird thing is that's in a very specific time zone I have 4h30 of difference with France, don't ask me why it's like that It's tricky, now I always have to check on a clock to see what time it is in France Newfoundland is also known for being Canada's viking lands On the top north of the island, that's where they found the first viking heritages in North America I would have loved to go, but it's really far north, too complicated to go Actually when you go from Gros Morne to l'Anse aux Meadows, it's called the viking trail And it indeed looks a lot like viking landscapes, as you saw just before Where I did the boat tour was a former fjord that naturally closed up So now it's more like a lake, or a pond like they call here But the rock formations are really like a fjord It really looked like Norway, so beautiful But the wind there was crazy, I thought I would literally fly away So I don't regret the truck rental, it was really worth it to go there Even if it cost me a kidney for the gas, let's say it was worth it What you need to know is that in Newfoundland there is only one road all around the island That's why I found a ride pretty easily from the ferry, because it was the end of the road And there is a bus that goes all the way daily, but ONCE a day - remember that So I gave back my truck, and from there I took the bus to Gander airport And from there I was supposed to get a rental car to go to Fogo island So I caught the bus, the trip was like 5 hours long, but I slept most of the time Then I arrive at Gander airport, I go to the rental stand And the difference from the New Brunswick rental, is that this time it was already paid, my card was in their system My card was already in their system, so there shouldn't have been any issue I just had to give a deposit And my french card still doesn't work So I'm like "nooo come on, still the same problem" What was upsetting is that it really just was a deposit issue I was offering 300$ cash, but they said they weren't allowed to accept it I found out later that it wasn't like my french card that didn't work I actually ordered a new credit card from my french bank That I still don't have, that already took some time to arrive in Canada, it's now in Nova Scotia and was only just sent to me And I asked them if I could still use my current card the time the new one was in transit That the new one will only be active when I will actually get it, they said "yes yes yes" I hate my french bank A few days later I was supposed to pay for something else online, and I was told it wasn't working So that's where I found out, I went on my bank website, and I saw that my current card was inactive Because the only active card is the new one, but I don't have it yet Little bastards So that's why it wasn't working If I haven't asked for a new card because I had an issue the first time, I could have get my rental But now it's fine, the french credit card is supposed to arrive in a few days And for the canadian one, Amelie in Gaspesie actually did a lease for me, so I can have a real address in Canada So that they can finally send me my credit card there It only arrived in Gaspesie last week, and now Amelie sent it to me in Newfoundland So both will arrive at the same time So again, I was again left with nothing at the airport But this time, unlike New Brunswick, I didn't have any backup plan to still go to Fogo island Because there was 1h drive, then you have to take a ferry, and then you have to be autonomous on the island So it was just impossible And it pissed me because I had an Airbnb booked there Less than 24h before it wasn't refundable, so I've been screwed And the other problem is that I couldn't get to my next destination in Bonavista, 3 more hours further away Because as I said, there is only one bus a day driving around the island, and I arrived with that bus Obviously the time I spent at the rental, it was gone So I had to find a last minute hotel to spend 24 hours in Gander that weren't planned I took the cheapest one but it was in the outskirts so I had to take a cab The next day, to go back downtown to buy some groceries I finally hitchhike for the first time! And it was tricky, Newfoundland is not known for being very hitchhike friendly But I still found a very nice lady who drove me 5 min away to downtown Then I had to get back to the airport, it was like 30 min away walking, so doable, but with my big suitcase to carry I tried to hitchhike again but this time it didn't work I was walking and hitching at the same time, but all the cars were passing me by without caring A desperate girl with her huge suitcase, no one cared But I finally made it to the airport to catch the bus To actually catch up on my initial plan, but I just lost a day Then I had 2h of bus to Clarenville My new workaway host picked me up and we drove another 2h to the end of Bonavista peninsula Now I'm in the town of Bonavista, it's about 2500-3000 inhabitants My hosts are called Donna and Todd, but I'm mostly seeing Donna They manage a hostel, but it's not a very common hostel It's like a big house with a few bedrooms, and the common space is a regular living room with an open kitchen, so it's quite unusual There aren't many clients yet, the few we have are middle aged people, or like a father and his son So really not the kind of young and social hostel Why not Even Donna is not often here, most of the time I'm alone And there is not a ton of things to do The morning I do some cleaning, I wash the bathrooms When guests are checking out I'm doing the laundry During that time Donna is with me, but after she leaves and she doesn't come back That's all I have to do When people are checking in I can tell them where is their room But even this I'm not expected to do it because What is really nice is that I have a car to use It's very convenient to be autonomous to explore the area, she just told me to enjoy it and do my thing So it's awesome, but I just don't really have the contact with locals But I have a car, so I still do what I want And the road to go to Bonavista, I saw a moose And a bear cub! I saw my first bear in Canada He crossed the road so fast I didn't have time to catch my camera, and we didn't see his mama And me did a small detour to go see an iceberg, because we can see some in Newfoundland It's already the end of the season, but we saw one pretty close, drifting away from a village There are also puffins, like cute little penguins flying everywhere, I saw some from very close And apparently there are humpback whales and sperm whales We cannot see them from as close as when I was on Cape Breton island Let's see if I see any in the next few weeks I'm staying a bit more than 2 weeks in the hostel in Bonavista, until the 1st of July Another thing is that Todd - Donna's husband - is running a shuttle service from Bonavista to St John's - Newfoundland's capital He's driving there daily Monday to Friday, that's his job, even though it's 3.5-4h of drive away So one day I can just hop on with him to check on the city in Newfoundland Well I just got interrupted by a couple of old people passing by, who started asking me questions And they just said "we come from Vancouver island, here take our card and you will have a place to stay if you cant to come, you're welcome" But it was so spontaneous, I was just like "well, yes, thanks" Canadian people are so sweet, it was really genuine, like old and nice people Oh and another super nice thing is Newfoundland The weather is so mild I know right now in France you're in the middle of a heat wave, with 35-40° And here it's like 20°, very sunny, nice little wind, so pleasant Well when I arrived it was below 10°, but I won't complain This is exactly what I was looking for, 20°, sunshine, perfect for me And that's it, even if I haven't been here for very long yet, Newfoundland is validated This is Chloé from the editing I just wanted to warn you that this video will be in two parts Because I have too many footages of Newfoundland I don't want to throw away 3/4 of my footages, and I also don't want the video to last 3 hours So I think it's better if I split it in half But I just don't know where I will be able to post the second part Because in a few days I will leave to the big North, to the Yukon And I really don't know what kind of wifi I will have there Even just for my personal use, but to upload a video on Youtube it will be even worse So we will see, and I will post the video whenever I can
2022-07-07 10:43
