I think I grew gills....

Well folks I'm back. 7 days to go in my year off and I'm just back from the amazing province of Newfoundland.
Since the internet hasn't filled the homes and streets of this green and rocky island I could not post on a daily basis so I'm going to make up for that.

On Thursday June 14th at 4:45 AM the smiling airport limo driver arrived to take me to Pearson. I was on my way! An early flight was a must for me. I wanted to get going to see what life is like on The Rock.
Drat. Flight delayed. Seemed we were waiting for the red eye to get in from Edmonton. Many folks from that flight were needing the connection to St. John's. Seems many of them (all of them??) were oil workers and this is a big thing in Newfoundland. Oilworkers, riggers, iron workers, pipe fitters are all needed. This is a hot topic out there too. The radio was full of comments.
Regardless we were on our way and I arrived a little before 1 pm. My car rental voucher allowed me to drive away with a stunning white (natch) 2012 Chevy Impala. Oh yeah, baby, this is it.
Uh oh. Compass hadn't been calibrated yet. Oh dear, I have no idea what direction anything is as it's cloudy. Right, so drive away from the airport and try and find any land marks. Sure, easy to say except for the fog that seemed to envelop the land.
Drove around for a while and found downtown. Aha! I now know sort of, where I am.
The Battery is where I was heading. That's also road names. Oh dear. No street numbers.
Yikes.
Thankfully not many roads in St. John's and I found the Battery and Hipditch Hill.
What?
You want me to park WHERE???
Welcome to St. John's!!

 St. John's really is down there. The fog greeted me!

Really, no, kidding, this is where I had to park. You can see Hipditch House just above the yellow house.

As you can see by the architecture, everything adapts to the landscape. The top picture really doesn't do it justice to how dramatic a grade the road was. I can only imagine what it's like in the winter.

Some views of St. John's for you. The top picture is of the main downtown part and the lower one is of Duckworth street (one of the main drags) and you'll note the real lack of people. It was not busy at all.

 Newfoundland and Labrador dogs are memorialized in bronze near the city centre. Someone had put leggings on the Labrador which made him/her look rather comical. Not really sure why they're there but they made me laugh.

This is Terry Fox. I have visited his memorials in Vancouver and in Thunder Bay. This commemorates Mile 0, he dipped his foot in the Atlantic here before heading off on his Marathon of Hope. I was honoured to be here and see this statue too. Such a fitting tribute as the others are, to his legacy.

This is the view from the porch of Hipditch house. I actually took it on the last morning I was there because the sun came out! Below the red house is a dramatic cliff that takes you too the waters of St. John's Harbour and the Lower Battery neighbourhood. Yes, I'm really that high up.

 The living room at Hipditch house. Yes, the ceilings are that low!

 View from my perch at the dining room table. St. John's Harbour is seen through the windows.

Hipditch House. Kitchen windows are the bank you see in top left of photo.

 St. John's harbour at about 3 am. The fog is coming in from the sea and the boats keep their lights on all night long. Note how still the water is.

St. John's is a major sea port providing assistance to all seagoing vessels, oil rigs and liners. There was always something going on in the harbour to watch. The tanker in front of the picture was off loading oil and the red boat in the mid of the picture was a boat that took supplies to the Hibernia.

Colour abounds in St. John's. I wonder if it's to take place of the dreariness of the fog. This house (for sale by the way) was painted every possible colour. It was really something.

So, that's enough for now. More as we go along each day this week highlighting my time in St. John's, Heart's Delight and  Bonavista. CapeRace eco-cultural tours was something I'd never even thought of doing but looking back I don't think there's a better way to see Newfoundland.