Blogs

Of all my travels around Newfoundland this summer, visiting Prime Berth Heritage Centre in Twillingate was one of my most memorable experiences. An interactive, interpretative centre created by David Boyd as a tribute to the culture and heritage of his fishing forefathers, Prime Berth is hard to miss as you're driving across the causeway...

We took a short trip with friends to Newfoundland this week and had the sort of memorable time that everyone talks about whenever they return to Moncton from a visit to St. John's, a city like no other in Canada.

I recently returned from a visit to St. John's, Newfoundland, North America's oldest and most easterly city. St. John's is known to be saturated with Irish traditional and Celtic rock music, but for a smallish city on a fairly remote island, I was surprised by its many other live music offerings.

As our trip to Newfoundland stretched out before us, I knew I would blog about it and I knew instantly that the theme would be gratitude to the people of Newfoundland. So it’s serendipitous that in the last few days I started reading so many words of thanks to the people of Newfoundland from the stranded passengers of 9/11 who were taken into their homes and made to feel like family.

I spent last week getting culturally back in touch with my English Lit student days. First, I went to see Hamlet on a hill, then Henry IV, Part 1 out in one of North America’s oldest and most historic towns, Cupids...

Last week I went to catch the final performance of Hamlet – one of the 2011 Shakespeare By The Sea productions. I realize writing about this festival when it’s already happened and you can’t now go and see the shows (if you unfortunately missed them) is a bit of a tease, but I’m hoping this post will encourage anyone out there who’s already thinking about a 2012 trip to Newfoundland and Labrador, to plan on seeing a performance or two next year.

Four days with Writers at Woody Point, and I’m more inspired than I’ve been my whole life. As Canadian travel journalist Lucy Izon said one evening while taking the water taxi to Woody Point, there’s a sense of community here. Like Banff, I’m so awed by the overwhelming hospitality from everyone...

On the last leg of their adventure, the hikers from TrailPeak.com saw the wreck of a ship from the early 1900s, whalebones, and a slew of icebergs.

This week, the hikers from TrailPeak.com saw 10,000-year-old icebergs, and visited historic Battle Harbour, a restored fishing village that thrived over the last three centuries.

From waterfalls to ancient coastlines, the hikers from TrailPeak.com have seen it all over the past three days, while trekking through southern Labrador.

Check out the latest blog from Kurt at TrailPeak.com to read about the scenery, history and culture they’ve discovered along the south coast of Labrador.

On July 26 – give or take a day or two, depending on weather conditions – about a dozen two-person teams will take the helms of small wooden boats called punts and row 10 miles across open ocean off Newfoundland, Canada.

We had never been to the Coast of Bays along the south coast of Newfoundland so when we heard about the Conne River Powwow we thought that we should make a point of visiting this year....

This past Saturday, Ronan, Cormac my Dad and I went to Sandy Cove on the Eastport Peninsula to see if the capelin were rolling. We were in luck!

Pope’s Point in Badger, central Newfoundland, bears archeological evidence of nearly every culture that has ever inhabited the island: Maritime Archaic Indian, Groswater and Dorset Palaeoeskimo, Recent Indian, Beothuk and Mi’kmaq artifacts and features have either been recovered or historically recorded to have existed there at one time.

On the May 24th weekend, our family took a trip to the Port au Port Peninsula. We spent the night in Stephenville and then started our adventure looking at the petrified forest just outside the town....

There is no shortage of hikes to take in St. John's. One of my favorites is around Signal Hill - the North Head Trail. Before starting our hike we went to the Park's interpretive center. There we learned about the many battles between the French and English that have taken place on its rocky slopes.

In late August, my sons Ronan, Cormac and I took a visit to the Port au Choix, Hawke's Bay area of the Great Northern Peninsula. We started our day with a visit to Parks Canada's National Historic Site at Point Riche. The visitor center there contains many artefacts dating back over the past 5000 years. After learning about the cultural history we set out for the point's light house to take in some of the area's natural history. The shoreline at Point Riche is littered with fossils and the lads had a great time playing palaeontologist "discovering" many different kinds of petrified life forms.

The Anchors Aweigh Band keep the nightlife exciting at Ocean View Hotel's Anchor Pub in Newfoundland and Labrador. Join the band and their fans, as they enjoy an evening of music, dancing, socializing and humor.

Nicky's Nose Cove. It's over in Green Bay which is in Notre Dame Bay which is on the northeast coast of Newfoundland. You can't miss it. No relation to Jerry's Nose over around Port au Port, though.