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The island of Newfoundland's west coast is bursting with culture of all kinds – created by both humans and nature alike. A great way to soak it all up is to visit one of the many festivals in the region, which celebrate everything from music and performance to hiking and icebergs…

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.

Hiking the East Coast Trail outside St. John's last fall, I had one of those rapturous, living fully in the now, experiences.

My wife, Kathy, and I had seen nobody for an entire, glorious September Sunday. The trail, the forest, the sea belonged to only us. Or rather we to them.

Fall is at its peak in Western Newfoundland right now (from the end of September to mid-October) and there are several great reasons to make the trek in this direction from anywhere in the Atlantic region.

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.

Amazing Place. How sweet is Newfoundland?

I once was lost…but now am found. Well, make that, lost in my own time zone! Don't worry, I didn't go off the grid, more like I was operating on Newfoundland time. Yes, interestingly enough – being the easternmost point in North America merits Newfoundland its own special time – a half an hour off kilter with the rest of the world. So, in essence, I was lost in this unique space- time continuum that exists in Newfoundland, Canada. Hence, if you really looking to "get away" [both literally and figuratively] – this is the place to go!

The first thing you notice is the air, scrubbed by a thousand miles of ocean and a hundred miles of evergreen forest. The spruce-scented breeze wafts along the shores of western Newfoundland filling the billowing sails of our tall ship, Concordia, and simultaneously purging our lungs of city smog. Even the tap water in Newfoundland (affectionately known as "the Rock" by locals) is so pristine you can fill your car battery with it.

Last August my wife ran the “Race to the Sea”. Of course I did a video. It is a day long relay race from Cape Anguille to Rose Blance. There is some beautiful scenery along the way including Wreckhouse.....

Saturday Stan and I had the good fortune to share some time with a humpback whale in Bull Arm. It had surfaced next to Stan about 200 metres away and before I knew it the whale was under me. I could see the white flippers in the waters beneath my kayak and motioned to Stan to come.

An hour on a small boat in not too calm seas brings us to the centuries old fishing villiage of Battle Harbour, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We walk around for hours not seeing another person, and it is difficult to imagine that this was once the unofficial capital of Labrador. Battle Harbour was an active fishing village from the 1770s until the east coast fisheries closed in 1992.

We innocently asked our waitress at the Tuckamore Lodge in Main Brook, Newfoundland, where we might get some good photos of moose after dinner. "Well you won't need to go too far. I would simply head back on the road you just came in on and drive a few kilometres back toward Roddickton."

Steady Brook Falls is worth the hike anytime of the year, but early spring is definitely the best. Located about six kilometres east of Corner Brook and just off the Trans Canada Highway, the falls are very accessible and a great place to stretch you legs. We took the short hike to the falls on April 17th. Warm sunny days melting high country snow followed by rain brought the falls up to an impressive level the day of our hike. The falls can be seen from the Trans Canada Highway but one should really pull off at Steady Brook (Exit 8) and experience it fully. The trailhead is behind the Tim Horton's at the base of Marble Mountain and there are two viewing platforms providing excellent photo opportunities.

Recently, my Dad and I took a two hour drive south from St. Johns to Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve. Named because it was a navigational hazard mistaken for Cape Race, it is one of the world's most significant fossil sites. Here you can find the oldest complex life forms anywhere on Earth. The main fossil layer preserves the ecology of a 565-million-year-old deep sea community.

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.

The west coast of Newfoundland has no shortage of winter activities to keep a recreation generalist like me occupied. Its not that I get tired of doing one thing, I just want to experience as much as possible in this life. Over the St. Patricks Day weekend, I did just that by engaging in four different snow sports in a four day period.

Western Newfoundland is a winter wonderland and offers fine cross-country skiing at several Nordic ski clubs and alpine skiing at Marble Mountain.

But what makes this area different from almost anywhere in Eastern Canada is its back country skiing.

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.

It's almost question-popping time – you know, Valentine's Day – but going down on one knee is a little…boring, right? Predictable, safe, and just not your style. Life is a big adventure, and the two of you are adventurous. So, let's go deep, 89 feet deep, in SCUBA gear, to the deck of an historic shipwreck, and spring the ring. Now, that's a proposal!

Archeologists in Cupids, Nfld., have unearthed the remains of a stone wall that may have housed cannons to defend Canada's first English settlement, established on the shore of Conception Bay in 1610. Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visited the site earlier this month during their royal tour of Canada.