leaving for Newfoundland, any thoughts??

[peppster66]

Hi, we are leaving soon for the summer holiday trip, this year we chose to go to Newfoundland, it is somewhere we have never been before. We are both very excited, and a little nervous as it will be all new to us.. Our plan is to drive along the St. Lawrence river, through Quebec, and then into Labrador, across the Labrador highway, and enter into the top of Newfoundland. really looking forward to the Viking ruins in that area. From there we will work our way down to Grosse Morne park, and from there just go and discover the beauty of the island. we have 3 weeks for our trip, so I feel time will not be an issue, hoping that the weather cooperates with us. so I wanted to ask if anyone here has been before, and if there is anything you would recommend as a must see area, were hoping to boondock as much as we can, hoping to see some whales, some icebergs, and definetly try some of the fresh seafood. If you have any suggestions, it would be great to hear from you, its always better from others who have gone before us, thanks for all your help,,,,take care,,,,,Josef,,,,

[avanti]

Haven't done that trip yet (soon, I hope). But, I'm told that the extra credit point involves making it all the way to Fogo Island (the bitter end).

[Davydd]

I wasn't aware of any easy way to get through Labrador and ferry over to Newfoundland at the top. I think that would be an extremely long trip.

We went to Newfoundland last September via across Ontario north shore of Lake Superior down to Quebec, around the whole of Gaspe Peninsula, through New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and took the ferry from Sydney, NS over to Port Aux Basque. That is the short ferry trip of 7 hours to the southwest side. Then we drove up to Lanse Aux Meadows where the Vikings settled. That is a about a 500 mile one way trip in itself. Going and coming back we camped in Gros Morne NP. We came back on the ferry and then explored Cape Breton, Halifax, Prince Edward Island and the Bay of Fundy before returning the the USA through Maine.

Almost all the coastal towns, which require short side trips off the main highway, have seafood restaurants. You couldn't go wrong it seemed. The only disappointing town for food was Port Aux Basque. Gros Morne NP is a gem. We camped coming and going at the Green Point CG in Gros Morne right on the coast. It is 31 sites with the best free wifi we ever had.

You are going early. What we learned is Newfoundland starts to close down around mid-September. We spent a week in Newfoundland and boondocked every night as there were no hookups. On arriving from the ferry late afternoon we drove about 15 miles in and spent the night at a parking lot called Wreckhouse, the windiest place right on the coast.

We never got to the east side of Newfoundland and St. John. That would have been another 500 miles east and back because the longer ferry had stopped September 20.

[tgregg]

We drove to Labrador in 1994 on a horrible dirt road that took 5 days from Baie Comeau to Goose Bay including a 3 day rain delay. Then we took an overnite ferry to Lewisporte NF past icebergs and drove out to St. John's and back to Port Aux Basques.

Now it appears you can drive on a paved road from Baie Comeau to Goose Bay and then Blanc Sablon on the coast and take an hour and 45 minute ferry to St. Barbe on the top of Newfoundland.

The ferry from Goose Bay to Lewisporte is gone because of the new roads.

I found a link to info about the new roads:

Central Labrador & Goose Bay

Have a nice trip.

[peppster66]

We thought we would take the road less traveled, and see a part of the country we have never seen before, the highway through labrador is paved now, but there is still a large stretch near the end that is still gravel, so we will take our time , and enjoy the ride.we have been to all the other east coast provinces, so our whole holiday is set to experience, Labrador and Newfoundland. We watched a video on youtube from "a guy, a girl, and a campervan", and they did the same route, I think it will be a one time type of trip, do as much as we can, and try somewhere different next holiday,,, thank you for your input ,,,, thanks,,,,,,