SUMMER ACTIVITIES AND TRAVELS

The St. John’s Haunted Hike starts up again in June and runs through September. This is an “ambulatory theatrical tour through the historic and haunted streets of St. Johns downtown core, with old-fashioned storytelling at its dramatic and spine-tingling best”. Call 709-685-3444 for more information or visit .

Cathedral Crypt Tea Room: The Cathedral Crypt Tea Room will be open from the first week of July until the first week of September, on weekday afternoons from 2:30 to 4:30 pm. The Crypt is a pleasant place to relax and enjoy a Newfoundland tea after sight-seeing around town. The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is itself a beautiful historic building and is open for viewing during the summer months. It is located on Gower Street between Cathedral Street and Church Hill. Enter The Crypt through the parking lot at the back of the church.

Shakespeare by the Sea: All shows are in the St. John’s Cabot 500 Theatre, Bowring Park. The theatre is located behind the playground in the west end of the park, just west of the swimming pool. All shows are weather dependent. Please call 576-0980 on show day for weather related inquiries or visit their website.

Random Passage Movie Set: The movie set for Random Passage at New Bonaventure, 14 km. from Trinity, is well worth a visit. There are tour guides who will explain how it was constructed,etc. The site provides a fascinating and realistic insight in to early outport life. There are signs along the highway from the Trinity turnoff. You park at the Church and it is a short walk to the site.

L’Anse aux Meadows: There you will find a Viking village called Norstead, where you can see how the Vikings lived. It is wonderful to be able to go inside the houses and interact with the Vikings. They have a blacksmith, carpenter, and a boat builder to name but a few citizens, and you can chat to the Chief and his wife, or the weaver. You can also taste delicacies cooked the way their forefathers did such as mussels and caribou stew. The Vikings proved to be very friendly and it was a great way to bring history alive.

Middle Cove Beach A great place for a morning or afternoon get away, or a spur of the moment picnic. This is a pebble beach approximately 10 minutes (driving) from St. John’s, in between Torbay and Logy Bay on Route 30. With a spectacular ocean view and nestled between cliffs that are home to various seabirds, it’s a natural wonder that’s close to home. There have been many sightings of whales there as well. Pack up the kids, some food and drink, pails and shovels, and an extra set of clothes. Around 15th August there will be a pottery event on the beach. Check your local newspaper for the exact date. Clay pieces will be baked in kilns erected on the beach and are for sale then. Have fun!

Baccalieu Trail to Brigus, Spaniards Bay, Salmon Cove & Northern Bay Sands:
Travel on the TransCanada highway west for about 1 hour to route 70. Travel north about 14 kilometres to the Brigus turnoff. Historic Brigus is the birthplace of northern explorer Captain Bob Bartlett. His former home, Hawthorn Cottage, is a national historic sight and well worth a visit. Brigus also hosts the blueberry festival each August. In Spaniards Bay pottery enthusiasts will enjoy a stop at Fairy-Tale Pottery located on the main highway. If you have a full day to spend, carry on to Harbour Grace, headquarters for a famous pirate of the 17th century, Peter Easton. In 1932 Amelia Earhart left Harbour Grace to become the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. You will also find the oldest stone church in Newfoundland here.

Signal Hill Tattoo, starting July 2
This Pageant features military drills, music and manoeuvres of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment of Foot, c.1800. Performances on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturdays and Sundays at 11am and 3 pm.

Railway Coastal Museum, 495 Water Street, Web Site: www.railwaycoastalmuseum.ca

Newman Wine Vaults, Water Street, 739-7871
This place is just past downtown going west towards Mount Pearl. University students give a tour and historic talk on the shipping trade that brought fermented wine to Newfoundland for storage. Very interesting and samples too.

Sights along route 10
Bay Bulls & Witless Bay: Drive along route 10 south of St. John’s for about 1 hour for some excellent hiking, whale and bird watching .
The Colony of Avalon: A favourite of our family is the Colony of Avalon located in the town of Ferryland, a one hour drive south from St. John's. There is an Interpretation Centre, Gardens of plants favoured in 17th century, a Conservation laboratory and our favorite, the Archaeological Dig. The dig consists of six sites uncovering the remains of the English colony founded in 1621 by Sir George Calvert, who later became the first Lord Baltimore. Visitors can view archaeologists and the field crew as they uncover legacies of the past.
The Cape Race Lighthouse: An impressive old lighthouse in a beautiful location which went into operation in 1856. Visitors can still enter and climb around the stairs that wrap around the walls up to the light. Did you know… Cape Race was the only land based point to receive the Titanic’s distress call.
Avalon Wilderness Area: Home to a herd of over 5,000 Newfoundland caribous.

Summer Swimming Holes

Topsail Beach is a Provincial Park about 20 minutes from town, straight out Topsail Road. When you get very close to the ocean watch for a sign on your right to lead you down to the water. There are washrooms and a small playground, a pond swimming area which is great for air mattress floating as well as ocean swimming. Fairly easy to keep an eye out for kids but you always have to be careful of the tides. The beach/ sitting area is rocky but not uncomfortable. There is no shade to be found to escape the sun but because you are on the ocean the breeze keeps you cool.
Butter Pot Provincial Park is also a campground only 20 minutes from town, west on the TCH. The exit is well marked and there is a small per vehicle day use charge. The pond has a sort of sand beach and a grassy area to spread your blankets. Many people show up with there coolers and BBQ’s and settle in for the day. Can sometimes be a little crowded. A good place to go if you want to do a bit of hiking before you enjoy the water.
Marine Drive Park is located on Pouch Cove Line, route 21, about 30 minutes from town. This park has a per person day charge. There are water slides, boat rentals, playground , picnic tables, washrooms and a canteen. The fresh water lake has a beach with some sand and the surrounding area is grassy. This park can also get a little crowded and therefore stressful if you are trying to keep an eye out for your kids. The kids enjoy it here but it can get pricey with the waterslides, boats and canteen.
Holyrood Park is located on the Holyrood access road, exit 36 off the TCH, about 25 minutes from town. You will pass the Willows golf course on your right and just further on your left is the swimming area. The admission charge is $1.00 per person. This is actually a dammed up river with a bridge to access both banks. The area is grassy and offers some shade. One side is shallow and great for small children; the other side is deeper with a dock area. This is a relatively small swimming hole and therefore easy to keep track of your kids. Never very busy, this is my favourite swimming spot.

The CAPLIN are coming!
We are soon approaching caplin and whale-watching season here in Newfoundland. Caplin are a small, silvery fish who spend most of their lives offshore but come inshore to spawn. Spawning takes place on beaches in June and July. This is truly a sight to behold as thousands of sparkling silver bodies throw themselves onto the beaches. Wildlife is attracted to this food source, such as other fish, seabirds, eagles and ospreys. Perhaps most notably for us, whales are attracted to one of their major food sources, so once the caplin arrive you know the whales won’t be far behind!
The caplin arrive on our beaches during typical “caplin weather” ie foggy, misty, dank, damp days in early morning or evening. Wander along to places, such as Middle Cove, and you will see many people on the beach harvesting the fish. It’s a great time to take the kids fishing - a sure-fire success for them.
Traditionally caplin were spread on gardens as fertilizer but they were also eaten. They taste good fried whole in butter. Dried salted caplin are a traditional Newfoundland snack roasted on a stick over a campfire. I have also heard of people stringing them up along washing lines to dry and then pickling them in the juices left over from the saltfish.
Newfie saying: “Foolish as a caplin” meaning “a very silly person”.

Whale-watching
Soon after the caplin arrive on the shores of Newfoundland, the humpback whales arrive in the surrounding waters. In the northwest Atlantic, the humpbacks winter in the Caribbean, where they mate and calve. A newborn will typically weigh around 2 tons and measure 5m in length. When it is weaned, around 11 months, it will be about 8-9m long and will be fully mature at 11m, by which time it will typically weigh around 30-40 tons. A female humpback usually calves every 2 years and can live for 30 years. In April the whales begin their journey north to the feeding grounds around the waters of Newfoundland . Around the Avalon, sightings are very common from June to August.
Whales are fascinating mammals to watch. They breach (leap into the air), lobtail (strike their flukes on the surface of the water), they lie on their sides and roll over, waving their huge flippers in the air. The undersides of the flukes have unique patterns of black and white, so it is possible to recognise individual animals. There are many opportunities to whale-watch in Newfoundland. There are numerous vantage points all around the coast and some of us are lucky enough to be able to watch from our own homes.
Whale-watching boat trips can be taken Bay Bulls with : Gatherall’s tel. 334-2887, O’Briens tel. 753-4850 or Mullowney’s , tel. 1-877-783-3467. You could even try sea-kayaking with Stan Cook, tel. 1-888-747-6353.