Terra Nova National Park

The first order of business when we left to head for Terra Nova was to find somewhere to do laundry. Not as easy as we‘d hoped. There is a distinct lack of coin laundromats in Newfoundland. Our first stop was Gander, a good sized town so surely there’d be one there, nope. We ended up at the visitors centre and the lovely young lady there found that the closest laundry was at the visitor centre for Terra Nova National Park. After getting a few groceries etc, we were off again. There is one washing machine and one dryer at the visitor centre but we got lucky and only had to wait about 10 minutes to get our wash in. After that, we explored the exhibit about the park and generally relaxed. Laundry chore done, we headed to our campground in Malady Head.

Our first full day here we decided on a long 9km hike from the visitor center along the coast to Newman Sound, the largest campground in the park. Nice easy trail along the coast and through the coastal boreal forest. It was a cool grey day, but perfect for a walk. Found another waterfall, and had our lunch at the turnaround point

When we got back to our campsite, who should drive by, but our French Canadian friends from Dildo Run. There are staying at Newman Sound, but came here to do a different hike.

Day 2, the weather returned to summer temperatures after a cold night. So out we went to explore the area around Eastport and then on to the end of the highway. We ended up in Salvage Cove and went for a short hike to a couple of stunning lookouts. Who did we run into again on the hike, our French Canadian friends (Gatean and Sylvie, and Sylvain and Helene). It’s been great fun talking to then, half in french, half in english.

Our next stop before Saint John’s is Roaches Line RV Park. I swear I’m not making these names up but you’ve got to wonder why somewhere is called Roaches Line and I really hope we don’t find out!