Just before we moved to Canada a good friend of ours Jean gave us some DVD's she had found called trains across Canada. We were excited to watch them and get a bit more a feel for the place we would be spending the next few years of our life. They had an awesome segment on the Martimes and one of the most striking places was Newfoundland, which interestingly you can't actually get to by train ( ? ) but where you can kayak around icebergs. Immediately Levi and I both said 'we have to do that!' and onto the bucket list it went.
The time came where the stars aligned for us to be able to leave the kids with our good friends the Paxtons and spend 48 hours in Newfoundland for Levi's 36th birthday. In the days leading up to our trip I was checking the iceberg tracker (that's a real thing) hourly hoping that icebergs would be where we needed them to be to see them up close in a kayak. This year had been great for icebergs, there were hundreds surrounding Newfoundland but only ONE!!! was near the location of our kayak tour and not near enough. With all the prayers I could muster I pleaded with God to help the iceberg float along a few kms to the needed destination. But as I prayed I had a very clear answer that we would not be kayaking around icebergs ... devastated. From there I had the assurance that if I could get past this iceberg disappointment I would still have a wonderful time in Newfoundland. My challenge now was to let it go and just enjoy... oh man. Boy did I try. But this was a bucketlist item! I had dreamed of this since even before arriving in Canada. How could this not happen! Well all the wishful thinking in the world can not change the course of an iceberg so I had the not that fun lesson of learning that in life you don't always get what you want. Levi was a great example to follow, when informed we would not be kayaking around an iceberg he said 'okay' and didn't give it another thought (who is this person!) so I proceeded as best I could to just enjoy and that's what we did.
We took the short flight to St. Johns and settled into our beautiful bed and breakfast where I had booked a room with a spa (a true highlight as our bath resembles a puddle more than a bath). We went out and had a truly excellent dinner, St. Johns is known for it's food and it did not disappoint for our entire stay. The next day we traveled about an hour for our kayak tour. The sky was blue, the sun was shining and it was clear that icebergs or not this was going to be awesome. We had a double kayak and our guide fed us sea urchin, took us to a waterfall and caves that drew you in and out, all the while telling us the history of the area that use to be a prime cod fishing location but collapsed because of over fishing. The water in the area was so deep and clear that you could see incredibly far down. It makes it a perfect spot for whales to come into the cove and at times there can be dozens there.
After kayaking we took the lead of a couple we had met at breakfast that morning and booked a picnic lunch at Ferryland lighthouse. We didn't realize at the time just how magical an experience this would be. To get to the lighthouse you have about a 20 minute walk along a old and bumpy road and when you arrive it feels like you are at the edge of the world. The rocky edge, the surging water and our elusive iceberg in the distance was so beautiful. As we waited for lunch we read of all the incredible shipwreck stories, a true and tragic part of life in the maritimes. We took our amazing lunch of sandwiches, salad, dessert and lemonade and our blanket to a lovely spot in the sun and just enjoyed this incredible place. It was perfect and a true highlight of our trip. It's moments like that where I feel really overwhelmed at the blessing it is to experience such a different and beautiful part of the world. We spent the rest of the afternoon driving along the coast to another lighthouse, Cape Spear, located at the most eastern point of all of North America. This was another very cool spot. We ate at the top restaurant in St Johns that night, we were absolutely exhausted and it was a bit too hipster for us but the food was good. We fell into bed that night. What a day!
We had most of the rest of the day to explore before our flight that afternoon. We went on the hunt for some more icebergs and saw a few in the distance. We ate lunch in St Johns at a cool cafe and wandered about the town which is known for it's 'jelly bean' houses and steep streets. It has a beautiful harbour too which was best seen from Signal Hill where we headed after lunch. The beauty of the harbour is the huge foreboding hills that rise at it's narrow mouth. It was windy up there!
We had a truly memorable time in Newfoundland. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Levi's birthday and spend time together just us. I love that I get to have these experiences and share them with my husband and true love. He is the best of men.
Thank you Newfoundland!
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