#108 Jun 2015 Wanderlust - 1,000 Years Ago and Now

Ralph and I have always wanted to explore the world around us to know and understand what is out there. Over 45 years we have lived in and traveled to many parts of the world in fairly comfortable conditions.

A thousand years ago, most Norse people were farmers and traders. Raiding became a common way to gain wealth and fame.

Vikings, Old Norse for raiders or pirates, explored westward from Scandinavia to Iceland, Greenland, Labrador and Newfoundland.

They travelled in open boats not more than 100 feet long.  

Norse sagas referred to a land of vast forests teeming with animals. The seafaring people needed wood for boat building and animals for food in order to acquire trade goods to take back to their homeland.

In 1960 Norwegian writer and explorer Helge Ingstad arrived at L’Anse aux Meadows.

His long search for proof of the Norse people landing in North America was rewarded when a community elder led him to the site local people called “the Old Indian Camp”.

The northwestern tip of Newfoundland was a central location for the Norse to explore the new land. They established a year round camp which only lasted about 10 years. Travel time from home was just too great.

The boggy ground preserved evidence of iron smelting and carpentry suggesting that boat repair was an important activity. This original site of the forge hut is recreated in the camp.

Based on years of archeological exploration in the area, life of the "campers" in the village is very well portrayed.

This “modern” Viking discovered how strong and tough his ancestors were. Ralph is braced against the considerable weight of the sword and shield.

Our tour guide was a local who had helped in the quest for proof of the Norse settlement. He gave us a tremendous insight into the original camp and the efforts of hundreds of people to portray life 1,000 years ago.

100,000 years ago some of our ancestors left the cradle of humanity in Africa and slowly migrated east and west. When the Norse met Aboriginal North Americans in Vinland 1,000 years ago, it represented the completion of human migration on Earth. Humankind had encircled the globe. This sculpture interprets this meeting of two cultures and worlds.

Still today the forest is a valuable resource for heating.

 

In St. Anthony we experienced a Viking feast with some modern conveniences like electricity.

This Viking welcomed us.

 

After dinner Captain Hroadsson conducted a Viking Court. Violators were given the opportunity to defend themselves but punishment was the same regardless of their pleas.

Dinner guests were invited to vent their problems with fellow travellers. This man holding the talking stick was part of a Corvette group touring the island. He complained that they had been promised whale sightings and had not seen any yet. 

Their group leader defended himself by saying that they were going on a whale watching tour the next day. The evening was friendly, fun and hilarious.

The Viking feast consisted of salmon, moose stew, cod, cod tongues, caplin and Jigg’s dinner.

Jigg’s dinner consists of local meat and root vegetables that are still a mainstay in local meals. Gardens are planted wherever there is enough soil, often alongside roadways. They are protected from animals by high fences or poles with plastic bags attached. The bags move and rustle in the wind to scare intruders.

 Moose are the only thieves to worry about here.

However, moose are a threat to motorists.

 

#107 Jun 2015 Awesome Icebergs!

The drive to Rocky Harbour provided a sample of the roads we had heard about in Newfoundland. Our next destination was about 350 km each way to St. Anthony, at the tip of the Northern Peninsula. We decided to leave the RV in Rocky Harbour so Ralph could fully enjoy the drive along the western coastline.

Rough water and the harsh coastline has challenged mariners for centuries. In 1919 the S.S. Ethie ran aground. All 92 passengers and crew were saved including a baby sent ashore in a mailbag. Time has eroded the hull leaving only rusted bits and pieces.

Hardy trees and shrubs cling to the shoreline.

We followed the “Viking Trail” to St. Anthony and checked into a hotel.

 

We promptly set out to find icebergs. “That was Easy”.

Every time the road meandered near the coastline there were icebergs. Wow!

 

In 1969 Ralph and I met at the Columbia Icefields near Jasper, Alberta. The turquoise color in the Athabasca Glacier has always stayed with us.

At that time Icefields tours were conducted in snowmobiles like this one in a Newfoundland woodlot.

 

When we came back from Europe in July 2010 we flew over Greenland. From 35,000 feet icebergs floating in a brilliant blue ocean mesmerized us. 10,000 year old Greenland glaciers calve fresh water icebergs. They float down Iceberg Alley along the eastern coast of Newfoundland.

Only about 1/8th of an iceberg is above water. Can you imagine how much of this behemoth is below water?

Icebergs may look serene but they can roll and split without warning. When they approach oil drilling operations they are lassoed and towed safely out of range.

 

In St. Anthony we booked an Iceberg Tour. Overnight a violent storm came in and knocked the end of the pier off its pilings.

A cavalcade of tourist vehicles headed for another pier and we were off for an adventure to see our first iceberg up close.

The ice is truly this turquoise colour.

 

The sun, wind, rain and ocean carve the icebergs into many fanciful shapes.

The boat crew fished out a growler from a nearby iceberg.

As we left St. Anthony Bight towards the open ocean we passed Fox Point Lighthouse.





A fishing boat attracted lots of airborne diners.

The storm from the previous night was still evident as we entered the North Atlantic Ocean. The crew expertly handled the boat in 20 to 30 foot waves.











We were early for the whale season but the alert crew spotted three gray whales in the heaving water.

Ralph and I had an incredible view from the front of the boat as it confronted the waves. We hung onto the boat, each other and the camera.

What a ride! We were so excited by the icebergs, waves and whales we didn't notice how cold we were until we entered calm water.


At Jungle Jim's the name started to warm us up. For lunch we asked for the warmest table and hot chocolate.



Icebergs and fishing boats are a lasting image of Newfoundland.

 

#106 Jun 2015 This OLD Earth of Ours!

Gros Morne National Park takes you so far back in time that it’s incomprehensible. Hundreds of millions of years of tectonic upheaval are visible.

Turn around and you see the effects of ice ages only tens of thousands of years ago.

The Tablelands attracted our attention as we drove to the Discovery Centre. What are these orange mountains?

Tablelands rocks originated in the Earth’s mantle below the oceanic crust. They are part of the Appalachians, which we have encountered since the state of Georgia.

 

The Appalachians are part of what was once a huge continuous mountain chain that stretched for 4,000 km through eastern North America, Great Britain and Scandinavia. On the western side of the Appalachians are rocks of ancient North America, on the eastern side are rocks of Africa, and squashed in between are remnants of the Iapetus Ocean.

St. John NB Reversing Rapids are part of this upheaval. See our post #103.

The rocks of Gros Morne National Park formed in different parts of the Iapetus Ocean basin, hundreds of kilometres apart. They were moved into place as the ocean closed.

Sometimes known as the Accordion Effect, continents have repeatedly collided to form supercontinents, then pulled apart again and created new continents and oceans.

It was an awe-inspiring feeling to walk on the Earth’s Mantle.

At a distance the Tablelands appear to be a desert.

On closer inspection many of the rocks have a serpentine or snake like appearance.

 

Even in this environment dandelions persevere.