Moping Monday at SugarHill Inn in Gros Morne

We are sitting here in our room in the inn mid-afternoon in the pouring rain. We did try to make a start this morning, but the rain sent us back here. And the weather does not sound too much better for the next week.... Although tomorrow has a chance of breaks in the clouds vs. today's threats of thunderstorms. At any rate, no kayaking out in the fjords I'm quite sure!

After another nice breakfast at George House, we headed out by about 10 am yesterday (Sunday) for our drive. We were not quite sure how long to expect to be driving - the google map estimate of 9 hours we guessed was high - but we ended up with just over a 6 hour drive, so it was much milder than expected.
We started in the fog and driving rain, and luckily they cleared way to just plain old overcast for the majority of the drive. But we did spot our first moose - no photo unfortunately but hopefully we'll see more - but only from a distance as the sign entering Gros Morne indicated 15 car/moose meetings this season in the park! Mike did the whole drive except for the last 20km from the park info centre. I got off quite easy! We stopped just before our destination at a lookout point with a small hike to a viewpoint and the rain held off as we took our view.

We had not stopped for lunch, so headed into Norris Point for gas and to check out restaurants soon after arriving- but ended up going into Rocky Harbour where we found a great little spot.


Java Jack's is run by a mother and her daughters who moved here from Jasper when the husband/father was transferred here from Jasper, Alta. Mike had the salad with fresh from their garden greens, pears, walnuts, and blue cheese along with seared scallops in a mango curry. I had a house salad and the bubbly bake - a very yummy dish full of lobster, shrimp, scallop, fish in a bubbling cream sauce. Along side we had a 1/2 bottle of rioja - very nice meal and ambiance.


This morning we passed on the early ferry across to the other side of the bay since it was raining so heavily (and foggy). And then when the rain and fog persisted, we even passed on the noon ferry. We did stop in the local bakery however. It was attached to the grocery outlet and when we asked for the bakery we were lead out the back through a storage room to a back room where the bakers where busy. Quite funny actually. But they did have some fresh baked cookies which were not out in the store so we picked up a pack of the along with a fresh loaf of bread and some cheese from the store. We were luckily able to comply with the check out sign indicating payment now required - no more credit will be honoured beyond 2 weeks.



So here we sit listening to the pouring rain - drinking a beer and updating the blog. We'll probably read books, watch a movie and enjoy dinner here in the inn. And hope the weather improves....but we are relaxing even if we aren't getting any exercise.

He's Loving His Footie!!!

First off, Happy belated Canada Day! We celebrated down under with an Aussie hosted BBQ for the exchange teachers and families on Sunday. Unfortunately, Mike has gone off to 'Country Week' (described below) and in the rush he failed to transfer the photos for the blog over to me. So stay tuned for future postings of the event.

I sit here posting this blog in a severe thunderstorm. We have had record amounts of rain over the past week or so. In addition, the tides are at their extremes around now - the sun and moon are all set up for the maximum tides (I'm learning lots of stuff down here!!!) So the volume of rain, high winds and high tides are making for some wet roads, downed trees, power outages and rivers breaking their banks. But the locals are pleased to have the rain to fill the reservoirs. And as we mentioned previously, almost every rain is accompanied by a rainbow since the clouds blow over so quickly. Another one showed up on Friday - this is the view from out our front door.

As mentioned, Mike is off to Perth for the week with the girls basketball team (and all the other school teams) for Country Week. This is a week where all the 'country' schools come together in Perth to compete. Since they are so physically dispersed, setting up games with other schools is difficult. This week allows them all to get together for some competition which would otherwise not be possible. Teams come from the country schools all over Western Australia (which is more than twice the square kilometres than Ontario). Again, stay posted for photos on his return.

As for Saturday this past weekend, Mike AGAIN was off to the footie (with Patrick this time). He is becoming an avid fan and very much a good luck charm for the Dockers. They won again - this time by a huge score (their 2nd largest spread ever) over Carlton. Mike has used his birthday monies to purchase not only the much needed 'sunnies', but also a Fremantle Dockers footie shirt as seen here!

Again for those who like the action shots, here is a selection of shots from the game. I'm starting to think that Aussie Football should be sponsored by an underarm deodorant company - check out the number of armpits in the shots :-) !

Something Fishy at AQWA

Since Patrick has not experienced the reef life here, and he will not get a chance to go snorkeling, we took a trip to the Aquarium of Western Australia just north of Perth on Sunday. It was also great for us to see the same fishes up close and personal, but safely. We did not have to worry the jelly fish swimming around us, or whether the reef sharks were getting too numerous, or whether we were drifting too far and at risk of being pulled out by the rip. So although a bit more sterile, it was much more relaxed.

Michael was able to use his 'good' camera this time since everything was behind glass. You will likely notice the colours are more vivid also since the lighting was much better.

The highlight of the aquarium is 'the shipwreck coast' aquarium. It is 40 metres long, 20 metres wide and 4.5 metres deep and holds 3 million litres of seawater. You can walk or stand on the conveyor belt through 100 metres of tunnel which wraps through the tank and the sealife is all around you. There are several species of sharks (nurse shark here), rays (including some gigantic manta rays), hundreds of fishes as well as turtles and eels. The tank is so large, that it was quite dark however and it was difficult for Mike to photograph.

Having swum over top of the rays up at Coral Bay, it was quite spectacular to be underneath as they swam directly over you in the tunnel. And being so close to the animals, you get a much greater respect for their size. The turtles are massive - you could ride on their backs - and their necks would even impress the Godfather!

Outside we caught the sealion training session. While they do not train them to do tricks for display purposes, they do train them. The keepers need to be able to handle the seals, and they also try to mimic some of the wild behaviours. The seals here were both born in captivity, so they also try to teach them what would be learned actions in the wild. One example is teaching the male to 'bark'. This is not a trait they would do if not trained since they are not exposed to the normal activities which would induce it. Similarly, they teach them to jump which mimics the natural behaviour of avoiding predators (such as killer whales). Not quite the same motivation, but uses all the same muscle groups - kind of like us going to fitness classes!

On the drive home once again we had mixed showers and sunshine. It doesn't seem to stay totally overcast here - it is always so windy that the clouds blow in and out constantly. This type of sky makes for great rainbows, and we have seem many so far. This one (and it was a doubler at times) stayed with us for much of the drive home. It really was quite spectacular - it doesn't translate well in the photo, but it was very wide with the full spectrum of colour.

And oh yeah, as for the rootbeer - they really DO NOT LIKE IT down here. So guess we'll have to suffer through it on our own - wish you were here to share it with us J (I hear you've become a fan also)!!!