Author: Richard

What a day. After I went for a run this morning (somewhat better views than normal!), we sat down for breakfast, and there was a Minke Whale in the bay outside the window. We then had a long drive north on which we saw some moose on the road – apparently that’s quite rare in the middle of the day. Upon arrival in St Antony’s we rushed out to see if we could catch the last iceberg boat tour – ice was guaranteed!. A great tour following the trail of whales – but they had gone too far to catch up. The icebergs we saw were amazing though- weird shapes, deep rich colours and right up close. Quite a day.

Moving again, ever westward, the weather changed significantly for the better, and the scenery has changed too, into snow flecked mountains, waterfalls, and much fewer fishing communities.

Some lovely trail walks, a trip to another lighthouse, and a fairly nice sunset, led us onto a full day of sunshine, which coincided with our boat trip on Western Brook Pond. “Pond” does not do it justice – it’s basically a fjord that has been cut off from the sea. An entertaining and informative trip about a superb location. It reminded me of a watery Yosemite, or a greener version of the fjords in Norway.

After moving on to Twillingate, the planned boat trip to visit Icebergs was abandoned, due to the icebergs floating away overnight! We didn’t even get to see any whales on the alternative route – quite a disappointing morning. Our afternoon drive and trail walk did however find us a natural arch, and the remains of an abandoned village – one of many caused by the resettlement plan imposed by the government in the middle of last century. 

Finally we found another local brewery – fancy that!

After a bit of miserable weather yesterday and first thing today, we got up the Bonavista Peninsula to see the Puffins. They are so cute! They also fly in and sit quite close to the viewing area – almost like they are trained! Our delayed afternoon boat tour with Brian was also excellent, with his personal testimony of the changes that have taken place over the last 50 years alongside a little wildlife spotting (Caribou and Eagles) and a cup of tea at his cabin – which has somewhat better views than ours! All finished off with a trip to the local craft brewery. All in all, a great day made from unpromising beginnings (like getting soaked on the way to breakfast).

We spent today in and around St Johns, visiting “The rooms” which is the provincial museum, and then wandering the streets looking at all the colourful houses. We finished off with a visit to Quidi Vidi, a small community just to the North, and then to Petty Harbour to see our most impressive Iceberg yet – albeit still some way off shore and far enough out to make for a good photo.

A sun soaked day n the Avalon peninsula. We drove down the southern shore, and followed part of the Irish Loop trail. Lots of coves, old fishing communities, and a few random icebergs, but the highlight of the day was the picnic at Ferryland (Frrylnd) Lighthouse – fresh local produce, made for you and served with stunning ocean views. 

Start of a new adventure. Day 1 was spent around St Johns – weather was a bit dull, but just about passable. We saw our first iceberg at Cape Spear – the easternmost point in North America, along with two generations of lighthouse. This pic is of the newer one. Next stop was Signal Hill from were Marconi sent his first transatlantic signal (clever name huh!).

Well, I finally got round to processing all of the images from our fantastic trip to (Zambia and) Botswana. Victoria falls was amazing, but also somehow got inside my camera leading to a 3 day downtime… prudently I had taken a spare camera body, so was saved. 

The wildlife in Botswana was just amazing, and the guiding everywhere was superb, so that we got great sightings and spent just the right amount of time to see things without thinking we were overly impacting the wild-ness of it all. Our fellow guests were also a delight (except for the camp where we were the only guests!)

My personal highlight was finding the Leopard up a tree with it’s kill. I know Karen’s favourite moments were with the pride of Lions as they re-united after a morning’s hunting. Loads of memories and photos, just a few of which are in the travel/Botswana gallery. Enjoy.

A one week “cruise” around Norway gave scope for a lot of variety of photography – stunning landscapes (when you could see it through the snow), some wildlife, 3 separate Aurora viewing, and LOTS of cod!

New friends, new locations – a great time. Hope you like the images.

I finally got round to picking my favourites from our week in Asturias. Hard to find some beaches, but why they are not better known is anyone’s guess. I loved both the rock stacks that abound and the great detail in rocks and pebbles.