Notes on Newfoundland - September 22

[mel-world]

Thought I would write a few notes and hopefully share some photos as we take our first international trip in 3 years - except for a couple of difficult business trips to Japan and then China during COVID.

Our Itinerary started on September 3 with a VA positioning flight MEL- SYD. (I don't think posting needs to spoil an enjoyable holiday). VA check-in in MEL was very fast, given it was a Saturday afternoon and the Sydney Swans fans from the previous night had just about all left to get home.

Likewise, Rydges at SYD International was an easy check-in, even if quite busy. (BTW, if you want a sensational Vietnamese meal, you could do worse than head to the Revesby Workers Club on the train from the International terminal.)

Air Canada recommended a 4 hour check-in for AC 34 the next morning! Well we arrived around 0630 for a 0930 departure and were in the SQ J Lounge about 35 mins later. If you have completed the ArriveCAN app, including the Customs Declaration and have immunization certificates handy (always printed for me), the checks take 2 mins and check-in about the same. The premium security line was just as quick so stress free all round.

AC recommended the NZ Lounge, but being SQ PPS, we headed for the SQ lounge that was heaving given two SQ departures and one of those a 380. Once that flight boarded, it was quite quiet. Nothing special though, except the barista for the last reasonable coffee for a while. The NZ lounge may have been a better option.

I ready Matt's review of AC 787-900 Business Class so not a lot to add, except we did it in the opposite direction. I do like the Business seats although a bit narrow for my frame. We left some 59 mins late but caught up all that time due to favourable winds. The service and food were quite satisfactory for us. Mrs MEL-WORLD had a 'fantastic' meat pie halfway across the Pacific but I was asleep at the time. Mind you, breakfast was not up to standard; a luke warm 'rubber' omelette, cold tea and a dry roll.

We arrived surprisingly refreshed at 0730 - I do think these new generation jets improve your flying experience. Masks were enforced and even encouraged if you were 'nursing' a drink for too long. The whole plane was packed - I only observed one spare J seat (and mostly business types, rather than holiday couple like ourselves). There were no empty seats in W and only a few in a very packed Y section. Given that AC has increased flights from 3 a week when I booked, to almost 2 daily - one shared between SYD and BNE - they must be doing okay. MEL flights are expected to resume next northern summer according to the CSM.

We landed about the same time as an Air India DEL flight so I was expecting the worse. However, we were clear of Immigration, Customs and to the Hilton Airport in Richmond within 90 mins, including allowing for just missing a shuttle. So a seamless start to the holiday.

We have discovered on this trip that we are having to be 4 star travellers at best, given we are now retirees and everything seems so much more expensive than I remembered it was when we were both earning a good income. Inflation is definitely rife in Canada - plus adding taxes and tips to every advertised amount.

 

[craven morehead]

Sounds like a good start to the trip

 

[mel-world]

Took advantage of a 'fifth night free' Hilton points booking with our stay starting the night before we arrived so able to check in at 0830 and have a shower and rest before heading out for the day. Told at check in that daily cleaning not happening and breakfast was just ordinary but what I was expecting from an NA Hilton.

As we were meeting friends during the stay and the Canada Line train is a quick and easy way to downtown, I find Richmond a cheaper option than the city. Good restaurants, especially Chinese, around Richmond as well.

The Outlet Mall near the airport, was not really an outlet mall, just a regular mall with a few specials, Good for plane spotting though.

 

[mel-world]

I need to mention a couple of restaurants in Vancouver where we went with friends. Seasons in the Park in Queen Elizabeth Gardens and The Sandbar Seafood at Granville Island are both worth a meal. Apparently, they share the same ownership but are quite different. Try the Sable Fish (Black Cod) at the Sandbar, if you visit.

The view from Seasons in the Park, near dusk. Did I mention, the weather was magnificent all week.


Seabourn Odessey departing Vancouver for points north.


A bit different to our water ferry to arrive at Granville Island.

 

[mel-world]

Next stop was Campbell River on Vancouver Island. A friend had recommended an Indigineous run tour to see the bears. It took the Canada Line, a city bus, the BC Ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo and then a shuttle for the 150km trip to Campbell River but the trip was certainly worth the trouble. About nine hours on a fast boat and then a bus with some history lessons on the way. The local indigenous people suffered much the same fate as our aborigines but now have more rights and a better future. I thinks photos will tell the story - the weather was not bad either.

 

[mel-world]

And the bears.... on a long lens. One of the Cubs was 18 months old but the other less than a year old. The mothers look after the cubs for two and a half years before mating again (three summers).

 

[mel-world]

I was aware that Air Canada had been having many issues, especially at their hub ports with delays. For that reason, I was not really looking forward to a long day getting from Campbell River (YBL) by Pacific Coastal (8P) to YVR on a Beech 1900C and then onward to Montreal in the afternoon.


I had already made the decision to change from the 1130 YVR-YUL flight to the later 1310 departure - where AC then repriced my entire itinerary and charged me a couple of thousand more A$ for that one change. Unfortunately, the 8P flight was on a different PNR so I really had no choice.

Just as well I did as, when we checked in at YBL, the inbound flight had not even left YVR due to ATC delays. We were 50 mins late leaving and, of course landed on the far side runway at Vancouver with a long taxi to Terminal 2 on the other side of the airport. A picturesque flight down Vancouver Island and over the city nevertheless.




Of course baggage delivery took 30 mins - for all of 50m from plane to terminal then the inter-terminal bus left 2 mins before the luggage arrived. We caught a cab as we had to pick up luggage from our Hotel.

YVR domestic departures was a zoo on Saturday lunchtime with SYD airport like delays to check in and security so we were happy to have a few mins in the lounge before taking a brand new AC 737 Max 8 to Montreal.

 

[mel-world]

If you are on a budget, could I recommend either the Homewood Suites or the Hampton Hotel Downtown in Montreal. They are co-located near the old part of town and are brand new. Mind you, you get what you pay for in terms of breakfast and the on-site restaurant was overpriced and under delivered. Mind you, Chinatown is up the road and there are plenty of restaurants and bars in the old town down towards the harbour.

Hotel WiFi was excellent - good all over Canada really - and the Suites had a dishwasher, microwave, a washing machine and dryer in every room. Excellent for self catering and a mid-holiday free cleaning day.




(I have street signs from all my adventures)

 

[mel-world]

We lost count of the electric vehicles in Vancouver, but plenty in Montreal as well. Charging places all over the place. We have along way to go to catch up.



Despite the late summer weather being excellent to date - Fall does not start until the equinox on the 21st - we had one wet day so caught the train to Ottawa. (Don't go this way - expensive, old and slow). Nevertheless, Ottawa was worth a short visit. Went to the National Gallery to dodge the rain and to see some excellent Indigenous art in a beautiful building.


This work - Drummer (1974) was made with Whale Bone, green stone, antler, scrapped seal skin and sinew.


Boxes as art...

Even a garden as art....

And, what looked like giant pills in the impressive entrance.

 

[mel-world]

Before leaving Montreal, I must mention their Botanical Gardens - a bit out of town and near the 1976 Olympic Stadium but well worth a visit (as long as you don't want any food - all outlets closed due to staff shortages). They have left a section as natural bush and had an extensive rose garden although the season had ended. The highlight was the Chinese Garden set up for a nightly light show that extended across the whole gardens.






and some beautiful near 100-yo Bonsai.

 

[mel-world]

No AC problems with an early start going from YUL to YYT and the weather in St. John's NL continued near perfect for the start of our Newfoundland adventure.


Third flight; third aircraft type - this time an AC A200-300 - about the same size and a similar cabin layout to the 737-MAX.

Our son was to join to help with the rental drive from coast to coast over a week. There was a queue so long at the rental desk that it took and hour before we were ready to leave the airport.

St. John's is a hilly town, up from the harbour with many churches - it was first settled in the early 17th Century. You cannot get away from the 'jelly bean; houses, originally painted to welcome fishermen home - maybe so they could find them in the fog. (Mods remove this pic if it is against the rules).



This was the Governor's house before NL was incorporated into the rest of Canada after WWII.








Make sure you allow time to enjoy a pint or two downtown or in the 'village' suburb of Quidi Vidi on the far side of the Signal Hill historic site. The accent is very Irish but everyone was very friendly. Despite a couple of cruise expedition ships in port, this was a working harbour servicing oil rigs in the north Atlantic.

 

[mel-world]

You might need a map for the next part of our adventure. We drove about 1500km in a week - maybe too much but the traffic was light at the end of the season. We did cover much of the island as we especially wanted to get to the Gros Morne NP on the west coast. We went with cottages or small hotels for accommodation and just found diners or small restaurants as we went. There were not a lot of large hotels (except in St John's or Gander) so it is really well set-up for the independent traveller willing to take what is available.

First stop, Trinity.






Next onto

on the way north to the Road to the Islands around Twillingate. If I was to come again, I would definitely plan to tour in Spring to give us a chance to see Whales and Icebergs.


But we did see another Australia couple a long way from home, especially in their van from New Mexico.


And there was a moose waiting to cross the road in the morning. (Just 4 moose were introduced a number of years ago - they must love it there as today, their numbers exceed 100,000.)

 

[mel-world]

Once we travelled through further west through Deer Lake to Rocky Harbor, the scenery was still spectacular but the standard of accommodation was more basic. Think holiday homes and a lot of empty properties late in the season. It would be very busy in summer. We found the cod fillets delicious but cod tongues were definitely not to our taste.

Nevertheless the geology was what we came to see. Think 480m years ago, well before fish or dinosaurs.









Quite remote though as the weather started to close in with Hurricane Fiona on the way.

 

[mel-world]

We did have time though for a cruise on the Western Brook Pond, a glacial valley - it would be called a fiord but is no longer connected to the sea. Think Milford Sound with less waterfalls.






As the Pond (really a lake) has no road access - its a 6km round trip walk from the car park - the three scenic boats were flown in by helicopter in 4 parts each.

Then our detailed planning started to unravel. Due to the approaching hurricane, AC cancelled our flight to Toronto in two days and we were in the middle of a National Park with no connectivity. We quickly cancelled one night in Rocky Harbour and headed east again. The whole of Nova Scotia and the west coast of Newfoundland would be hit really badly come Saturday. The small hotel did not charge for us cancelling a second night so that worked in our favour.

It took a day and a half of driving to get back to St John's. During this whole time AC was not contactable by phone (all lines overloaded and you could not even stay on hold) and offered no options on-line. They cancelled all flights to and from NL and Nova Scotia for the whole of Saturday so I guess they did have a lot of pax to reschedule.

They eventually offered seats on an 0500 Sunday departure (YYT to YYZ) Sunday with no other options to choose for 4 days, so I am writing this in a YYT airport hotel on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Even though we were a long way east, the winds during our walk to Signal Hill made it really hard work. Two cruise ships had taken shelter in the harbour and the noonday gun was not even sounded due to the winds.




But, there is always a 'flight' of beer and fish and chips to be had at the Tap Room at Quidi Vidi.

 

[drron]

We spent a couple of days in St.John in 2019 as hurricane Dorian went just to the south. Basically only saw our hotel room and from our window idiots still driving at the height of the storm.
The smaller ship in the harbour is the Silver Whisper.

 

[mel-world]

Thanks Drron - you know your ships. Today in Vancouver we had the dreaded Ruby Princess (that no longer has Australia on its schedule) and a Holland America ship at the end of the Alaska season.





A few final photos and remarks as I am about to return home.

I forgot to mention that, in Gander, the Aviation Museum is worth a short visit - Gander played a big part in WW II, the commencement of Atlantic commercial services in the 50s as a refuelling stop and, of course, during 9/11, if you have seen 'Come from Away'.



Overall, Newfoundland was definitely worth a visit, although we did feel the season was coming to an end. I'd recommend going from May to end August to enjoy the real summer season. The people were all friendly and proud to show you their country.




We had a short break with friends in Toronto and then, an old 320-200 to Vancouver.



Air Canada has been inconsistent during 5 sectors (to date). We have a 777 to Sydney tonight, up from the 787, previously booked, so they must be busy into Sydney. Their website and phone delivery has been frustrating and so many of their flights seem delayed - but that might be ATC delays. In the sky, catering has been just okay and the cabin crew reasonable. The best Cabin Manager was on the YYZ-YVR sector yesterday. She delivered excellent Gin and Tonics.

Finally, during our walk around Stanley Park and the West End this morning. we discovered a place for lunch if you are homesick. The best pie, mushy peas and gravy took me back to my 20s - and that was a long time ago. Thanks for reading. All photos, except for the bears, taken on an old Samsung S8 phone.

 

[Solid]

Thanks for the TR!

 

[mel-world]

Update... No masks on AC domestically from 1 October. Also ArriveCAN App and International Covid Certificate no longer required for Canada from the same date.

 

[drron]

Thanks for the TR. Informative and fine photos. Newfoundland has been on our bucket list.
We toured PEI and Nova Scotia in 2019 in April.Once again not in prime season so some things not open but on the other hand easier to get into restaurants and hotels and hire cars cheaper