I’m nearing the end of my cross-country journey in search of inspiring Canadian environmental and conservation stories.
So far, since leaving Victoria 31 days ago, I’ve visited about 50 different places and people in 9 provinces. The carbon-footprint-reducing efforts of corporations, communities and citizens of this vast country that I’ve had the honour of witnessing are admirable, significant, far-reaching and totally awe-inspiring, be the effort large or small in scale.
Now, I find myself in Newfoundland, the island, easternmost piece of North America, that juts out into the Atlantic, in its own time zone! From what I’ve seen since docking in Port-aux-Basques on a foggy, mystical Tuesday morning this week, this tenth province (Newfoundland and Labrador) is quite a bit different from the Island where I started this trek in British Columbia.
Newfoundland is a rugged, pristine, natural wonder that is so untouched by humans, they say the moose outnumber the people.
From Sydney, NS, it’s a 7-hour ferry ride across the ocean blue. I got some rest since it was a night crossing. Not much sleep though. The transport trucks around me snored like you wouldn’t believe.
The drive from Port-aux-Basques in the southwestern corner of the province was a wet foggy ride with breaks in the low cloud that showed a dark, majestic, mountainous landscape. I felt like I was the only one left on the planet.
Distances are big here and the destination of Norris Point is about 350 km away. We’re headed for Neddies Harbour Inn, a cozy inn with all the modern conveniences sitting on a point of land that is surrounded by Bonne Bay and the snow-covered mountains of stunning Gros Morne National Park on the west coast of Newfoundland.
Innkeepers Bettina Lori and Herbert Schuhmacher took an old nursing home and converted it into a well-appointed boutique hotel with a staff that feels like family and a restaurant serving world-class delectable local delights.
You can’t leave this area without taking in the sights of Gros Morne National Park but alas, the road and the finish line beckons so I have to push onward.
But first, a quick chat with Colleen Kennedy, the energetic Executive Director of the Gros Morne Institute for Sustainable Tourism, a consortium of tourism industry players whose goals are to advance the quality and sustainability of outdoor/nature-based experiences afforded throughout Atlantic Canada, by providing developmental training programs respecting: sustainable tourism practices, experiential tourism services and eco-adventure tourism.
In the five years since the Institute was established, Colleen says that she has seen a change in the important tourism industry in Newfoundland. No longer is the bottom line the almighty dollar. The bottom line is becoming the environment and how to protect it.
It’s the same thing we’ve been finding out on this cross-country trek: one hundred small steps are just as important as one large step in making change happen.
Next on our route is Gander overlooking deep blue Gander Lake.
Norris Point