History in Our Country

Alanna's furniture has been delayed due to a break down of the moving van in Winnipeg so this has given me more opportunity to work the glut muscles .

One could probably spend a month in just the City of St. John's touring the beautiful buildings.

As mentioned on the last blog the city was started in 1497 but most of the buildings are from the late 1800's due to the last big fire. There had been 2 others 1817 and 1846 that had burnt the whole city down.

The City tourism department has 5 different self guided walking tours. I have done 3 out of the 5.

A Step Back in Time retraces the perimeter of The Great Fire of 1892. It actually begins at the end of Alanna's street. Unfortunately it was carelessness from smoking that caught a bale of hay on fire and the winds that carried the flames away. Downtown St. John's thus has been rebuilt 3 times.

The harbour front greatly changed by the three fires but still maintains its historical importance and is still used extensively to bring and send cargo and cruise ships.

Devon Row is a group of four-storey houses, saved by the residents. The only residences saved. Other landmarks that were saved are the Government House, and the Basilica of St. John the Baptist.

A park downtown was used as temporary shelter for hundreds left homeless.

The 2nd Walking Tour I did was A Step Back in Time in the West End.

The tour begins at the Railway Station on the Harbour. I spent hours in the museum reading the history of the railway built by the Reid family mostly to get to the interior to start pulp and paper mills and to own mines. . Their business consisted of the railway but an extensive waterway connection to the out port harbours to pick up fish and seals. They contributed a lot to the province both in employment opportunities and commerce. After the 2nd World War however they needed much new equipment and repairs to the tracks. The business was no longer profitable so the government took it over to ensure that the public of Newfoundland would continue having transportation throughout the province. (Not a province at that time. Its own country or territory of England).

This tour takes you through an area of town, once known as Riverhead, which was in the 19th century heavily populated by Irish immigrants. It was a primarily a residential neighbourhood occupied by fishermen and tradesmen and their families. Most of the houses in this area are just modest although there are a few larger, more ornate residences.  The most notable building in the neighbourhood is St. Patrick's Church; as in most Catholic churches awe inspiring. The convent and the catholic schools all surround the church and the school is still in use with new additions.

While I was walking I came upon 2 antique stores. I spent some time just looking at the things used at the turn of the century. Really not that long ago. How things have changed but remain the same.

The next attraction was my favourite I had never seen anything like this before and it included free wine tasting. Even better. Good thing it was after 12.

Newman Wine Vaults also located on the water front. This site is a provincial historic site that includes a history of rum running and pirates. Imagine pirates this far North did they not know that the Caribbean is where they should be?

This weekend is St. John's birthday and this evening from 1700 hrs until midnight there is a Folk Art Soiree with traditional songs sung by local musicians and dancers. I need to get those young folk interested so I can check it out.

St. John the Baptist Basilica. (picture taken off internet as mine were dark) Built in 1855.

 The Court House (1/2 of it)

The Entrance To Newman's Vault



St John's Newfoundland

St John's Harbour from the top of my hike

St. John's Harbour from the Rooms

The 1800's Home's Bright and Colourful

Newfoundland / Labrador was the last province to sign into Confederation.  It has a population of 505,469. The capital is St John’s. To the rest of Canada is known as the rock.

Alanna’s new home is within walking distance of downtown St. John’s, in fact I would say she is situated middle town. Not downtown or uptown. Just blocks away. It’s easy going down but muscle building coming up!

St John’s has a population of 100,646 and is fairly well spread out in the region due to the hilly landscape. St. John’s is one of the oldest cities in North America and is the oldest city in Canada. It was founded in 1497 by John Cabot. The city has a perfectly sheltered harbour and quite reminded me of entering Cartagena Colombia with the Forts guarding over the narrow entrance.

St. John’s achieved much of its importance because of its geographic position. It is closer to Europe than any other city in North America.

I have been leaving the car behind and touring by foot. I find this both more interesting and challenging. I can concentrate and take my time on the scenery instead of traffic.  Historical buildings are in a 20 block radius so it’s a bit of a jaunt from one end to the other. The streets are typical of old cities that were established 100’s of years ago with the intent of horses or feet as the main mode of transportation. Now a days most old cities make them into one-way streets. One has to be very careful and look for the signs.

My first sightseeing trip led me to the Geo Centre and Geo Park. This is Newfoundland and Labradors’ “Earth Geological Showcase”. I spent hours intrigued with the history found under all these rocks.  The Johnson Geo Centre tells the story of “Our Earth and Our People” as explained by the geology of the province. The building is built into the ground and the whole attraction is all underground.  There is no other place on earth that reveals the fascinating story of our Earth going back almost 4.5 billion years ago. The rocks are amongst the very oldest rocks ever found on Earth. Coming from Alberta I found this interesting as we can date our rocks quite far back with the dinosaurs but not as far back as Newfoundland.  Within the Province, scientists have found powerful evidence to back many geological theories. These include the evolution of our planet and the happening, right here, of colossal continents, the formation of oceans and volcanoes and the occurrence of devastating ice ages.

A special exhibit showcasing the timeline and eventual ending to the Titanic as it hit an iceberg not far off the Newfoundland shores. This was interesting as it showed factual evidence how greed and arrogance of one man and the ego and bad judgement of another that caused the accident. In the end the one with the ego (Captain) lost his life but the man with the greed continued.  Over 1500 lives were lost just 350 miles off shore.

ExxonMobil Oil & Gas has an exhibit that explains the drilling and production platform at the Hibernia Oil Field.

Signal Hill is probably Newfoundland’s most notable tourist attraction but I did it differently through a new program that very few have caught on to; you can take a GPS and take hiking paths that have had special way points entered to inform you on facts that you would otherwise miss. I did about 10km of hiking paths and was amazed while getting in a very good work out. Climbing to the top of Signal hill was a wee challenging. Nothing that no one could handle or I wouldn’t be doing it! Anyways if any of the other Federal Government Tourist areas across Canada are doing this program I highly recommend trying it. I plan to go back and try again with the other hike I didn’t get finished. On this hike I took a fork to the right as a local told me I should take the path to a out port harbour called Quidi Vidi. The site was originally built by the French after they captured St. John’s in 1762. The British rebuilt  in 1780.

I have also walked the side streets and am intrigued with the architecture.

The Rooms is a museum, art gallery and archives situated where the old Fort Townsend once stood. Again I spent hours walking through the building. The art gallery was not my cup of tea as it was pop art which I had a hard time seeing any art in. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions however. A nice gentleman helped me look up ancestors that lived on Fogo Island so that I have some idea where to start looking for my family roots. As the case may be there is lots of Bennett history right here in St. John’s.  It was the exhibit dedicated to the provinces’ early landscape and its human and animal inhabitants that I found the most interesting. It was a small version of the Museum of Man.

The explanation why this attraction is called the Rooms is based on the fact that not so long ago in every fishing community, land met sea in the rooms. They were groups of steep roofed buildings were families and the fishermen came together to process their catch. There would be various rooms, eg salting, laying out the fish to dry etc.

There is a lot to see and do in St. John’s still and I will continue writing about it next week. I have 5 different walking routes that I will be doing in the next couple of days that will take me to all the old historical sites in St. John’s

Quidi Vidi Harbour

Genesis is Finally Home

Genesis is now tucked in her berth in Vancouver.

She arrived in Victoria on Jun 9 and was unloaded June 10^th. Quite honestly she wasn’t as dirty as I expected but there is lots of cleaning to do. We were lifted by slings into the water and tied against the freighter until we could get her up and going.  We couldn’t get the engines to start. The genset had no problem starting, so we put on the battery charger and started to charge the starter batteries. It was at this time that Cam noticed that there was no antifreeze or water in the rad or overfill container. As he glanced at the exhaust system he noticed several things. A large hole had blown in the exhaust manifold.  He gerryriged the hose and with good old duct tape fixed the problem. He assured me the duct tape would work because the hose is not under any pressure.  He decided to see what would have caused the build up and sure enough in the riser were rust, impeller parts and whatever else blocking the flow of water. This very well could have been the problems of the overheating transmission that plagued us for months.

After hours the batteries were still not charging and even trying to jumpstart from the genset battery wouldn’t work. We also appeared to have no battery power what so ever. It was just at that moment I noticed that the main battery switched had been stepped on and cracked. I pushed it in and voila the engines turned over without a problem. So more duct tape on the battery switch so that the connection would remain.  We had been splashed into the water at 1030 hr and it was now 1500hr.

It was sunny with clouds and about a 10knot wind. The seas now had the current against us but the seas were a mere 1 -2’ chop. A piece of cake! Well our patience awarded us with the observation of 8 – 10 Orca Whales chasing a school of salmon. It was awesome. In the Southern Gulf Islands we have not been so fortunate in whale spotting.  We then saw dolphins, seals, and minke whales. Welcome home Genesis.

We were only making 4.5 – 5k so it was decided to make a call into the Port of Sidney. It was after hours so we just pulled into an end slip. By the time we arrived got everything stowed it was nearly 2100 hour, so up to the pub at the top of the ramp for dinner.  By the time we got rooms at the nearby hotel and into bed it was midnight. A very long day.

Cam and Murdo had decided it would be best to also check the riser on the port side engine before leaving and being out in the Strait of Georgia. Well they cleaned out that riser as well and the water flow appeared to be much better.

It was a glorious day on the Straits; the calmest that I had ever experienced. Sunny with no clouds what so ever.

We were just getting ready to enter the Fraser River (1 hr.  from home) when all of a sudden the port engines  temperature gauge spiked. The left engine was immediately turned off and at the same moment the starboard engine gasped and wanted to quit. We managed to keep it going and limp into the anchorage next to wreck beach. (A nudist beach) No one was there as the water is to cold as is the air!

Well the port exhaust manifold had a problem that Cam managed to fix enough but the raw water pump just could not pump enough water so keeping the engine cool would be a problem. Sounds like a heart. Anyways , the starboard engine problem appeared to be dirty fuel. The fuel filters had water in them.  We had a decision to make. Get a tow in or come in on one engine that could crap out against a tidal current meaning that we would be getting in at night. Doing the night thing doesn’t scare me. Been there done that many times. Murdo said “Genesis has been on a wonderful trip and left here under her own power you need to have her come in under her own power. We can make it work.”  The currents were mild, the engine did not quit and at 2230 hrs we went under the swing bridge with all 26 country flags on the mast to show the countries Genesis took us to. We pulled into the Delta Marina and started the port engine just so we would have 2 engines to dock with, it would not be enough time to cause the engine to overheat.

So this journey is now officially over. It has been a joyous and emotional journey. I equate it these days as like being in a storm. There is much turbulence with thunder and lightning but there must be some rain before there can be any rainbows. Rainbows will shine again for all that know us and we will have a lot of help from Ken.

I am now in Newfoundland and will be here for a few weeks to help out with my daughters move.

My Mother was from Fogo Island and I hope to check out where I came from. The next blog will be all about a province very proud and different than most of the other provinces as it has many more years of history.

I will add pictures to this blog when I am back in Vancouver as they are on Murdo’s  iphone.