Elliston, Cape Spear, St. Johns

Good day everyone! Jon and I had a very restful night. We woke up at 10 am and had complimentary hot breakfast from the motel. Breakfast consisted of 1 egg, 3 strips of bacon, hash brown, 2 slices of toast and juice. This is one of the better breakfasts we’ve had. It was very good.

We then drove to Sobey’s to buy banana bread, bananas and toothpaste. Bananas were 98 cents/lb.
We did some research the night before and we found a place where you can view puffins for free. There are boat tours that cost $50 per person at Witless Bay but since we went on a boat tour yesterday, we wanted to save money where possible.

So we headed off to Bonavista Peninsula, specifically Elliston which is about 1 hour away. There is a puffin colony really close to the mainland. There are other seabirds too. Actually, Elliston is known as “Root Cellar Capital of the World”. These root cellers look very interesting. They are sort of hidden under a hill. People used to and still do store their fish in here to keep it cool.

When we were on the cliff that overlooks the puffin colony, there happened to be one puffin about 2 feet from us. We were really lucky. Jon quickly put on his zoom lens and started snapping away. He took really good pictures of the little puffin. It was so cute! The best part is that it cost less than the boat tour ($30 in gas plus donation).

We drove to the visitor centre in Elliston which was also a craft store. They had puffin trinkets so I bought a puffin necklace that’s made of whale bone. This was made locally.

We took a nap at a gas station. When we woke up, we drove to Cape Spear National Historic Site. This is the furthest eastern point of land in Canada. So officially, we have reached the end of Canada. We also saw Cape Spear Lighthouse which is the oldest light house in Newfoundland. It was really wind and cold when we got there. My ears were so cold that I started to get a headache. BOO!

We arrived at our hostel. We met a very nice lady. She's from Victoria and flew to Halifax to start backpacking through the maritimes. Her method of travel is hitchhiking. She was telling us some of her stories. She's only 20. Quite impressive for a young-in. She told us she is broke right now. I wanted to share my food with her but I didn't think it was appropriate.

We drove around to get groceries and also take pictures of Basilica Cathedral of St. John. We will head out to George St where we may get Screech In.

Good night!

Edit: I am an honorary Newfoundlander. We went to Trapper John's Pub and they had a ceremony. I had to drink a shot of Jamaican rum. It tasted bad. As a momento, I have a Trapper John's shot glass and a certificate. I am going to sleep early. Good night