For two months over June and July we were living on and exploring the island of Newfoundland on Canada's East Coast. To say I am in love with this place is an understatement! Before coming here I knew nothing of the island. We were only planning on going as far east as Nova Scotia. But with the current pandemic our plans changed. I look back now and wonder why we hadn't planned to come here originally because this place is incredible!
We had decided to temporarily relocate here back in April but during our drive across the country we were locked in Saskatchewan after all the borders closed. So in order to get to our new home we had to apply to enter each province in between Saskatchewan and Newfoundland (These included Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia), And we had to enter and leave on the days that we specified on each application. We also had to have our ferry booked and proof of isolation accommodation booked for our arrival.
However after entering New Brunswick, even after all our planning, we had some issues. Our van is old (26 years old) and we gave ourselves an extra couple days just in case we broke down. But when we entered into New Brunswick they informed us that we had to cross the province within 24hrs. This is fair, and we understand why they have their regulations, but they said if we didn't rebook all of our ferries and accommodations etc, we would have to go back to Quebec until we could cross within the 24hr time frame. While slightly annoyed we drove into a pullout and rebooked everything. Perfect! Everything was done and we were allowed to enter New Brunswick. But things never go according to plan, do they...
About 10mins after crossing the New Brunswick border we broke down. We actually lost our brakes! Thankfully we found a mechanic quickly who was close by and could do a same-day fix. But talk about stressful! This old van will be the death of me, I swear. haha!
The next day we finally made it to the ferry in Sidney, Nova Scotia. We boarded the morning ferry and were finally on our way to Newfoundland.
After two weeks of isolation (which you can read about here), and a negative covid test (yay!), we were free to explore our new home.
We saw so much wildlife! (like these puffins), wildflowers, and beaches. We even had the pleasure of standing on a beach and being withing 30 meters of some feeding humpback whales. We tasted a lot of beer at some of the many breweries on the island (there are 19 in total!), hiked in the back-country and front-country in Terra Nova and Gros Morne National Parks (You can read about Gros Morne here.). But the most amazing thing about this island was the people. They are the most genuine and generous people I have ever met. We had multiple people gift us cod, moose meat, and homemade jam. We had someone give us his ATV for the day to explore, and many others offered us things like showers and free electricity. These people would give you the shirt off their back if you asked.
We have been beyond grateful to have had the chance to explore this unique island and we already miss it. But we are back on the mainland now and we are moving on to new adventures. Stick around for updates on what we'll be doing next, because at the moment we don't even know.
All images in this post were taken by and remain the Copyright of Bree Plater and Ryan Sault unless stated otherwise.
You can see more photos at: If you'd like to learn a bit more about the photography featured on our page you can read an interview with Photofeed here.
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