It wasn't the best weather, but we wanted to go to Labrador anyways. They have a 'new' ferry, which went into service this past January. It's eight years old, and was purchased from Norway. it's been renamed the 'QAJAK' (Inuit for kayak). It's an interesting design with two 'fronts', so can sail either way. But it's a shallow draft and can't take strong winds, and sails much slower that the old Apollo. It now takes 2 1/2 hours to make the crossing, instead of the old 1 1/2 hours.
The ferry actually sails to Blanc Sablon in Quebec, just south of the border with Labrador. The road in Quebec just goes 60 kilometres south along the coast, then ends. The road up into Labrador used to just be paved up to Red Bay, but since we were there last three years ago, the gravel road north from there has been paved. The plan is to connect this remote part of the coast with inland Canada by building paved roads to connect with those in Quebec.
So we thought we'd like to see what the newly paved highway was like, and headed north. We were surprised that there was still so much snow. The 'mountains' there are just a few hundred metres above sea level. And it was July.
So we thought we'd like to see what the newly paved highway was like, and headed north. We were surprised that there was still so much snow. The 'mountains' there are just a few hundred metres above sea level. And it was July.
We only went the 80 kilometres up to Mary's Harbour...
There we spotted an iceberg out in the bay....
We decided not to go any further, and made the return trip to Red Bay. It's a long drive through remote , but scenic wilderness. We only passed a dozen vehicles - ten cars and two trucks.
Back in Red Bay, the kids posed with one of the Inukshuks near the Information Centre....
..with Cookie holding the Labrador flag we'd purchased in the ferry gift shop....
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