Good news and bad

Good - this place still has internet access and it is wireless
Bad - one has to be outside to use it. So at midnight there is a glow of laptop screen lighting the sky near the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Even though it was a pretty uneventful trip across the province - mauzy and rainy leaving St John’s, but bright after we left the Avalon, in fact that only trouble was the 45 minute wait for a single fish and onion rings at the Chess’s in Gander - I had to give the crew a rest to-day.

I found this perfect as it allowed me to act on my first impressions of Rocky Harbour before I could really think about what I had seen. I forgot how big the place is compared to Bonne Bay but it did seem promising for making snaps as there was this mixture of tourist dives and working fishery. There were quite a few object lying about along with the requisite bleached wooden buildings. Rocky Harbour seems a tony Trout River.

Four walks.

A short walk before making coffee just to get out and make sure that it was possible to do so. Cannot remember why I went to the pier and the fish plant but it couldn’t have been important as I only took the digital. Down there found a trailer which could be the subtext for this trip and beyond.

I did a longer walk to the mouth of Bonne Bay to see if Woody Point were visible from the mouth and sure enough there it was all enveloped in the land in the distance, the lighthouse seeming a toy but I did head back down to the Fishery with Ubirajara -who must like being here as he has got a work out on this trip. Since I found no variation in the weather at all in St. John’s and now the digital is used to make snaps of the people whom I run into, he has become the camera of choice once again.

Went out on the the ocean at low tide to photograph the erratics then over to the fish plant to photograph the sign and the way the light was creating a shadow hitting the part of the door that protects those inside from the wind

-want to photograph someone beautiful?
-yeah are they still inside
-you beat me to it I was going to go back and get them.

Three bikers from the Halifax riding hogs has just left the shop and stopped to have a round of barbs. They had been here on the Great Northern for sometime. They were heading up to Cow Head to-day before heading back to Nova Scotia.The walk up and back was great to see the mouth of Bonne Bay but not all that great for photographs, really don’t care about much where there isn’t a hint of humanity - he says wasting a roll on erratics.

I did a short walk to the Bank of Montréal where I bought loonies - being touristland and the only bank about they charged $2,50. Thinking this a quick walk of only a mile or two took Ziquinho.

Two hours later I came back to do a real walk based on what I found.

The time was mostly spent talking to two people one a South African who I thought was an Aussie - must travel out of the continent more, I am losing my ability to distinguish the many commonwealth Englishes. Then no sooner did I turn around - I turned around hoping that this stupid machine that was parked in a place where I couldn’t make a snap would move - than a misplaced Newfoundlander from Gander, Now in Nova Scotia but is buying a house in Exploits Bay started up a conversation.

This place was rife with clothes lines, wood piles, cod drying, and remnants of the cod trade all interspersed with tourism. The view from the cabin overlooks the fish plant. One cafe in town has a cargo container opposite it.

The real walk was with ‘Bira but started with a chat with a couple who had this supposedly mean dog that ran from the camera.

It progressed pretty much along the same lines as the one to the bank but I also realised that despite its size, I was running out of interesting things. I was walking and I was photographing and there were some moments, but they were becoming fewer.

Came back along the beach where supposedly Baleful the steward found it interesting how the shift in the continents was manifest in the rocks. I liked the toy I found and the shirt hanging, left until it was needed again. Didn’t bother with the stages, only photographed one rooms because it looked pretty contemporary - and better than THE ROOMS.

Despite the buildings - the closed conveniences, the churches I was beginning to worry about what I would do here. It seemed pretty dry.

Another meeting with the Scotia Hogs in the Convenience then out to Norris Point to show the crew Bonne Bay and the Tablelands hoping that the evening sun would warm the rocks.

The outing reinvigorated my ideas about the area. Firstly I had to get off the Main Street and head back in. Secondly I had to head to Norris Point. The place seemed much more interesting less easily understood with better street furniture without the givens of a tourist town.

While the crew were hitting yet another dollar store I raced back to the slide that I photographed in 2005 - not sure why - but on the way I again I realised that I need to be at the end of road physically - Rocky Harbour doesn’t interest be because I don’t have to turn back. Pouch Cove, Woody Point, Norris Point do because that it is there is no “further” In most there has to be a commitment made to go there - which was the reason I first came to the Rock - you cannot pass through.

After supper with the blinds drawn as that I one does in the States, the afterglow in the sky was almost missed. Once again it was proven to me that one has to be out to experience anything. Dark walking back from the pier something dark is in the water that seemed to be swimming along side. At first thought it a log but in the end it was either a seal or an otter it was too dark to see even with it on the rocks. It seemed as curious about us as we were of it.