The adventure begins

Well oh, Lukey's boat is painted green,
Ha, me boys!
Lukey's boat is painted green,
The prettiest boat that you've ever seen,
A-ha, me boys a-riddle-i-day!
A-ha, me boys a-riddle-i-day

When I was a young boy growing up in London Ontario we would sing this Newfoundland folk song in our music class. I think we sang some other songs about Newfoundland but I can only remember the lyrics to Lukey's Boat. The Newfoundland band Great Big Sea recorded it in 1994. They probably sounded better than my grade 3 class. Although London Ontario was 3200 km from St John's Newfoundland, I have always had a kinship with Newfoundlanders or Newfies. Maybe it was singing these songs that started this attachment. Over the years, I have been privileged to know Newfoundlanders who have left their homes to work in Ontario or in Alberta or Saskatchewan. All in all Newfoundlanders seem to have a reputation for hard work, gregariousness and fun. They are all great talkers. Newfoundlanders are funny people, think Rick Mercer or Mary Walsh (2 famous Canadian comedians). Some of my favorite writers are from Nfld including Michael Crummey, Lisa Moore, Wayne Johnston, and Megan Gail Coles. I love the band Great Big Sea from St John's .Despite my affinity for Newfoundlanders and Newfoundland, I have never been there. Canada is a large country and we gather our personna from many parts of Canada. Whether one has travelled to Newfoundland or only met or worked with Newfies, this small island province has made a significant impact on the Canadian identity.

Newfoundland is a large island off the east coast of Canada. It was initially settle by vikings in 980 AD. But they didn't last very long as the environment was too harsh. It was rediscovered by the explorer Jacque Cartier in the 16th century and colonized by the Europeans mainly Irish and Scottish fishermen in the 17th century. Newfoundland was a British colony until the 20 century when it became it's own country or dominion. In 1932 because of financial problems which is a reoccurring theme in Newfoundland history it went back to being a British Colony. It didn't become a province of Canada until 1949 only after the second refendum. Newfoundland has always been one of the poorer provinces in Canada and this has resulted in extensive migration to the rest of Canada. That is why it is so common to meet Newfoundlanders in other parts of the country especially here in Alberta. It seems that every BnB owner I talked to in planning the trip has at one time lived and worked in Alberta.The deterioration in their economy worsened when the fishery collapsed in the 80s and 90s from overfishing. Off sea oil has helped but has never been sufficient to fill the gap left by the fishery collapse. The province recently got into financial troubles over the development of a hydroelectric project. Initially billed as an energy project they could use to sell clean electricity to the maritimes and New England, it went tremendously over budget by billions of dollars. The federal government had to provide funding to prevent provincial bankruptcy. Newfoundland is an underdog province but we Canadians love an underdog

I always thought I would have a medical conference in St John's but now 30 years into my career, I am given up hope. This is my bucket list trip. Cheryl lived in St John's for 4 months when she was in physiotherapy school . This will somewhat be a homecoming for her. We will fly from Edmonton via Toronto to St. John's. It is 6200 km and we will travel through 3.5 time zones. Nine hours of travel time with lay over. After 4 days in St Johns we will drive to Bona Vista, Twillingate, Fogo island and ending the trip in Gros Morne National Park over about 2 weeks. This will take us from the east coast up to the North coast and eventually to the west coast. We will fly home from Deer Lake.

I will be trying to post every couple days but after the initial invite you will have to check in for further updates. I hope you enjoy our adventures.Read more