Our last day on Prince Edward Is was rather different. We had been invited the previous day by the bike shop where we had tyres changed to come along and have a ride at the Yamaha Demo Day. Dell suggested that I should try out a couple of cruisers as they are so popular in Nth America To be honest I was more interested in riding the 1200 Super Tenere. We packed up our tent and headed out at lunch time to be greeted by two great guys from Yamaha. They were more interested in talking to us than pushing their bikes onto the locals. We rode the new Yamaha Stryker which is similar to the Boulevard from Suzuki. Now my lanky legs have a lot of problems fitting the footpegs on most BMW's. On the cruiser which had a large 21" front wheel, it felt like I was riding up hill all the time. The motor was silky smooth but I felt uncomfortable from the moment I left the shop. How anyone can find this acceptable to venture as far as the coffee shop was a mystery to me. The Super Tenere was a different matter. Yamaha had done some serious homework to refine this bike for touring and it felt good at any speed in any gear. If the weight is reputed to be excessive it doesn't feel heavy. The riding position is precisely BMW GS (which is no surprise of course). Other than the seat that looked and felt like a small railway sleeper had been substituted I would have happily swapped my BMW for this bike estimated to cost a tad over $14K in Canada. It was torquey, revved easily but groaned a bit under load. The throttle and clutch were not as progressive as BMW's but the lightweight panniers and screen were adequate for highway touring, At a constant 100kph the fuel use registered at 4.5 L/100 k. I later rode the 1700c Stratoliner that cured any further aspirations that I might have to own and ride a big cruiser. After a measly 15 mins, my back was aching and both my feet and hands were tingling from the engine vibrations that seemed to be constant at any speed. Despite having a large flat footplate that allowed plenty of adjustment for the riding position, long-legged boffins like me end up with their knees being level with their t*** making them totally useless to balance the bike.

We thanked the guys for entertaining us and headed off to explore the eastern end of the island. PEI is a very picturesque island that had an excessive number of very neatly mowed yards, no gardens and a car parked alongside each and every house. So one can assume that the island has a large population who are retired and posses nothing but a lawn mower. Dell thought I was being way too cynical. We explored a number of historic lighthouses and had a late seafood lunch in a quaint little fishing village. At 8pm we were still 50kms from a camp site and it was raining steadily. Neither of us wanted to ride at night on these backroads in the rain at night. So we opted to sleep under a picnic shelter (rotunder type) in a public park. Initially we were pretty comfortable on the concrete floor on our air beds between the timber picnic tables. But within 30 mins the wind picked up was blowing the rain clean through the shelter as there were no walls for protection. We wrapped ourselves in a fly that was designed as an overhead shade sail. After an hour the wind became gale force and protection afforded by our wrapped cocoon was very inadequate. We lay there for a good part of the night hugging the sides trying to stop the rain from coming in. By daylight, the rain had stopped and we were both exhausted. We packed up quietly and headed south to catch the early ferry boat Novo Scotia. The 3 hour ride on the motorway to Sydney was pretty cruisy only to find out that our ferry booking to Newfoundland required us to be at the terminal at 1am in the morning. We gladly checked in to an expensive hotel to get some sleep before departing on the 14 hour ferry ride. After arriving at 1am. I was very disappointed to find that the departure had been postponed until 7am due to mechanical problems. For the majority of people who had to wait patiently in the line at the terminal for the late departure, it would have unpleasant and irritating. Despite the ferry ride being relaxing and fun as we met some great bikers (Simeon and Regina), we were feeling pretty ragged by the time we arrived that night at the terminal at Argentia in Newfoundland at 10.30 pm. Plan A was to find the first available piece of green lawn and pitch the tent regardless of location. It worked in our favour as we found a patch right beside the visitor info centre just 5 kms from the terminal. Adjacent to us in the carpark was an elderly couple from Saskatchuwan who were also not interested in travelling 2.5 hours to St John's that night because of all the warnings about moose on the roads. Moose have actually been introduced to Newfoundland. They're slow and dumb making them excellent targets for fast moving vehicles. Silhouettes of moose have been strategically placed along highways to remind motorists that they exist and to keep a constant eye out for them. In Novo Scotia we saw sections of the motorway that had warning lights and sensors when moose were present.

Mother nature was kind to us the next day allowing us to enjoy the ride all the way into the capital St John's that is situated precariously on the far east coast on the narrowest of inlets that still allows substantial ships to safely berth in the harbour. We had finally arrived at our most easterly destination of the trip. Stooped in history going back more than 400 years, John Cabot sailed into Newfoundland in 1498 in an attempt to claim it as a British colony. Despite Norwegians having camped here in AD 980 the islands enjoyed a break of more than 500 years before the new world changed forever the way that native indians had lived along the coast for thousands of years. The National Museum entitled "The Rooms" has some spectacular historic details describing the early settlement of Newfoundland. There was also on exhibition a substantial collection of David Blackwood's art dipicting the hardship faced by his ancestors who hunted seals in the north of Labrador during the early part of the 20th Century. Fire aboard ships, icebergs trapping ships and hunters being marooned on icebergs were some of the perils causing many men a slow and distressful death. It is easy to dismiss these activities today as being environmentally unacceptable but in its time seal hunting was a profitable business for islanders whose lives were tough and work seasonal at best. Newfoundland has only minimal agricultural land and for many of the Irish decendants of this place, fishing and activities tied to the seaboard were essential.

St John's CBD was cosmopolitan and lively with the seaport being right in town. There were many Irish pubs and lots of music as were wandered around the hilly little centre on a Sunday afternoon. The houses are square, mostly two storey resmbling an oversized dolls house. Novo Scotia and Newfoundland both are dominated by these quaint buildings that are often painted individual bright colours (straight out of a Dulux colour sampler) that contrast each other right down the streets. The style has not changed for more than one hundred years making it advantageous to renovate the old ones. The external walls were originally lined with timber shamfer board. These days PVC imitation makes renovation easy and cheap without the need for a paint job until it is replaced.

We wandered around town for several days on foot with a visit to the Anglican church. Dell attended a tour of the Cathedral and I turned up for the high tea with copious quantities of scones, short bread and cheescake slices. But the exercise was proving too much for Dell who had been suffering intermittently from an unknown intestinal bug causing her to loose a good meal immediately after finishing it. A royal flush every second day was not only inconvenient but becoming difficult for us to plan what we would do once we left St John's. So we decided to seek some medical advice at the hospital. It turned out to be a waiting game sitting in the Emergency room with 100 others for more than 3 hours before being seen by a doctor. The verdict after some initial blood tests was comforting and informative. His opinion was that her thyroid had become swollen and most likely infected causing adverse affects to her digestive system and other functions. She was prescribed a course of steroids to treat the infection and an order to stay away from dairy and fatty products that had been making her fell sick for days.

Having to remain in St John's for a few days more was necessary to allow Dell to rest and allow the medication to kick in. So we decided to take a bus tour of the city that proved to be not only informative but very entertaining as the tour guide was a hoot. We learned many things about Newfoundland as altho it was only admitted to Canada as a Province in 1948 it had actually formed a government and been self determining for longer than Canada in the mid 1800's. St John's was in fact the oldest settlement in the whole of North America dating back to the early 1500's. Despite a massive fire destroyng much of the centre city houses and buildings in the 1890's it was completely rebuilt as tho it had never happened. Miraculously, only two died in the tragedy. We were taken to the most easterly point were a lighthoue has stood for over 200 years, shown some of the most expensive real estate in town and given a sense of how the town has changed its history over the past 500 years. Oil, nickel mining in Labrador, fishing and tourism are the big revenue earners for the country with St John's supporting a population of about 200,000. Virtually everyting is imported. So it is an expensive place to live. In the afternoon we did a tour to look at some of the local bays to the north of the city. Remnants of a thriving fishing industry that ceased in 1992 due to a moratorium on cod fishing are still operating but their activities are curtailed . At its peak more 500,000 tons of cod was harvetsed annually. Today this controversial industry yields less than 20,000 tons.

A further visit to the 'quack' confirmed that Dell did not in fact have an infection. So it seems that rest, eating small regular meals and pacing ourselves may be the ticket. The visit posed more problems than we expected. Whilst the consultation was going on, out two unsung heroes (BMW's) both decided to lie down on their sides outside the surgery. The wind must have blown mine over pushing the other in the fall. More minor scratches but no real damage! We decided to head for the west coast. But en route at a gas station I got talking to a couple who were riding down to the Burin Peninsula for the weekend to a 'Riding the Boot' (Cancer for kids) gig. We thought that sounded like fun and our new friends (Chris and Rose Don) were delighted to allow us to tag along. We arrived at the Marytown Pub where Chris contacted his mate re: camping on his lawn. Wally Drake insisted that we stay in his downstairs apartment for the weekend. So started a long and extremely enjoyable weekend. These guys were not just friendly. They all went out of their way to make us feel like we were one of the gang. Both of us commented that it felt like we had known this group for years. The hospitality and goodwill was infectious to the point where we were already talking about coming back next year to continue our friendship and good times. This is one of the traps of travelling and meeting good people all the time. The fear of departing can become quite over-whelming. So now we have made promises to two groups (Newfoundland and the Yukon) that we will return. I just wish they were a bit closer. Both Wally and Chris were in the machinery business. Wally operated a fleet of earthmoving trucks and Chris a business supplying Yanmar and Terex parts and machinery to NFL. Wally's 'Big Boys Shed' was something to admire. He owned an 8 year old Harley Heritage Softail with only 300 kms on it. He also had the latest Dodge Charger Convertable and a '68 Dodge Centurion on display. We were all invited back for a huge party after dinner on friday night where Dell and I got conned into performing Kareoke on Wally's very well developed party machine. We rode with a bunch of noisey Harley riders on the Saturday and ended up at a dinner disco at Smugglers Cove that night where the band (Sticks and Stones) leader commented that he had never seen so much leather. They certainly were a mottly bunch but deep inside they were all great local 'Newfies'. We returned to Goobies with Chris and his mates to visit enroute one of the most exquisite car museums that exist. Worth many Millions of $, Vernon Smith's car exhibit of rare, luxurious and sporting American cars was the stuff of pure dreams. The '41 Lincoln Cabriolet V12 was my favourite. Do have a look at the pics of this exhibit.

Our departure was almost tearful as we headed west the rest returning east to St John's. And as if the weekend hadn't been perfect weather we struck an absolute misearbly wet ride for nearly two hours to a campsite in Terra Nova Provincial Park. We gladly parked the bikes under the picnic shelter and pitched the tent on the dry concrete floor. There were few other campers other than two dirt bikers who had ridden down from Labrador, so stealing the shelter was OK. The following day, Dell was again struck down by the feeling of exhaustion and we had to stop. The best part was that we called into a rafting camp where Paul Rose (Riverfrontchalets.ca) met us and offered his house as a resting place for Dell. He was very kind and arranged for us to stay with his rafting guides who were camped on the edge of the river in basic but comfortable huts that he had built. She slept for most of the afternoon and night. Meanwhile I managed to enjoy a few beers and eventually Screeches Rum by a campfire next to the 100m wide river. A full moon came up and we four sat around laughing, singing and drinking until after midnight. The guides were British and Canadian altho Will had grown up in Dubai (UAE) and I enjoyed their company as they were travel hungry. Paul had been generous enough to let me drive his ex-school bus. I just loved it! These old buses looked 30 years old in design but were infact a little over ten years old. Demand for these full sized 48 seaters was very low and he had picked up one for $350 with less than 150,000 kms on it. I was boyed on by this experience to begin planning our next trip to NFL when we would buy a bus and convert it into a basic camper. The rear opening door was just wide enough to roll a BMW through at a squeeze and park it inside. Paul was also interested in BMW's. So I offered him a ride on Dell's bike. Again we parted company having made more great and generous friends.

It began raining on our quest to ride to Gros Morne on the west coast of NFL. I think we were both beginning to admit that getting wet almost every day was wearing a bit thin. We happily sought a self-contained cottage and relaxed for a couple of days. At that point we both realised that perhaps we should call it quits and head back to the US rather than complete our planned ride north to L'Anse aux Meadows some 400 kms away when the weatherman was predicting continuous rain for the next 4 days. I was not feeling defeated but we had decided that we both wanted to attend the Horizons Unlimited meeting in North Carolina that was being held in just 9 days time and the ferry back to Novo Scotia would take us at least 3 days. The scenic location of Rocky Harbour is right in the bay of Gros Morne Provincial Park. Stooped in natural and cultural history this little settlement had witnessed some amazing changes throughout the past 400 years. In fact it was the one and only Captain Cook who created the first maps or charts of this coast line in 1764 before he came to claim Australia for the British