Thieving rascals

Let me get this out of the way first: a few days ago, my iPod was stolen. Now, I've been meaning to upgrade to an video-capable iPod for a while, but it doesn't diminish the fact that I'm utterly irritated at the gall of some people. I would say that 99%, perhaps more, of travelers are generally easy-going and well-mannered, but that 1% are the ones you have to worry about. Some people can just be so self-centered and don't take into consideration that they may be ruining other people's experiences by doing things such as stealing some food from the fridge (which had happened to Matt a few days prior) or worse, stealing valuables. Now, part of this is my fault, I admit, as I should have had the iPod under lock and key, but, in my defense, I have been keeping my valuables under tight guard during this trip, and until recently have not been keeping things out. I only happened to leave my iPod out after listening to it late at night, and had forgotten that it was not secure the next day. It wasn't too unreasonable not to expect the thing to get stolen straight away. I'm particularly annoyed at this recent development because I still have a good two months left in my journey, which will now be without music, save for the stuff I get from YouTube.

From Dildo to Heart's Content and beyond

I've worn myself out in the past few days. The day after the long hike from Cape Spear to St. John's, I decided to join a hostel-run tour of the southern shore of the Avalon Peninsula. We ended up doing the Irish Loop, which follows the road along the southeastern shoreline of the peninsula. The first stop was Ferryland, a beautiful town, whereupon we visited the historic lighthouse and ate some lunch. We followed the road along coastal towns, occasionally stopping by scenic landmarks. One of the more interesting stops was the sub-arctic tundra, which featured a rather curious tree-less vegetation expanse, where one could walk along and experience an odd sinking feeling, almost as if one were treading on a field of sponges.

The trip was made rather interesting by the presence of a fellow traveler who persisted with stupid or otherwise pointless questions and requests along the way. Kathleen, Anna, and I had been previously acquainted with one another, and were comfortable with the dynamics of our personalities, but this new companion (if you could call him that) was just so intent on talking as much as he could about anything he could think of, even if the conversation seemed fruitless. Needless to say, everybody else in the car (being the three of us and the driver) were quite tired of him by the end of the journey.

Kathleen and Anna actually offered to accompany me to Gros Morne National Park, as they were hiring a car from Deer Lake, which would have been excellent, but I figured that I wanted at least a couple of days, probably more, at the park to fully appreciate it, so I kindly declined their offer. I'm hoping that I will eventually make a trip back here some time in the distant future to fully appreciate the province. My view of Newfoundland & Labrador has definitely changed since getting here - I know appreciate that there is a lot to see in this province, certainly more than meets the eye upon first arrival.

Yesterday, I took another tour around the Avalon Peninsula, this time around Trinity Bay in the northeast of the area. It took another full day, and it was with a new group of people. Our first stop was Cape Spear, which I had already been to (so I did not bother with the camera). After that, we headed to Trinity Bay, famous for various firsts, such as the first transatlantic telegraph cable (Heart's Content), and the site of the first transatlantic flight by a female pilot (Amelia Earhart from Harbour Grace). We did visit Heart's Content, but we didn't actually go to Harbour Grace due to time constraints.

We did, however, go to the place that I had been meaning to go to since landing on the island - a place called Dildo. It's pretty self-explanatory - I wanted to go to this place purely for the name. Sure, it was actually a nice little town, but the name itself was worth the price of admission. We ate at Dildo (say that three times quickly) Dory, a local restaurant, and had a quick look around, taking as many photos of signs with the word 'Dildo' as we could. We stopped off at some other places, sightseeing and berry-picking (something that I had gotten quite addicted to after meeting Kathleen and Anna), but I think Dildo was the highlight of the entire trip. I feel as if my time in Newfoundland was well-spent after that.

Today was spent doing not much at all, mainly due to recovery purposes - I have been outside for the past three days straight - but also because I had been meaning to read Neil Gaiman's novella, Stardust, the movie adaptation of which had previously premiered at theatres nationwide, and which I want to see. The story was rather good - brilliantly written, and in the style of old fairytales. I can see, judging from the trailers, that the movie has had several changes from the original material, presumably to appeal to the masses... whether or not this will do movie good or bad is something I shall determine when I finally view the film (hopefully in the next few days).

And the photos. Oh my goodness, with the photos. I have barely touched them since I arrived in Newfoundland, mainly due to the fact that I've been snap-happy since I've been here, and there are so many to go through that it would take a long time to sort out the good from the bad (which I would say would be a rather low percentage). Hopefully I'll have them up by the end of the week.