University of Victoria Travel Study — Discover Newfoundland!
We came from away — about as far away from Newfoundland as you can be and still be in Canada.
Cape Spear NL — the most easterly point in North America
Beginning June 13, a group of 26 of us embarked on a University of Victoria travel study program, ‘Discover Newfoundland!’ We were a fairly well-travelled bunch, but more than half of us had never been to the province of Newfoundland & Labrador (NL).
This is the first of several pictures I painted of the places that we saw.
Constructed in 1836, the first Cape Spear lighthouse (upper right in the painting) was constructed in the unique architecture of the time — on top of the lightkeeper’s residence. The ‘new’ lighthouse tower (upper left) was built in 1955.
St. John’s, the capital of NL, is just over 5000 kilometres by air (almost 8000 kilometres if you take the TransCanada Highway) from Victoria. It took all day (7 am PDT to 10:30 pm NDT) to fly there, what with stops in Vancouver and Toronto, and a 4.5 hour time difference. It is 2000 km closer to Ireland than it is to Victoria.
Needless to say, it was well worth the effort — I hope have conveyed some of my enthusiasm…
