Back to Reality

     The story of our vacation "down under" is almost over.   We travelled back in stages. That is one of the reasons we went to Fiji. From Fiji, we flew to Los Angeles where we stayed over night in a very small hotel near the airport. I was surprised to hear Spanish spoken so much by the people in the area. Our next stop was Ontario where we stayed for 5 nights. We visited with family and friends in Kitchener, Toronto and Newmarket. It was great being back in our old stomping grounds.

     On April 2nd we arrived back in Newfoundland.  Although the weather was cool, our flight was not delayed. When we got home we had to shovel our way to the door through all the snow that had accumulated in our absence, although at one point, our kind neighbour used his snow blower to keep our driveway clear until his snow blower broke down. The tenant in the basement here also had a friend clear the snow so the driveway was pretty good. It was just problematic getting to the front door. Later that night, a major snowstorm began and by morning, another metre of snow was on the ground.  Thanks to the snow plows, the pile at the end of our driveway was even taller!

 

The bathing suit and snorkel are now gone and we are back to the snow boots

and heavy jackets. Overnight, we had a snow storm and Al dug his way out the

door in order to shovel the walkway and driveway.

     While we were away during the month of March, Newfoundland was hit with a terrible wind storm.

"A meteorologist with Environment Canada said Sunday (March 12) that the worst of the hurricane-force gusts, which broke records in some areas, has passed. Fiechter said between 140-km/hr and 160-km/hr winds blew through much of province Saturday, gusting to 180 km/hr on the Avalon Peninsula." information from Will Fowler's facebook page.

    The damage was quite extensive. You can see many houses with the siding and roofing torn off. The tenant in the basement had a truck cab fly into her car while parked at work -- the result was a nice big hole torn into the side of her car. Trailers parked in backyards and sheds were lifted and moved.

People look on as a truck lies on its side in Paradise, N.L. on Saturday, March 11, 2017 

This is where we were on March 11th - Picton, New Zealand.
Although is was raining here, there were no significant winds and no snow!

     In April, the weather in Newfoundland showed no signs of spring. The ice in the harbour and ocean coast still kept it closed.

St. John's Harbour on April 6th. Lots of ice chunks in the harbour.

Sea ice at the entrance of  St. John's Harbour on April 19th.

The sea ice is almost into the harbour.

Sea ice blocking the harbour entrance.

An view of the blocked harbour entrance.

A lovely spring day in Newfoundland on April 23, 2017

Same day, April 23, 2017, in Ontario

     We also had several days of freezing rain.

Ice on a bush in our front garden. Pretty.

April 21 -- thin layer of ice

April 22 -- layer of ice is thicker

April 23 -- Ice is even thicker!

April 24 -- ice at its thickest and is starting to fall off.

     We did have some very nice days with the sun shining and it felt like it really was spring but it was short-lived.

By May 12th the weather was more spring-like.
This picture is taken through a glass window so it looks dull.
The St. John's Harbour.

     Of course, now the fog has started to set in. Parts of each day we get fog. Some days it is thicker than others. Remember that St. John's is the foggiest City in Canada.

      On May 20th, the long weekend, we got a nice dumping of snow.

It is May 20th and it SNOWED!
Our camper was covered and we just had the winter tires removed from our van.

The snow stayed on the ground for a few days.
Some people who were camping this weekend had a real treat.

     We were going to start our travels across the province to our next province on this May long weekend but decided to wait until June 1st. I am so glad that we made that wise decision. Although both of us have participated in many winter camping activities I just don't think we are prepared for it now. Hopefully, June will be a better month to travel but if I remember from last year it did snow in June.