Out to Rose Blanche

We've made our way down to the southwest coast of Newfoundland and stayed at an RV park about half an hour from Port Aux Basques.  With time on our hands yesterday we decided to drive out to the Rose Blanche lighthouse.  I was surprised to find yet another side to an island that I thought I knew with sparsely forested heath and moss barrens.  The exposed plateau and plentiful snow in winter provide suitable habitat for caribou, but though we looked hard we didn't spot any.

The scenery was lovely, the road out made for a great scenic drive with a variety of coastal sights.

Rose Blanche is the largest community on the southwest coast of Newfoundland.  Want to see what that looks like?

 There are plenty of signs to get you to the lighthouse, all the way from Port Aux Basques until the last road out to the point.

Admission to the grounds is $6 each.  The lighthouse was built in 1871 from a nearby granite quarry.  Lots of stone out in this part of the island!

The lighthouse operated from 1873 to the 1940's and the light could be seen for 13 miles in clear weather.

After it was abandoned the building fell into ruins, but in the 1990's restoration began with funding from various government agencies.

The stone steps within the tower walls are what kept the tower from collapsing after it was abandoned.

You can go up the narrow tower stairway but can not go up into the small room where the lens was kept.  It's a great view out the tower window!

Within the building are local antiques and reproduced furniture along with information about the building and its restoration.

When we were there it was the middle of the day and lighting conditions were either harsh or the sun hid under the clouds.  I thought sepia tone saved the photos where the lighting was too harsh, plus it gave that antique look that was appropriate for the building.

Rose Blanche is pretty much the end of the line for this region of Newfoundland.  If you want to explore further you'll have to take a boat.  Large portions of the island are still uninhabited and inaccessible by car.

Of course we chose an incredibly windy day to visit with winds around 70 km per hour, though I think some of the gusts exceeded that.  We had to be very careful as we walked around the edges of the building and did not venture anywhere near the edges of the rocks.

High winds aren't uncommon in the area, sometimes up to 150 kmh, which in the winter causes drifting snow, icing and power outages.  Like most of Newfoundland summers are mild, but winter temperatures are generally mild as well.

To live in this kind of place one must have patience and a great sense of humor, which is something Newfies are well known for.

Here's a little video of the wind conditions that day. Notice it was so windy that it was moving the camera around in my hands!

Packing up and heading back to Port Aux Basques for the ferry right now, of course I'm getting farther and farther behind with so much to see and share.  Off to the Mainland we go!