Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 22:49:50 -0500
Reply-To: Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Re: Baie Comeau to Labrador to Newfoundland
In-Reply-To: <51803.39868.qm@web30215.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
:::--- Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU> wrote:
:::
:::> And to read what the Newfoundland and Labrador tourist office says
:::about the drive, click here:
:::> http://www.newfoundlandandlabradortourism.com/labrador_scenic_tours.zap
:::
:::Good find. Here's another: http://tlhwy.com/ One can roam around in
:::there.
:::
:::Re costs of ferries/food/lodging etc remember that Canada has a healthy
:::14 or 15% "sales tax" on
:::everything. Not sure if non-canadians can, upon leaving canada, claim
:::this tax back or not.
No. Can get it back on lodging and stuff, but you have to have the
receipts, each receipt must be for at least $50 Canadian (which means if you
pay for camping and camp at a different place each night you can't collect,
but if you stayed several nights at the same place you could - most
annoying!). It's not refundable for transportation costs. Also provincial
tax is not refundable, only federal.
Canada is not cheap! I just got an off-line email from David Etter saying
when he was up in those parts a few years ago gas was (converting) around
$US 3.75-4.25 per gallon. I was paying less last summer in Newfoundland,
but Labrador is more remote.
:::
:::Also, other enticements to drive east around to St John's NFLD include:
:::1) Seabreeze Park near
:::Twillingate where the #1 voted 2007 vanagon calendar photo was taken,
:::and 2) a quick trip to
:::France!!!! from the Burin Penn.
And expensive. That ferry is $CA 97, no vans allowed. So if you go for
overnight you need to pay for lodging too. (I paid $CA 50 for a nice B&B
close to the ferry, brought my bicycle and had a good time riding around the
island of St. Pierre.) I used to live in (mainland) France, so I definitely
wanted to check out St. Pierre et Miquelon, but I don't think it would be
worth doing again.
On the other hand, I met some delightful folks in the town of Burin while in
that neck of the woods.
But then, everyone I met in Newfoundland was delightful.
Oh, and the reason why I want to be I St. John's by the end of July is to go
to the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival, which was a wonderful and
enthusiastic event last summer.
:::
:::Soon we'll get the new camping guide to Quebec, I'd suggest that you
:::might/should contact the
:::Quebec Westfalia club to find the "best" campground near Baie Comeau.
:::There seem to be several
:::near-by: http://www.campingquebec.com/cdcq/en/region_17.shtml m2cw
From my experience, in that neck of the woods there's no reason ever to pay
for campgrounds!
But if there's someone in the Quebec Westfalia club who can post some of
this info to their mailing list, that would be great!
Joy
