Latest news with #Palaeo-Eskimo
Sydney Morning Herald
28-04-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
A piece of paradise locals kept to themselves, until now
'There are 18 UNESCO sites in Canada and almost a quarter of them are here in Newfoundland,' she says. 'There are 22 species of whales and dolphins that come into the bay here alone. There's so much here people know nothing about.' I follow a winding road through forest to a new luxury eco-lodge built high above the valley floor. Gros Morne Inn has a Gold Sustainable Tourism Certification and runs almost entirely on solar and hydroelectricity while its managers – both born-and-bred Newfies – committed years towards protecting the island's marine environment. Co-manager Rebecca Brushett has a degree in marine biology and environmental policy and founded an organisation that promotes ways to grow sustainable communities in Newfoundland while protecting the ocean. I eat dinner in the inn's restaurant, Taste. Its produce is sourced direct from local farmers and from Ocean Wise-certified seafood partners. 'We get the same amount of visitors in Gros Morne National Park in a year that Banff gets in a weekend,' co-manager Ian Stone tells me. 'So younger people from Newfoundland used to all go away for work, but they're starting to come home, for tourism, some of them to farm organically. Newfoundland could be one of Canada's best sustainable tourism destinations. Like Norway really, without the cruise boats.' The road's a lonely place to be as I drive north next morning, weaving along the coast, past deserted beaches and into rich green meadows, fringed by the continuous Long Range Mountains. I stop at a national historic site in the fishing village of Port au Choix, where I hike along trails used up to 6000 years ago by ancient Palaeo-Eskimo people, to limestone barrens where depressions left by long-ago houses are part of one of North America's most significant archaeological finds (117 skeletons were found here). I walk for hours among just a few people, locals mostly. In these tiny seaside villages, you can't stop a Newfie talking. If only I knew what they were saying; most sound like pirates, and they speak in riddles, with constant quips about their weather. As I drive further north, the ocean's as calm as a lake, with barely a puff of breeze. I reach L'Anse aux Meadows World Heritage site near the northern tip of Newfoundland, bathed in the gentlest afternoon sunshine. The first and only site established by Vikings in North America – there are buildings here from 1000AD, the earliest evidence of Europeans in the New World, predating Christopher Columbus by almost half a millennium. This is the only undisputed site of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic discovery within the Americas, yet I wander past 1000-year-old village relics beside a stunning rocky coastline with no one around (fewer than 30,000 people visit each year). I stay nearby, and am told to listen for humpback whales breathing during the night. I don't hear any, but next morning the sea's full of them. 'This isn't the end of the world,' a local tells me when our paths cross on a dawn walk. 'But you can see it from here.' Travelling across north-west Newfoundland is a mix of new-age, eco-tourism and old-fashioned quaintness. Some of my rooms share the same carpet scheme as RSL clubs. Fish and chips (and cod tongue) often comes served with vast helpings of batter, but for every over-oiled chip there's a farm-to-table meal option. At Upper Humble Settlement (near Deer Lake), I take a foraging tour to learn how to live off the land as the indigenous peoples did for thousands of years, before I settle for a four-course meal served within a sustainable farm. At the region's top tourism attraction – Western Brook Pond, a fjord within Gros Morne National Park surrounded by billion-year-old, 600-metre-high sheer rock walls – I travel aboard the first tourist boats in North America to receive the industry's highest environmental rating. Loading I also walk with indigenous guides through parts of this north-western region as they share the history of their local Mi'kmaq people. 'The tourism we're seeing now is reconciliation in action,' Qalipu First Nations Chief Jenny Brake tells me. 'Nothing else allows us to tell our story.' I'm in the midst of a transition; overseas travellers would come here on coach tours, now the international tourists who come prefer to slip off into the wilderness, barely leaving a footstep. 'You can tell your people this,' a local advises me. 'Should we all make it to heaven, Newfoundlanders are the only folk who prefer it at home.' THE DETAILS FLY Air Canada offers daily flights to Deer Lake via Vancouver from Australia's east coast from $3100 return. See All major car rental companies operate out of Deer Lake Airport.
The Age
28-04-2025
- The Age
A piece of paradise locals kept to themselves, until now
'There are 18 UNESCO sites in Canada and almost a quarter of them are here in Newfoundland,' she says. 'There are 22 species of whales and dolphins that come into the bay here alone. There's so much here people know nothing about.' I follow a winding road through forest to a new luxury eco-lodge built high above the valley floor. Gros Morne Inn has a Gold Sustainable Tourism Certification and runs almost entirely on solar and hydroelectricity while its managers – both born-and-bred Newfies – committed years towards protecting the island's marine environment. Co-manager Rebecca Brushett has a degree in marine biology and environmental policy and founded an organisation that promotes ways to grow sustainable communities in Newfoundland while protecting the ocean. I eat dinner in the inn's restaurant, Taste. Its produce is sourced direct from local farmers and from Ocean Wise-certified seafood partners. 'We get the same amount of visitors in Gros Morne National Park in a year that Banff gets in a weekend,' co-manager Ian Stone tells me. 'So younger people from Newfoundland used to all go away for work, but they're starting to come home, for tourism, some of them to farm organically. Newfoundland could be one of Canada's best sustainable tourism destinations. Like Norway really, without the cruise boats.' The road's a lonely place to be as I drive north next morning, weaving along the coast, past deserted beaches and into rich green meadows, fringed by the continuous Long Range Mountains. I stop at a national historic site in the fishing village of Port au Choix, where I hike along trails used up to 6000 years ago by ancient Palaeo-Eskimo people, to limestone barrens where depressions left by long-ago houses are part of one of North America's most significant archaeological finds (117 skeletons were found here). I walk for hours among just a few people, locals mostly. In these tiny seaside villages, you can't stop a Newfie talking. If only I knew what they were saying; most sound like pirates, and they speak in riddles, with constant quips about their weather. As I drive further north, the ocean's as calm as a lake, with barely a puff of breeze. I reach L'Anse aux Meadows World Heritage site near the northern tip of Newfoundland, bathed in the gentlest afternoon sunshine. The first and only site established by Vikings in North America – there are buildings here from 1000AD, the earliest evidence of Europeans in the New World, predating Christopher Columbus by almost half a millennium. This is the only undisputed site of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic discovery within the Americas, yet I wander past 1000-year-old village relics beside a stunning rocky coastline with no one around (fewer than 30,000 people visit each year). I stay nearby, and am told to listen for humpback whales breathing during the night. I don't hear any, but next morning the sea's full of them. 'This isn't the end of the world,' a local tells me when our paths cross on a dawn walk. 'But you can see it from here.' Travelling across north-west Newfoundland is a mix of new-age, eco-tourism and old-fashioned quaintness. Some of my rooms share the same carpet scheme as RSL clubs. Fish and chips (and cod tongue) often comes served with vast helpings of batter, but for every over-oiled chip there's a farm-to-table meal option. At Upper Humble Settlement (near Deer Lake), I take a foraging tour to learn how to live off the land as the indigenous peoples did for thousands of years, before I settle for a four-course meal served within a sustainable farm. At the region's top tourism attraction – Western Brook Pond, a fjord within Gros Morne National Park surrounded by billion-year-old, 600-metre-high sheer rock walls – I travel aboard the first tourist boats in North America to receive the industry's highest environmental rating. Loading I also walk with indigenous guides through parts of this north-western region as they share the history of their local Mi'kmaq people. 'The tourism we're seeing now is reconciliation in action,' Qalipu First Nations Chief Jenny Brake tells me. 'Nothing else allows us to tell our story.' I'm in the midst of a transition; overseas travellers would come here on coach tours, now the international tourists who come prefer to slip off into the wilderness, barely leaving a footstep. 'You can tell your people this,' a local advises me. 'Should we all make it to heaven, Newfoundlanders are the only folk who prefer it at home.' THE DETAILS FLY Air Canada offers daily flights to Deer Lake via Vancouver from Australia's east coast from $3100 return. See All major car rental companies operate out of Deer Lake Airport.
