Santa is on his way to Newfoundland ...

There might not be much snow in Western Newfoundland, but at least we can rely on Santa to deliver ...  You can track his progress across the world heading for Newfoundlan on the link below.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL WHO ARE CRAZYABOUTNEWFOUNDLAND

Daniel
We're CrazyAboutNewfoundland.com ... Are you?

Track Santas progress from this mapping link ...

Business scruples ???

Someone recently asked why my website at www.crazyaboutnewfoundland.ca looks similar to the My Newfoundland Adventures website at www.mynewfoundland.ca ...

I had to explain to them that I created (and paid for) the design and its copyright, and built both websites using dreamweaver/CS3, php, mysql and various javascript extensions. The design in every sense is owned by me, and though built for My Newfoundland Adventures and its owner Mr Marty Hanzalek, he has ever since refused to pay for the design copyright and the many hundreds of hours I spent building the dynamic websites database and back end pages.

He now claims he owes nothing - and as he now won't even talk to us to try to work out the situation, we're about to debate the point in the Newfoundland Supreme Court.

I just wanted those that had spotted similarities to know that there is no business relationship between this website, its owners etc, and My Newfoundland Adventures and its owner Mr Martin Hanzalek.

~~~~~

By the way, this is not the only thing we will be debating at the Supreme Court as we have several other major issues with this 'company' that we need to sort out. No doubt these will be aired in the near future by the appropriate channels.

Six things you must do in... Newfoundland

Newfoundland is the closest point in Canada to Britain, a five-hour flight away.

Gareth Huw Davies's list of things you shouldn't miss during a visit to this stress-free island includes mountain walks, whale-watching, icebergs and Viking remains, seriously fresh and tasty fish dinners - and a welcome that is second to none . . .

1: COLOURFUL HISTORY

We landed in the provincial capital St John's, a pretty little city of brightly coloured wooden houses built on steep streets spilling down towards the harbour. It is the oldest English-founded settlement in North America.

There are lively bars, good restaurants - the young waitress in Ches's Fish and Chips in Freshwater Road was one of the most helpful I have ever met - and homely guesthouses.

The big attraction in St John's is Signal Hill Historic Park. This is where, in 1901, Guglielmo Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless message - three dots sent from Cornwall.
At the new Johnson Geo Centre (www.geocentre.ca), there is an exhibition on the Titanic, which sank 350 miles off the Newfoundland coast in 1912.

2: WHALE WATCH

Out of the calm, grey water at Cape Spear came one of the most exciting sounds in the animal world - a whale spouting only yards offshore.

In Africa and elsewhere you usually have to go deep into the wild to encounter great beasts. In Newfoundland, you find awesome creatures within walking distance of the main city.

On another occasion we saw whales breaching - flipping out of the water - as we ate at the Lighthouse Restaurant, on a promontory above St Anthony in the far northwest.

The sun was also glinting on an iceberg. They drift past majestically all summer long.

3: THE OTHER IRELAND

Set aside a week to drive around Newfoundland in a rough triangle with sides 250 miles long (visit www. frontier-travel.co.uk for fly-drive ideas).

Easiest to reach, on empty roads south of St John's, is the Avalon Peninsula, where people such as Rita (she runs the Hagan's Hospitality Home in Aquaforte) speak with an accent fresh-minted in Limerick.

This is said to be the most Irish place in the world outside the Emerald Isle itself. Immigrants first came for the teeming shoals of cod on the Grand Banks, now tragically depleted.

When we checked out of Rita's hotel, she handed us gifts of home-made chowder and a jar of jam, made from the abundant local cloudberry.

We took a whale-watching boat trip at Bay Bulls and counted the puffins hurtling across our bows.

4: ONE TO CATCH

On our first visit to Fishers' Loft, a handsome and comfortable small hotel in Port Rexton, Dame Judi Dench and Kevin Spacey had just checked out after shooting The Shipping News.

We heard a wonderful story about Spacey sending his bodyguards home because there was nobody to guard against.

The movie, set on the east coast of the Bonavista Peninsula, makes this area look bleak and eccentric when in fact during the summer it's a pleasant stretch of little bays, inlets and headlands.

And you are guaranteed a welcome that humbles you. 'How have all you folks been today?' was a normal enquiry from complete strangers we met on a footpath.

Fishers' Loft (www.fishers loft.com), which has an excellent restaurant, is run by Englishman John Fisher and his Canadian wife.

5: VIKINGS'BRAVE NEW WORLD

We flew from St John's to St Anthony to see positive proof that the Vikings set foot in North America around 1003.

On the flat coast at L'Anse-aux-Meadows is the continent's only authenticated Viking settlement site, discovered in 1960.

We toured rebuilt turf-walled longhouses and a replica Viking furnace and collected pebbles on which 11th Century explorer Leif Ericson might have stubbed his toe.

At the southern end of Newfoundland we made our oddest day-trip ever. The tiny islands of St Pierre and Miquelon (population 6,125), a 90-minute ferry journey from Fortune, are an overseas French territory.

Islanders use the euro, gendarmes protect them and Nicolas Sarkozy is their President. During the Prohibition era, Al Capone trafficked illicit liquor through here.

6: MOODY AND MAGNIFICENT

You don't have to take the long haul to Calgary or Vancouver to experience Canada's mountain wilds.

Newfoundland offers an accessible wilderness in the Gros Morne ('Big Gloomy') National Park, 420 miles west of St John's.

Geologists drool over this big upsurge of rust-coloured mountains, lonely fjords and forest. Around 570million years ago, two land masses, driving at each other like rugby forwards, forced part of the Earth's mantle to the surface.

An area known as The Tablelands is the centre-piece of this Unesco World Heritage Site.

Take in the spectacular terrain by car, on foot, by bike or by kayak. Boats take you into the heart of this untamed place.

There is a good choice of hotels and inns in the area (see www.grosmorne adventures.com or www.newfound landlabrador.com).
__________________________________________________

By Gareth Huw Davies - 27th September 2009
Original article from DailyMail.co.uk 
www.crazyaboutnewfoundland.ca/newfoundland

Humber Valley Resort - Holiday Chalets

Humber Valley Resort is very much still open for business! The summer, whilst of course quieter than previously, partly due to the lack of direct flights and the current uncertainty, is actually busier than one might expect.

Visitors are still blessed a beautiful landscape, culture and authentic experience. It still all about the people - and there are plenty of opportunities and activities to try out.

Humber Valley Resort chalet owners are now working with a variety of partner companies to promote their chalet vacation rental. The challenge for everyone involved with the resort is the need to maintain the standards that are expected.

The HVR Chalet Owners are now promoting their chalet and their partner company via the CrazyAboutNewfoundland.ca website.

Check out www.hvrowners.com/rental to see what is available.


There are also a growing number of local families now living on the resort, and there is a lot of interest regarding real estate opportunities, looking for owners with their chalet for sale ... again these are promoted direct by owners at www.hvrowners.com/forsale


Everyone involved is CrazyAboutNewfoundland.ca ... Are you?

Golf is back at Humber Valley Resort

Just a quick blog to say Well Done to those involved in getting golf operations working again at Humber Valley Resort, Western Newfoundland, Canada. The River Course is truly a fantastic course and worth every effort to get to ... Have a look at what's there at www.crazyaboutnewfoundland.ca/hvr

Here are a few pics from Gary Kelly's recent visit to check it out.

Gary's full blog is at www.garykelly.ca/blog

I'm looking forward to getting out there as soon as possible!! (Jul/Aug)

Runway extension for Deer Lake Airport

Good news for Deer Lake Airport, with the announcement of a $9M investment in a 600 metre runway extension.

See the announcement on the link below:
www.deerlakeairport.com/files/newsRelease_Files/newsR43.pdf

And while we're at it, the airport has a new MUCH BETTER website ... www.deerlakeairport.com

Deer Lake INTERNATIONAL airport !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At last !!!! Deer Lake Airport is declared as an international airport. Shame it didn't happen when British airways was looking for an airport to land prior to going on to New York (direct from City Airport).

Anyway ... its great news - and we all hope that the airport and its management can attract the international traffic the area desperately needs!

Lets ALL hope this will make the difference!!!
DG
_______


Western Star release:


The Deer Lake Regional Airport now holds Airport of Entry status.

The pronouncement of the status, along with $670,000 in new federal funding for the “enhancement of border services” at the airport, was made this morning at Deer Lake Regional Airport’s international arrivals lounge.

The news was delivered by Senator Fabian Manning on behalf of federal Minister of Public Safety, Peter Van Loan.

The immediate impact of the announcement, according to airport manager Jamie Schwartz, will be an increase in the airport’s ability to market itself for international flights.

“It gives us the opportunity to go out and pursue other new routes and other international traffic,” said Schwartz.

For more details, see Tuesday's Western Star.