Highways, a ferry and Jo Lester!

I've spent the last 30 hours travelling. I drove to the Newfoundland ferry last night, slept on the ferry whilst it waited out the weather in port and we finally sailed at 3pm the next afternoon.

During the 6 hour crossing, I saw some albatross gliding along gracefully inches above the ocean, and there was some ice we had to go through! Picture of the ice from the boat below...

When the boat arrived in Newfoundland it was 9pm, so I drove for 3 and a half hours in the dark to Deer Lake. Canadian highways that are boring in the day are bloody terrifying at night! They are not lit (which is fine), but they also don't have cats eyes. That means that it requires a lot of concentration just to stay on the road in the right lane. The lane markings are often faded or covered with a light dusting of snow, sometimes there's a single carriageway, sometimes two with a huge gap between. Twice I have unintentionally taken an exit I didn't want to take, and three times I have had my blood run cold thinking I was on the wrong side of the dual carriageway.

To top that off, I was terrified of hitting a moose! Before I set off, a lady said to me "You take it easy now, watch out for the freezing rain, black ice, moose and caribou.  Oh, and don't hit a skunk, the smell will make you wish you'd hit a moose!" [so that you were dead and the smell wouldn't bother you, I assume].

So I made the journey at a cautious speed, scouring the verges for moose. I never saw any, but I did put the brakes on for a few dark bushes, one pile of junk, an odd reflection, and a dark, non reflective advertising sign that was vaguely moose shaped!

The reason I was willing to endure the nightime highway was to meet Jo, who has come out for a week to visit! God only knows why, it's bloody freezing, there's bugger all here, and she just spent about 10 hours on a bus after getting two flights!! However, I'm very excited at the prospect of having a travelling companion for the next 6 days, so I shan't dwell on the matter. We shall explore this barren land together, starting tomorrow!