Loving Life on the Road: 11 July 2013 Random Passage Site and Small Villages

[Patrice is writing today] This sunny and warm Thursday morning we set out for New Bonaventure, down the road from Trinity, where we visited yesterday. In this village is the Random Passage Site, the movie set for the 2000 filming of the Canadian Broadcasting Company's mini-series "Random Passage." Based on the novel Random Passage and its sequel Waiting for Time by Bernice Morgan, the site is the representation of an outport fishing station in Newfoundland during the mid to late 1700's. I have just finished reading Random Passage and I'm into the sequel--have not seen the movie.

We arrived at the site and had a good lunch at the reception room and bought tickets for the tour, which takes place about one-half mile down the hill. We were able to take Carlos on the leash, and met our tour guide at the site of the vegetable garden.

The producers of the movie found this site and liked it because of its 360-degree natural setting. There had been a tiny community at the site, called Point White; nothing was left except a couple foundations and an old root cellar.

Old root cellar from the Point White community

The movie strove for authenticity, and the buildings were built of local wood and the hearths of local rock. Furnishing were authentic also, either on loan or manufactured the way they would have been during the period represented.

Gary was our tour guide, and he first oriented us to the characters in the movie, and used the buildings constructed for the movie set to take us through the story of how the Andrews family ended up at this isolated station, working incredibly hard to make a living, survive the winters, raised their families and find home.

Sheep and goats were kept

Along the way, he explained how the men went out in their dorys to catch the cod (on lines with bait), then the gutting and boning, and the salting and drying of the cod. He told of how the cod processed would pay for the food and materials for the coming winter. A schooner would pick up the cod, and the merchant, usually located in St. John's, would determine how much was coming to each family, and they would order food and supplies. The system was much like the "I owe my soul to the company sto," as sung about the coal miners in the eastern US. If the year was bad, the amount received just barely fed the families over the winter or wasn't enough, and the overage was carried over toward the next year's "profits." The absent merchant never lost out.

Gary using a "bucket hoop" to keep

the buckets from banging into your legs

when carrying water to the house

A pole barrow to carry salted and dried fish

Gary on a "flake" where the cod was dried

The dock and "stage" where the fish were brought to start the process

The church, built in Trinity and reassembled on site

The visit to the site was educational. I've ordered the movie (they were out at the reception area). The story of Random Passage is painful with the cold and exhaustion of the characters, and the tragedy that must happen with life in such a wild land. Resilience, joy and hope are seen also, and the love of family and community. The book is one of the best I've read. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie--I could tell from the tour that the movie has many differences from the book; that is to be expected for such a sprawling story.

We left the site in New Bonaventure and explored the villages and harbors of Old Bonaventure, Trouty, Dunfield, Goose Cove, then over to Trinity East, where Gary's wife Christie ran a jewelry and crafts shop. I think her business was the only one in this little settlement, with the exception of the convenience store up on the road. Christie mentioned that she does a lot of selling on Etsie, an internet crafts site.

East Champy's, West Champy's, Port Rexton, and English Harbor each had their charms, and sit at the base of high promontories ending in the ocean