Newfoundland -
Regions
• Western Newfoundland: the nearly 700 km stretch from Port aux Basques in the south to St. Anthony in the north. Includes the Port au Port Peninsula, the Bay of Islands (with regional centre, Corner Brook), Gros Morne National Park, the Long Range Mountains, and the Northern Peninsula. Vikings to Acadians, the history and culture of Western Newfoundland is varied and diverse.
• Labrador, the territory sharing a border with Quebec on the mainland of Canada. From trapping to whaling to Military bases, Labrador has rich history and breathtaking landscapes.
• Central Newfoundland: includes the Baie Verte Peninsula & Green Bay area, the numerous islands of the North Coast (including New World Island and Change Islands), Grand Falls-Windsor, and the famous international airport at Gander.
• Southern Newfoundland: includes the South Coast (mostly accessible only by ferry), as well as the Burin Peninsula and France's Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
• Eastern Newfoundland & the Avalon Peninsula: the New Found Land, from John Cabot's landing grounds in the Bonavista Peninsula to Cape Spear, North America's most easterly point near historic capital St. John's.
Cities
• Corner Brook -- The pulp and paper center of Newfoundland
• Goose Bay -- The largest city in Labrador
• Mount Pearl -- The second biggest city in Newfoundland and part of the greater St. John's area
• St. John's -- The capital and largest city in Newfoundland
• Placentia -- The original French capital of Newfoundland
Dining
Rural Newfoundland is known for its seafood and its working-class roots. Rural restaurants offer an over-abundance of "golden foods" (deep fried) and classically simple fare. Vegetarians will be hard pressed to find anything without meat in it, and vegans might want to pack a lunch. But if you're a fish and chips lover, you'll "fill your boots". Mainly you will see battered cod, fish-and-brewis (fish mashed up with a boiled rock-hard sailor's bread pronounced "brooze"), jig's dinner (a traditional meal similar to a roast beef dinner, but with pease pudding, salt beef and pork scruncheons), burgers and fries, and seafood chowder.
But if you're nice, and lucky, someone might invite you in to their home for a homemade moose stew, rabbit pie, seal flipper, caribou sausage, partridgeberry pie or a cuppa tea with home-baked bread and homemade bakeapple jam. All of these are very interesting and delicious. A big traditional meal is often referred to as "a scoff", and as Newfoundlanders also love to dance and party, an expression for a dance and a feed is a "scoff and scuff", which might be accompanied by accordion, guitar, fiddle, a singalong, and a kitchen party.
A lot of Newfoundlanders habitually drink tea and Carnation milk (some people drink coffee, but don't expect it). It is an excuse to have a friendly chat to invite someone in for a "cuppa tea". In "town" i.e. St. John's (and the other city centers of Newfoundland) there are many good restaurants for the picking, and several vegetarian and vegan friendly spots.
Newfoundland and Labrador is one of the Atlantic Provinces of Canada. Newfoundland is an island that was independent until 1949 when it joined confederation with Canada. Labrador is an adjoining mainland coastal region which abuts Quebec.Note: Newfoundlanders pronounce Newfoundland to rhyme with 'understand,' placing emphasis on -LAND, not New or found-. It sounds something like "newfin-LAND." Mainlanders (those residing in mainland Canada) and tourists are noted for their pronunciation of Newfoundland as "new-FOUND-lind", "NEW-fin-lind" or "NEW-found-lind."
There are many extraordinary things about Newfoundland: the rugged natural beauty of the place, the extraordinary friendliness and humour of the local people, the traditional culture, and the unique dialect.
The beauty of Newfoundland can be found on the rocky coasts of the island and the relatively new, and stunningly beautiful East Coast Trail, but this is a truly coast-to-coast kind of place. There's much to see in the Tundra of Labrador (often called "the Big Land"), the "mini-Rockies" of the West Coast's Long Range Mountains and Lewis Hills, the historic Avalon Peninsula, home to the capital of St. John's. Also don't underestimate the power of the largely uninhabited Newfoundland interior. There is a raw, untouched quality to the entire place, especially where water meets rocks. Adventure racer Mats Anderson has described it as a mix of "Patagonia, Sweden, New Zealand and other countries from all around the world."
As for the people, everyone talks to everyone; indeed, everyone helps everyone, and everyone knows everyone (people often can tell what part of the island someone is from by their last name). The uptight paranoia found in many American cities cannot be found in Newfoundland. It has a totally different approach to life. One Newfoundlander has suggested that people 'exist' in New York, but they 'live' in Newfoundland.