Visiting Newfoundland - may have goofed. Help?

Hi r/newfoundland!

Sorry about the long text - didn't want to spam with multiple posts!

I visited your beautiful province last year for the Roots, Rants, & Roars festival and fell in love! I visited Bona Vista, the Irish Loop, and explored St John's. As such, I'm returning this year with my boyfriend and friend. I was wondering if I could get a bit of advice?

I really want to go to Gros Morne, as I heard it's beautiful and I love hiking. I understand that this is way on the other side of the province from St John's and a long drive.

Dates:

• Friend's ticket: June 30 - July 6, landing in St Johns and departing from Stephenville.
• My & bf's ticket: June 28-July 16, landing in St Johns and departing from Halifax

Our plan was to spend July 1 & 2 driving across to the west coast, spend a few days there before dropping my friend off in Stephenville, stay for a bit longer and then continue onto Nova Scotia via ferry.

We booked and in our excitement we didn't think of these 2 challenges...Argh :(

Challenge 1:

Stephenville is a far drive from Gros Morne, and my friend's flight is earlier than we'd like to leave Newfoundland. So we'd have to eat a day driving there to drop my friend off, then drive back to continue our trip. I tried to see if there are buses, but nothing direct and I'd feel like a jackass making my friend making a long bus trip. Not a nice welcome to Canada (he's from NYC).

Options:

• Spend 2-3 days in Gros Morne and drive my friend to Stephenville. Go back up to Gros Morne.
• Consider spending his west coast days at the Bay if Islands and/or Cornerbrooke and/or Blow Me Down Provincial Park. Would I be robbing him of a nice Newfoundland experience?

Challenge 2:

The car rental from St John's to Halifax is super expensive. Expedia quoted $1700. Eep. I know I have to book soon since there's a car shortage! We could drive back to St John's to return the car, and rent again in Nova Scotia - it's a few hundred cheaper. We'd take the ferry from Argentia instead of Port aux Basques. Thinking this isn't worth it.

Ideas:

• Check Costco and CAA for discounts
• See if dropping the car off at Port aux Basques and picking up a new car in Sydney makes sense
• Just deal with it. I have savings, it'll be a fun adventure, and at least I'm supporting our economy :P Focus most of the Newfoundland trip on the west side, / northern peninsula...then take the ferry to Nova Scotia from Port aux Basques.

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts / advice regarding the situation? Again, sorry for the long post!