The two Bobs arrived separately into Minneapolis on afternoon commercial flights with Bob Gannon arriving from Las Vegas and Bob Bates arriving from PNG. Lucky Lady Too was parked at Thunderbird Aviation at Flying Cloud Airport after it was given a kick of the tyres and an oil change and grease. A 30 minute taxi ride from the Minneapolis/Saint Paul International Airpost to the GA airport was the order of the day.

WED 14 JULY - FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT - MINNEAPOLIS
We were unable to fly today to Green Bay as we were advised that there was a line of thunderstorms between us and Green Bay and this line contained Tornados, heavy rain, and hail. We spent the night at a Holiday Inn near Flying Cloud.

THU 15 JULY - FLYING CLOUD AIRPORT (KFCM)- GREEN BAY (KGRB) - KITCHENER/WATERLOO (CYKF)- BRAMPTON (TORONTO)- (CNC3)
603 Nautical Miles and 6 hours flight time in the Cessna 182.

We took off to day from Flying Cloud in fine weather flying over flat farming country. We started of as a visual flight but as we got close to Green Bay the weather deterioated and we were required to do an ILS approach flying the back course into Green Bay. Green Bay is located on the western side of Lake Michigan. We decided to wait on the ground at Green Bay to see what the weather was going to do before proceeding on to Toronto. After a couple of hours we decided to proceed. Again we came to a line of thunderstorms that even the jets were diverting up to 100 miles to get around. We had a very co operative radar operator who guided us around the worst of the storms however it added about 45 minutes to the flight. If she had not been willing to help us we could have had a very rough ride. The Canadian customs/immigatration officers at Kitchener/Waterloo were helpful and co operative and made our entry into Canada easy. They said they wern't worried about Ozzies like little Bob over staying in Canada as all the Ozzies in Canada generally returned home when winter approaches. We then flew to Brampton Airport wich is a Genaral Aviation airport near Toronto with a very active flying club. The night was spent at the Marriott in Brampton.

FRI 16 JULY - BRAMPTON (TORONTO)-(CNC3) TO OTTAWA (CYOW)
288 Nautical Miles and 3 hours and 15 minutes flight time in the Cessna 182.

The morning was spent at Brampton Airport with Big Bob doing a TV episode for "The Aviators". This is a TV show that will be aired in September. Big Bob has now become known as Big Tom for Tom Cruise.

We left Brampton (Toronto) at about 1.30 pm and flew down to Niagra falls where we did a few circuits of the falls. The view of the falls was spectacular and there were no other aircraft doing circuits so we had the airspace to ourselves. We then tracked over St. Catharines (CYSN) and onto Toronto's Billy Bishop Airport (CYTZ) which is the airport near the centre of town. From near the Toronto tower and at at 2,500 feet we got some good views of the centre of Toronto. We then headed eastwards along the northern shore of Lake Ontario past Oshawa (CYOO) Trenton (CYTR), Kingston (CTGK), over the 1000 Islands and turned at Brockwell (CNL3) to Ottawa (CYOW).

We checked into a hotel near the airport and and went into the centre of the city. We were impressed by the many castle like buildings in the centre of the city including the parliament house. Some towns in Australia have the big prawn, the big banana, etc.. well Ottawa has the big spider near the National Art Gallery in the center of the city.

We had good weather today and a second day of favourable winds with tail winds of about 20 knots.

SAT 17 JULY - OTTAWA (CYOW) TO MONTREAL, (ST HUBERT) (CYHU) TO QUEBEC CITY (CYQB)
210 Nautical Miles and 2 hours flight time in the Cessna 182.

Another good weather day with with 20 kt tail winds. We started off by doing a city tour of Ottawa from the air at 1,500 feet before taking up a heading for Montreal. Ottawa was a great city with many fine old historical buildings. The Parliament House viewed from the air and shown below is just one of them. Also in the top right section of the photo is the Fairmont Chateau Laurier. We also had a great view of the infamous Ottawa Spider from the air. This will surely be the new Ottawa Icon.

The track took us along the St Lawrence Seaway which we followed for most of the way to Montreal.

We went into St Hubert Airport at Montreal. This is one of the General Aviation airports for Montreal rather than the main international one.

There were parallel runways in operation when we arrived and there were two of us on final. One aircraft was on one runway while we were on the other runway. We were both doing the approach side by side and the controller was comunicating with us in English and the pilot of the other aircraft in French.

After arrival we got a taxi and went into town and soon found out that Montreal was not our kind of town. After about two hours in Montreal we realised that the best thing that we could find to do was to pick the nose of a statue in the tourist area near the river we then went back to the airport and departed for Quebec City.

The Saint Lawrence River/Seaway is one of the most important rivers in North America. It forms the border of the USA and Canada for 200 miles. Originating in the Great Lakes it empties 1,900 miles northeasterly in the Atlantic Ocean.

We arrived in Quebec City about mid day and set about trying the "national dish" of Canada called Poutine. It must be the national dish for there are even fast food chains like Ashtons that sell nothing but Poutine and the food outlets are full of Canadians enjoying the scrumptuous tase of Poutine. Ashtons would be the "McDonalds of Poutine" and we went into Ashtons and ordered a plate of Poutine each. It consisted of chips, gravy and some cheese that tasted like plastic and squeaked between your teeth as you chewed it. It was so filling that we did not want to have any more food for the rest of the day. An appertising plate of poutine is shown below.

There was a music festival on in Quebec City and we walked the streets for five hours to enjoy the festival, to see all the historical bulidings and of course to walk off the effects of Poutine.

While walkinhg around the streets of Quebec City we came across a couple of cats!!

SUN 18 JULY - QUEBEC CITY (CYQB) TO CHARLEVOIX (CYML) TO FORESTVILLE (CYFE) TO SEPT-ILES (CYZV)
311 Nautical Miles and 3 hours and 30 minutes flight time in the Cessna 182.

On our departure from the International airport for Quebec City we could not miss the opportunity of being photographed with some Grumman Goose Water Bombers, together with Lucky Lady Too. We had our life jackets on for the over water flight.

We started off with blue skies and a tail wind and high hopes when we departed from Quebec City, however we started to run into thunderstorms, rain and fog as we approached Sept-Iles so we decided to stop and check out the on route weather past Sept-Iles. It had worsened from when we departed Quebec City so we decided to stay and spend another night in Quebec, this time in Sept-Iles. We hired a car and stayed at the Hotel Sept-Iles which is located on the bank of the Saint Lawrence Seaway.

As we had already tried out the national Canadian dish of Poutine and with time now to spare we decided to try the other Canadian coffee/doughnut chain and icon, Tim Hortons.

We enjoyed Tim Horton's coffee and doughnuts and can understand why Canadians make such a fuss over it. It was cheap as well.

Deer Lake, Newfoundland is about 3 to 4 hours away, we are fueled up and ready to go in the morning if the weather is kind to us.

MON 19 JULY - SEPT-ILES (CYZV) TO DEER LAKE, (CYDF) NEWFOUNDLAND
320 Nautical Miles and 3 hours and 10 minutes flight time in the Cessna 182.

We had good weather for the flight with tail winds. However there is a lot of fog around making it difficult to get into some airports.

We arrived at Deer Lake before noon and drove to Rocky Harbour and spent the day at Gros Morne National Park.

We went on a boat tour of Western Brook Pond which did not finish until 9.45 pm (the sun was still up). We then had a 45 minute walk back to where the car was parked. So at 10.30 pm, after driving back to Rocky Harbour we then started to look for somewhere to stay for the night. Unfortunately every place we tried was full until somone mentioned that a lady was trying to rent her house out for the night. We telephoned her and she moved out and let us both in for $120 for the night. We each had our own room, a warm house and plenty of hot water. The lady, her name was Vidi just told us to leave the key in the house and don't lock the door and she would come back sometime the next day. She had not turned up by the time we had left.

TUE 20 JULY - DEER LAKE, (CYDF) NEWFOUNDLAND
There was no flying to day because of weather.

Today we had hoped to fly up to Saint Anthony's to see the old Viking settlement but the weather turned bad on us again with low cloud, mist and rain. We waited around until noon in Deer Lake and then decided to give it away for the day and find somewhere to stay in Deer Lake. Accommodation is at a premium in Deer Lake as it would appear to be the "tourist season" however we managed to get a motel not far from the airport. We are hoping that tomorrow will bring better weather, but we will have to give St Anthony's a miss and go to where the weather is finer, possibly to Goose Bay in Labrador.

As it was Toonie Tuesday, and as there was no flying to day, we decided to try out a local Neufy bar called Rockwood. You could get any drink for a Toonie (Hense Toonie Tuesday), and a toonie is two loonies and a loonie is a CAD$. You could also get three drinks for $5 so we elected to buy three for $5. We tried the infamous local Neufy drink of Screech, they were less than a toonie a shot.

We had of course to also try some chips with gravy on them, everyone in Canada loves that stuff, it must be a national dish.

WED 21 JULY - DEER LAKE (CYDF), NEWFOUNDLAND TO ST. ANTHONY (CYAY), TO MARY'S HARBOUR (CYMH), TO FOX HARBOUR (CCK4), TO WILLIAMS HARBOUR (CCA6), TO PORT HOPE SIMPSON (CCP4), TO CHARLOTTETOWN (CCH4), TO BLACK TICKLE (CCE4), TO CARTWRIGHT (CTCA), TO GOOSE BAY/HAPPY VALLEY (CYYR).
536 Nautical Miles and 6 hours and 30 minutes flight time in the Cessna 182.

We woke to almost clear skies and after refueling we were in the air by 9.00 am. We flew along the coast and did a total of 8 landing at the above airports. We also did 8 takeoffs and arrived at Goose Bay in Labrador about 4.00 pm. We still have about 6 hours of sun for at these high lattitudes the sun does not set until about 10.00 pm.

At Mary's Harbour we started to run into the first of a number of ice bergs along the coast and the locals in Mary's Harbour were complaining about the heat. It was about 20 degrees.

Outside one of the coffee stop along the way was this bear trap. Apparently black bears were a problem in the area and this was the solution that the locals worked out to trap the bears.

We flew over many lakes of all sizes and considering that we were approaching the end of July we were surprised at the amount of snow that was still around on the ground.

THU 22 JULY - GOOSE BAY/HAPPY VALLEY (CYYR) TO RIGOLET (CCZ2), TO MAKKOVIK (CYFT), TO POSTVILLE (CCD4), TO HOPEDALE (CYHO), TO NATUASHISH (CNH2), TO NAIN (CYDP), TO KUUJJUAQ (CUVP) (QUEBEC).
535 Nautical Miles and 6 hours and 10 minutes flight time in the Cessna 182.

We left Goose Bay early and we had fine weather but strong head winds which slowed our progress, fortunately we had 18 hours of sun up so the daylight is long.

The next seven airstrips that we landed on were all very isolated. None of them had road access to each other nor road access to other parts of Canada. All the ones in Labrador were along the east coast and for 6 months of the year when the sea freezes over they have no sea access either. All supplies etc. like fuel can only be brought in during the summer months when the sea lanes are open. They all have airstrips but the air fares from each of these places to the main centre of Goose Bay are very expensive and some of the locals were quoting $1,000 to go to Goose Bay. There was no Avgas available for us so we purchased some car petrol at Postville. All these towns had a population of between sixty and two hundred people, however Nain had about 2,000 people living there. The following photo is of Postville and all the towns looked similar to this.

The flight through Labrador was spectacular with many lakes, fjords and mountains which still had the remains of winter snow on them.

Our Last stop for the day was in northern Quebec and on the Unagava Bay lies a small town of about 2,000 people called Kuujjunq. These are Inuit people, indeginous to this land. They have the symbol of “Inukshuk” which means “man look alike”. Many of these towns and villages have this symbol made out of large rocks welcoming you as you enter the town.

FRI 23 JULY - KUUJJUAQ (CUVP), TO AUPALAK (CYLA), TO KANGIRSUK (CYAS), TO KANGIQSUJUAQ (CYKG), TO PUVIRNITUQ (CYPX).
346 Nautical Miles and 3 hours and 30 minutes flight time in the Cessna 182.

We are well and truly in the Nunavik region of Quebec.

We called into Kangiqsujuaq for a drum of Avgas and lunch. Some geologists in the area invited us into their mess for lunch and we were served with a delightful meal.

Kangiqsujuaq is about 62 degrees north and will be the highest lattitude that we reach. It is about 250 nautical miles south of the Arctic Cirale. From here we headed west to check out the Pingualuit Crater.

The Pingualuit Crater is about 3400 meters across and is one of the most debated craters found on earth. it is believed to be about 1.4 million years old and the depth is 252 meters. The raised rim is about 163 meters above the lake. One view believes that the crater was caused by a meteorite that came down with the strength of 8500 Atomic bombs. the other view is that the crater was formed from a volcano. The reason for such a debate over this crater is becaue there is no real proof for either one of the creater creation stories. There are no meteorite remains to be found and there are no strong forms of volcanic birth. Regardless as to what happened the fact remains that there was a large explosion that had to have occurred to develop this deformation of the earth.

After about 50 miles after leaving the crater area we looked down and saw a heard of caribou.

There were many thousands of caribou some had calfs with them and all part of the large heard. About the middle if the heard were crossing a river. The leaders had stopped and were grazing while those bringing up the tail were about 10 kilometers behind, the width of the heard would have generally been about 100 meters wide, except when they were crossing the river.

Movie one taken from Lucky Lady Too of the Caribou

Movie two taken from Lucky Lady Too of the Caribou

Movie one taken from Lucky Lady Too of the Caribou

We flew around them for a while, took a couple of photos and then headed for Puvirnituq on the eastern side of Hudson Bay. By this time the weather had started to deteroriate with low cloud and rain. We managed to just get into Puvirnituq and if we had been about 10 minutes later we may not have been able to land and would have had to go somewhere else for the night.

We caught a school bus to a place in in Puvirnituq that had a bed but it had no restuarant or other facilities, the bed was rather expensive at CAD$323.00 for the night. There was never anyone at reception all the time we were there but there was a kitchen where we could cook. We finally got into a room by giving someone in Montreal our credit card details and in return we were given a room number and a code that we could punch into the door lock and get into the room. We now needed some fine weather again in the morning.

SAT 24 JULY - PUVIRNITUQ (CYPX), TO INUKUJAK (CYPH), TO UMIUJAQ (CYMU), TO KUUJJUARAPIK (CYGW), TO LE GRANDE RIVIERE (CYGL) .
410 Nautical Miles and 4 hours and 10 minutes flight time in the Cessna 182.

To day we started to head south down the east coast of Hudson Bay and back towards civilization.

The original inhabitants of this area were Cree and 90% of the people still living here are Cree. They have their own written language and are most friendly. Even though they are part of Quebec their main languages would be Cree and English, not French.

From Le Grande Riviere there is a road that links into the Canadian Road System and this is the first place we have been to that has had an access road since we left Goose Bay in Labrador. Located here is the worlds largest underground Hydro electric power station, it produces 25% of Quebec's energy.

SUN 25 JULY - LE GRANDE RIVIERE (CYGL) TO MOOSONEE (CYMO) to TIMMINS (CYTS).
385 Nautical Miles and 4 hours flight time in the Cessna 182.

Le Grande Riviere was fogged in this morning and this delayed our departure. However as it did not seem to be getting any better we left about 10.00 am and conducted an IFR flight as far as Moosonee. Fortunately the temperature remained above zero but we did keep the carburetor heat on for the duration of the flight.

At Moosonee we caught a dingy and went over to Moose Factory which is on and island in the Moose River and is the location where the Hudson Bay company started their fur trading operation in the 1700's. How could anyone go to Moosonee without going to a nearby town with the name of Moose Factory.

From Moosonee we tracked south to Timmins and decided to stay the night here. Timmins is the home town of Sharna Twain and is also famous for the large gold mine in the area which has been operating continuously for 100 years.

MON 26 JULY - TIMMINS (CYTS), TO CHAPLEAU (CYLD), SAULT STE. MARIE (CYAM), TO CHIPPEWA (KCIU), TO SCHOOLCRAFT (KISQ), TO WASHINGTON ISLAND (2P2), TO EPHRAM (3D2), TO GREEN BAY (KGRB), TO OHSKOSH (KOSH).
384 Nautical Miles and 4 hours flight time in the Cessna 182.

At Sault Ste. Marie we hired a car and went into town to check out the bush pilots museum. It had a great selection of older aircraft that were used in the development of "outback" Canada.

We cleared USA customs at Chippewa and they were most helpful. They checked the aircraft with a geiger counter for any radiation coming from it in case we had at atomic bomb on board.

The arrival at Oshkosh was something else. The instructions that they issued us with said that once we reached the VFR entry points of Rippon & Fisk we had to follow the aircraft in front of us and stay about a half mile behind it. We could see about five aircraft ahead all following one another and then suddenly three aircraft came in from the right hand side and squuzed in between us and the aircraft we were following. We were instructed not to talk to anyone and to vigourously rock our wings at any radio communciations that were directed at us. This we did. All aircraft simply following instructions from air traffic controllers located on the ground looking up at the continuous line of aircraft coming in for landing. The officials tell us that between 10,000 and 15,000 aircraft arrive and depart from Oshkosh in this manner over the Oshkosh air show.

After landing we set up our camp beside Lucky Lady Too and watched the show and the exhibitions set up by the equipment and aircraft manufactures.

TUE 27 JULY - OSHKOSH (KOSH).

The day was spent at the Oshkosh Air Show, it is an event that every pilot should attend at least once in their lifetime. The control tower boast as being the worlds busiest control tower. They ranged from homebuilts to microlites, to GA airctaft to WWI and WWII airctaft to the latest in executive jets. One could have a flight in a WWII B-17 or even a Ford Tri Motor.

Aircraft were landing and departing all day at the rate of one every 5 to 10 seconds and on one occasion during the air show we counted 50 aircraft in the air at the same time from where we were standing.

WED 28 JULY - OSHKOSH (KOSH) TO GREEN BAY (KGRB).
35 Nautical Miles and 20 minutes flight time in the Cessna 182.

After departing from Oshkosh we could look back through a hole in the clouds and see all the aircraft parked inside the airport. The photo shows about half of the airport for there is another runway (09/27) that is not visible and it has a similar number of aircraft parked around it as well.

This was our third landing at Green Bay and this was also where we finally split up. Big Bob left with Lucky Lady Too to go onto his family in Iowa while Little Bob headed to Princeton to see Michael before heading back to PNG.

HOME