Making our way to the plane in Thompson
Our second day in Thompson started very promising. After an early breakfast we checked out of our hotel and made our way to the airport. This is not the “big” airport, where the Calm Air planes land. This airport is a couple of cabins and some, what looks to a non expert like me, randomly parked planes. The plane models here have exotic names like Twin Otter, Beaver and Caravan. As you can tell, I have a. no clue about any planes and b. apparently not enough appreciation for the subject. So the best thing to do, when travelling with a group of man, is to not show your total ignorance, and throw in the occasional sound of amazed astonishment. Wow….coooooool….. ohhhhh
Mandy, the dog owner, with the puppy.
First hurdle to overcome was the fact that we were overweight. Honestly, I knew that prior to coming out here, no need to be rude…..
Ok ok, they meant our luggage, food supplies etc. We left behind what ever we thought would not be required until the next plane could come out to the lodge. A moment of shock was, when we realised the wine would not make it to the lodge either. I guess I don’t need to tell you that the pockets on a winter parker are big. So we grabbed a bottle each and entered the plane.
Flying past
We took off, looking forward to a 2h flight where we might be able to spot some wildlife and beautiful landscapes and finally reach our home for the next 10 days, the Nanuk lodge.
Sadly it was not meant to be. After about 90 miles our pilot had to turn around, since the plane was icing up. As you might imagine, none of us were happy, but we all understand that safety has to come first. We went back to the hotel, very long faced and sad. We wouldn’t get another chance of flying out this day, since the wind was picking up.
After lunch Colleen and Mike presented us with the plan for the rest of the day. To keep us entertained they organised some dog sledding for us. We dressed up as warm as possible and drove to the kennels, where we did dog sledding with some racing dogs. And they indeed were racing-fast. Obviously it’s a photo tour, so we tried to get some nice shots too, while waiting. The absolute star of the compound was a little puppy, and everybody gave her lots of cuddles.
You’ve got something on your face
We came back on time for some appetiser and pre-dinner drinks and looked through some of the pictures we took during the day. At that point I should possibly mention that Felix and myself are right at the bottom of the skill scale, compared to everybody else. Poor Jad gets constantly bombarded with questions 😉
The weather has now also taken a turn for the worse and with severe weather warnings us flying out to Nanuk is rather unlikely. Fingers crossed the blizzard passes quickly.