Dreamscapes Travel & Lifestyle

W hen renowned bush pilot, Ted Grant, invited us to visit "his" Northwest Territories we jumped at the opportu- nity to explore a magnifi cent part of Canada and check off a long-time wish on our personal "bucket lists." Much of our interest lay in the avia- tion heritage that has sustained a way of life here since the advent of fl ight. Thus imagine our delight as we arrived in Yellowknife to be welcomed by a true pioneer of aviation in the North. Yvonne Quick was, in her younger years, a former bush pilot and fl ight-school operator. She is still chairperson of Yellowknife's bi-annual "Midnight sun Float plane Fly-In" and was recently honoured for her commitment to northern aviation. Yvonne is an ambassador for Northwest Territories Tourism and had a wealth of information to share on the local culture, ensuring we visited some key attractions before continuing on our evening fl ight to Fort Simpson. Our fi rst stop was the Prince of Wales Northern heritage Centre. opened by prince Charles in 1979, this magnifi cent structure houses the territorial museum, archives and taxidermy displays of northern wildlife. here tourists can get a valuable insight into the history of the land and peoples making up the Northwest Territories. Close by, a visit to the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre revealed a bustling location fi lled with a tempting array of First Nations' history and crafts. Knowing our interest in aviation, Yvonne had arranged for a visit to the home of ice pilots' Buffalo airways. We felt we were on a movie set as we viewed the vintage dC-3s and a dC-4 maintained and operated daily by Buffalo. These wonderful old planes have been painstakingly restored— some having served in the Battle of Britain and d-day. Buffalo owns about 56 aircraft in its fl eet to fulfi ll a role that includes international charters, cargo and passenger service to remote communities in the North, and fi re suppression with Canadair and douglas water bombers. aviators love to "talk planes" and owner "Buffalo Joe" McBryan and his ThE NoRThWEsT TERRIToRIEs aN aVIaToR's dREaM B y va l e r i e m a r S h a l l a n D a D a m S a u n D e r S tHe territorieS Have been HoMe to Many aviation pioneerS. 38 s p r i n g 2 0 1 4

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