12 July

Flew into Goose Bay which is the main centre in Labrador, a Canadian province with lots of remote wilderness and remote Inuit and Innu communities. If flying from Deer lake to Goose Bay I suggest sitting on the left side of the plane for magnificent aerial views of the Gros Morne national park and the piece of earth’s mantle.

We were going to be guests of Dr Michael Jong- somewhat of a legend in rural and remote retention in this part of the woods.

The flight wasn’t long but it was on a smaller plane and Ron was seriously focused on the horizon so he didn’t get sick. It didn’t help that the pilot came and grabbed a full sick bag from the seat in front of Ron from the previous flight….

But the scenery was amazing – so much completely uninhabited wilderness and countless lakes.

Beautiful!

Had some fantastic discussions with Dr Michael and his wife Cathy who have played such a big part in building the health services of this region.

They also told us a lot about the Indigenous groups here and their stories of their expeditions with Inuit seal hunters on snowmobiles and coming across polar bears!

Cathy said she loves baking and had baked us an amazing array of homegrown rhubarb tart, butter pecan tarts and bran muffins full of wild picked berries.

13 July- 16 July

Have the most amazing opportunity being invited out on a camp that Dr Jong runs for the junior doctors and some pre med students that involves some teaching and workshops but is also about showing the juniors what great activities they can do here if they live here and encouraging them to stay here as well as some team bonding.

The pre med students are Indigenous students from the Qalipao band of Mikmaq who are encouraged to get into training programs.

So we headed out in a twin otter float plane and flew into the Labrador wilderness to Dr Jongs cabin on a pristine air- access-only lake and river system.

I was a bit concerned when I asked the guy in front of me why he was wearing his own life jacket. He replied that he’d been a Medivac nurse for years in the area and had had too many close calls. He then pointed out the window to the upside down float plane that had tipped over in the bay yesterday… great!

There is no road access and no other habitation but they have an amazing setup like a real fishing lodge with canoes, small power boats, all the fishing gear you need and pretty much everything else you need! The funny thing was Dr Jong talked about this wilderness camp so I pictured something pretty primitive and we turned up to something that seemed like a resort. Everyone thought it was hilarious that I had pictured us roughing it on rations around a kerosene lamp at night.

Had fantastic conversations and interviews with doctors and students and also lots of fishing and canoeing. Ron thought he was in heaven. So far one beautiful big trout has been caught and we’ve all caught some pike. The pike were quite nice due to the lovely clear clean water. Ron and I took the trail out the back of the cabin & down along the river. Just fantastic . This would be total paradise if it wasn’t for the bugs.

The mosquitoes and black flies are so crazy at times that you have to wear these claustrophobic ‘bug shirts’ that are completely enclosed shirt and headnet combined. The black flies are really nasty and actually draw blood and leave a nasty itch.

Parts of the day were different sessions with the young doctors and students and I got the chance to share some of the work I do with junior doctors back home around resilience and also some of my Australian remote Indigenous experiences.. They seemed to appreciate that.

Ron managed to fulfil a long time dream of catching a trout and being the only one this trip to actually catch one properly. He went down the farthest reach of the track and followed the river and hunted that trout- determined to get one, wading into the river Aussie style with no waders! I think he most enjoyed that he was the Aussie who caught it on this little fold up Chinese rod and no fancy gear or lures.

Cooked it up for dinner and then we talked about how they make Bannock bread in this province which sounded like our damper. So it was decided we’d have a competition- Aussie vs Newfoundland / Labrador. I made a beer damper and Mike the ‘Newfie’ made a butter damper. Then we had a blinded taste test with independent judges / it was all a good laugh. The aussies will be pleased to hear that our damper won the judging!

Evenings after sundown when fishing was over were spent playing games like charades and a heap of other ones I’d never heard of. Had an absolute ball. Was a fantastic suprise though when one of the medical students disappeared and then came back dressed as a stereotypical Newfie fisherman and started talking in the slang about jwo we had to be screeched. So being screeched is a Newfoundland tradition of iniation for newcomers involving Screech rum and kissing a cod. So Ron & I and the three mainland Canadian doctors got screeched and had to kiss a trout ( in the absence of a cod) and even got presented with a certificate . Was both touching and hilarious.

On the last day Mike who shares the lodge with Dr Jong, took the little boat out to a small island and said he was going to get the rubbish. Turns out they take the rubbish bags to the island away from the cabin so they don’t attract bears and then just bring it back to take back on the plane. Not a problem I can say I have to deal with at home!

As we waited for our float plane to fly in and land on the lake it felt kind of surreal. We’d just spent four days in the Labradorian wilderness on our own private lake fishing for trout and pike and we’re leaving on the only way out of here on a float plane- and this was part of medical training and orientation!

Back at Goose valley we decided to invest in the ‘bug shirt’ that had made life bearable at fish camp as were told the next stop would be worse. The mosquitoes and black flies are so bad at this time of year up north that people wear these bug suits where you basically zip yourself up entirely in mesh.

So we headed to the Northern Lights hunting and fishing shop affectionately known to the locals as Bras, Bullets and Bongs because as well as hunting gear they also have a side section that is an ‘adult shop’s and drug paraphernalia!

It was a pretty cool shop though with some awesome fishing and camping gear. Got some bug nets and a fishing lure and then had dinner with the pre med students from the camp.