Hi all,
I am new to this and have spent many hours(too many actually) reading a variety of threads so i thought i would have a go at asking some questions.
We have recently had medicals and now await the final stage, visas! So all being well we are set to come to Canada next year, assuming house sells ok.

We are considering the Shuswap/Okanagan region and are looking at various places such as Kelowna, Vernon, Salmon Arm or Kamloops. We did visit a couple of these 2 years ago but as we were still in the very early stages of immigration we did not really spend much time researching the important things like schools, colleges, jobs etc.
My question is does anybody have anything good or bad to say about these destinations. Any information would be useful.

Thanks

Nigel

There are a few folks on this site who live in those areas, so they are the ones best placed to help. We have only visited BC, much like yourselves, and went to Revelstoke, Salmon Arm and Vernon.

I found Salmon Arm to be 'developing' Parts of it were nice, parts not so.
Vernon gave a different impression. Bigger, more developed growth and an attractive 'high street'. I liked the look of Vernon, but again, its only my superficial impressions.

Its so so hard to choose a location, based on brief visits isn't it. If you can rent short term to give yourselves a chance to really suss areas out, thats probably wise.
Best of luck

Nigel talk to the people on this site. They are a great bunch of people and many live in the area with first hand experience.

http://www.accessokanagan.com/

Paul

The area just north of Vernon has severe water quality problems... the supply is "Duteau Creek", and you have to boil the water much of the time. If you move to the Okanagan Valley.... be sure to check on the water quality of your area before buying a house.

http://www.salmonarm.myezrock.com/node/336709

This is a year-round problem.... and not just during the spring snow melt.

There is also a Yahoo group for Kelowna but I don't think it is as active as the above.

Thanks to all those replies it is nice to hear a variety of information although the bit about water quality is a bit worrying.
I have been looking on the accessokanagan site and this is very helpful too.

We are hoping to visit all these places and more in December/January so we can get a feel for them in the winter. So if anybody has any suggestions on any places that are a must to visit whilst over then let me know.

Regards
Nigel.

I wouldn't let the water quality issue stop you, but you should be aware of it. Regardless of where you go, I would buy a refrigerator with a water/ice dispenser and get a reverse osmosis unit to filter water to it..... that way, you don't have to worry. I have such a system for my home in Mexico and it is great.

Hi Nigel,
I'm in Kelowna and the only water problems we've got at the moment are that the lake is getting to cold to swim in
If there's any info I can help you out on, please let me know.

Thanks for the offer, i am sure that lots more questions will pop into my head, the trouble is that usually happens in the middle of the night or when i am out driving so by the time i get back to the pc i have forgotten.
I assume that the lake is normally ok to swim in during July/August?

Nigel.

Yeah it's really nice in the summer. We were in there last weekend and it was still warm, but it's turned a bit colder this week, down to about 24.
I'm not the best person to ask for information about the area though, as I don't have anything negative to say about it

Is that the air temperature or water temp??

Hi Nigel,

We moved to Coldstream (nr. Vernon) about 1 month ago and we love it here. The climate is great and there is loads to do ,although as far as advice goes there are people on this forum who have much more experience living in the Okanagan than we do at the moment.
If there is anything you are curious about regarding Vernon and
district I will do my best to help out.
If you like Winter sports and are coming this Dec/Jan, there is great skiing etc, at Silver Star (Vernon) and Big White (Kelowna).

Thanks
The one thing that we have never done is to ski so we are really looking forward to learning that and just enjoying the snow. May sound daft but when you live in the south of England you rearly see snow and when it does come it has melted before you can get the door open!!

Nigel

thanks for the mention...the website is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Brits2Kelowna
...we are just a wee little group at the moment about 30 members but we are growing!