turfey21

Hiya,

Can I ask what made yoy choose Toronto out of the whole of Canada. Thw hole country is beautiful and I have yet to visit Toronto. I am thinking about British Columbia but must visit Toronto before making a decision.

Thanks for your words, they sound very simialr to ours when we returned from BC.

Kelly

balesy

We chose Toronto to visit, firstly as the airfare was cheap, secondly we thought visiting a big city would give us an indication of the busiest part of the culture and thirdly we have been thinking of moving to Ontario as it's near enough to England for us to visit our folks or ask them to come out. Saying that my Mum doesn't like flying and has health problems so she probably couldn't fly anyway.

I know what you're saying, the west coast sounds like it has all the beautiful scenery, if I'm honest, I was a little disappointed that Ontario was so flat. I'm sure the higher north you go in Ontario would have been more hilly? But the beautiful lakes made up for the lack of hills.

We didn't get to hire a car as we forgot the driving licence but it would have been nice to drive around and see other places.
As far as which area of Ontario we would settle in, I think we have to go again, this time with the kids, maybe hire a motor home and travel around.
A guy, resting in our hotel lounge was a driver who lives in Kingston, which sounds beautiful. I have since looked at the town on the Web and it looks lovely. There is a big hospital there (I'm a nurse) and factories not too far for my husband who's a fitter(millwright). The house prices are cheap too. This guy told us of people moving from Toronto and buying houses outright and going into semi-retirement as they can afford to do it in Kingston.
We would like to go and see Vancouver, Alberta, and many other places but it's all time and money.
Eventually if we do get out there we will only be renting until we find the right place for us.
As you say Canada is a vast beautiful country and if I didn't have my mum left in England it would be even harder to decide which part to settle in.

Rete

You have to try the Gateneau Hills in Quebec (outside of Ottawa). Lovely mountain ranges. My niece-in-law rents a house on the top of a mountain there and it is breathtaking. Also have loved the New Brunswick area of Canada. Not too fussy on Nova Scotia. Lovely to visit with the stepson and stepgrandson who live in Halifax but not an area I would choose to live in. They were hit hard this past year with the Hurricane and then above averge snowfalls.

Agree with you that Canadians are a friendly and courteous people. Go to Canada at least three times a year to visit family in Montreal, stepson in Nova Scotia and to check out hubby's townhouse outside of Ottawa. Have enjoyed Canada Day on the 1st of July in Ottawa. What a great celebration. And the Winterlude in February with the snow and ice sculptures and skating on the Rideau Canal and the Tulip Festival in May.

Just a shame that the Canadian government won't allow me to live there because of past health problems.

My loss as well as theirs ;-(

Rete

oceanMDX

In southern Ontario the area west of Collingwood is rather hilly. It's around "Blue Mountain", which is a ski resort in the winter.

http://www.bluemountain.ca/index.htm

Of course, western Alberta's Rocky Mountains have scenery unparalleled in the rest of Canada.

Tiaribbon

Glad you enjoyed yourself Balesy. It is a pretty nice place Canada isn't it....but the thing that really makes Canada is the people. They are so nice and have a good sense of humour.

I bet you are dying to get back out there.

Tia

balesy

just been looking at prices for august for all the family! Got our photos back yesterday and i can't stop looking at them.
balesy

balesy

just been looking at the site you kindly passed on. It looks fantastic! Thanks
Balesy

oceanMDX

Please post them!

Blue Mountain has a resort that lets you explore their caves. The Indians used to store their game meat in these caves because they remain very cool even in the heat of summer. The caves are very narrow and not all that long - but interesting to see. Also, just west of Blue Mountain is part of the "Bruce Trail" (as in "Bruce County" Ontario. You get an awesome view from nearby "Nottawasaga Lookout" (part of the Bruce Trail) of Nottawasaga Bay - which is the southern part of Georgian Bay. The shoreline of Nottawasaga Bay has the longest freshwater beach in the world (Wasaga Beach). The Bruce Trail is 800 km. of hiking trails. You saw Niagara Falls; this is just a river dropping from the Niagara Escarpment which starts at the falls and ends at the tip of the Bruce peninsula at Tobermory. It is this escarpment which forms the "Bruce Trail".

http://www.brucetrail.org/index.asp?id={E66FB2D0-2550-4D3D-8EF0-287002BFAA5F}

http://bcc.scdsb.on.ca/depart/geo/cc...og/beaches.htm

oceanMDX

http://www.brucetrail.org/aboutus.asp?id={C5C83819-ECDF-4C10-8F5F-4837BAE17CCF}

More about the Bruce Trail.

Another area you must see is the Barrie, Wasaga Beach, Collingwood, Blue Mountain to Owen Sound area of Ontario. This area is near the southern shore of Nottawasga Bay. Of course, you didn't have enough time to see this part of Ontario - you had your plate full with Toronto and the Niagara region.

oceanMDX

Now that I mentioned a resort, here's a 5-star one located in a very beautiful area (hundreds of lakes) of Ontario.

http://www.deerhurst.ca/

This resort is where Shania Twain got her start before she hit it big.

mickj

Just got back from the weekend drives as usual, and today we were in Niagara, NOTL, Grimsby, Stoney Creek St Catherines. I must say all these areas are nice and have good schools, and would be immigrants should check them out.

We some lovely houses in Grimsby and met a few Brits there on a fact finding mission, we chatted and had a drink together.

It was then on to Niagara on the lake, where the weather was good, and we had lunch at the STAGECOACH ( which is a cheap family restaurant ), which is just across the road from the prince of wales hotel.

There are some nice properties in these areas, and most of you that don't like big cities, should check them out. Grimsby for example has a poln of 20k.

mad bunny

Hi,
Ocean MDX,
Did I hear Time Share!

oceanMDX

I don't know what you heard. As far as I know, none of these resorts are timeshare. Do you know otherwise?

Maybe some of these places in Ontario should get into timesharing.

CDNReturner

Yes, there are timeshares in these areas already. I think my sister owns one around Collingwood somewhere and I've done exchanges into 2 others in past years but I can't remember where just now.