TJDIXI

Hi

I'm a first time poster but a long time reader, well sort of.

My family and I are moving to Canada later this year. My wife has been offered a job as a nurse and the provincial nominee process is well under way. It's been a dream of mine to live in North America and I'm looking forward to taking the leap of faith and moving to Labrador and moreover Happy Valley Goose Bay. My cousions are both Canadian and have always spoke quite highly of the country. We're looking for the detached sort of living and with a bit of wilderness outside our back door. From what I know of HVGB I should have that and more.

Whilst my wife is going to work at present i'll be unemployed. My job in the UK is not a massively desirable one, although it is well paid. I work in a university as a welfare adviser. I'm willing to accept that I won't find many jobs in HVGB in that sort of area, so it looks like i'll be a house daddy/husband for a while. I was wondering if anyone else on here has experience of being a house husband and what they did to ensure they didn't start bouncing off the walls or if you did advice on what not to do.

I'm also interested in doing a university course. Possibly a masters level as I already have my bachelors with honours. I was wondering if anybody had any advice on becoming a student and how the student financing works with regards to fees etc. and whether I'd be able to start studying. Were all going to be on permanant visas and we fully intend to stay long enough so that citizenship could become an option.

I'm also looking for some clothing shops that sell winter clothing so that I can do a price comparison with what I've got and where I get it from. Also if anyone could offer advice on the clothing needed for Labrador then I'd be grateful. We have a lot of wet winter clothing already but I wonder to what degree we need to go to.

Cheers all.

clynnog

Good luck with it all...here are the climate stats...

http://climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.c...6777&autofwd=1

You realize that you are picking one of the snowiest place in Canada. 458 cm of snow per year and based on the average temps, it probably sticks around all winter (looks like from late October/early November until sometime in May. You probably won't need AC for the summer.

TJDIXI

Thanks for the link.

Does anyone have any links for cold clothing shops? I was looking to compare and contrast the prices I've got to see if it's worth upgrading what we've got.

iaink

Walmart / Zellers is where most residents get their winter gear. You dont really need fancy gear, layers is the key.

If you want fancy expedition rated gear, then the MEC is the default option.

www.mec.ca

For more utilitarian wear (with online pricing) Marks Work Warehouse is a good option.

www.marks.ca

dbd33

Is that number right? I make that less than 300". I know where my deranged child is living, in the US, they get 1,000"+ and would have thought parts of Canada would be at least as snowy.

Auld Yin

We're looking for the detached sort of living and with a bit of wilderness outside our back door. From what I know of HVGB I should have that and more.

You've certainly got that right. Are you fully aware how isolated is this community? From what I read it doesn't even have a paved road into it. Snowmobiles are de rigueur in winter and if you want to "get out" it requires air travel or a long gravel road/ferry journey. I imagine 4WD vehicles are also the norm. If your family can live/adapt to such a lifestyle then I'm sure it will be very rewarding. As far as clothing is concerned your rain wear will be much needed but you're going to have to outfit the family in serious level winter clothing.

Steve_P

There you go, you learn something every day.

Canada's snowiest "city" according to Environment Canada is Gander with an average snowfall of 443.13cm (174.5").

I guess Happy Valley-Goose Bay is not big enough to rate.

http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/weather/winne...ent.cfm?lang=e Snowiest city is 17th on the list.

Where might your deranged daughter be living? A thousand inches is 83 feet, have you got proof of that claim? It seems a tad outrageous.

dbd33

Girdwood, Alaska. I concede that the 1,000" is exceptional, if oft quoted in the tourist brochures, but the average is over 600" so I'm surprised that there's nowhere in Canada that gets several hundred inches.

clynnog

I imagine that the 443 cm in Gander doesn't stick around as long and as deep as the amount in Goose Bay.

I was at Crater Lake Oregon this summer and they get somewhere between 1100 and 1300 cm per year....

There may be snowier places in Canada but few if any people live there. I'm not counting ski resorts.

Steve_P

I still think someone is pulling your p*sser.

According to the Western Region Climate Center Girdwood Alaska average snowfall from 1955 to 1978 was 121.9" per year. http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?ak3283

I can't imagine anything between 1978 and now, including climate change increasing that average to 600" per year.

dbd33

Hang on, the record annual snowfall where we are, Dufferin County ON, is 174". I'd think Labrador much more snowy than around the GTA, you sure something didn't go wrong in converting the number for Gander to metric?

Steve_P

You'll have to ask Environment Canada.

But you're comparing apples to oranges.

Average snowfall at Gander to record snowfall in Dufferin County...hardly a fair comparison.

dbd33

"Over 283" of the most sought after commodity in Girdwood fell during December 2006. The previous record was from January 2001 at 274".

http://girdwood.net/

Alyeska received 283 inches of snow – almost 24 feet – in December, breaking the previous monthly record of 274 inches set in January 2001 and far exceeding the previous December record of 247 inches in 2003.

http://www.firsttracksonline.com/ind...splay&sid=1223

Not that I'm excited one way or the other, it's just that "1000 inches" stuck in my head and I was surprised to see a place I thought was snowy, Gander, has relatively little.

Steve_P

Aaah so we are talking ski resorts not actual populated areas.

dbd33

Granted, but last year, not a wild one, we had 130" (Proton Station on the Environment Canada site) so, again, I'd have thought the number for Gander higher.