mandymoochops

Small towns don't have a couple of good restaurants. Normally they have a fast food place and a local cafe!!!!! you definitely need access to a city if you want that sort of thing.

Hmmm motorcross??? Lots of people i know have dirt bikes but they take them out into the boonies with friends for weekends and ride there (which means you will need a trailer!)

Get quads or sleds, you'll have more scope for that rush of adreniline!

Lychee

Have you tried using Google Street View at any of the communities you're researching?

iaink

The fact that there is no streetview of Labrador City or FtMac probably illustrates their remoteness anyway

Lychee

Precisely.

energysolutions

Good points

So just how expensive is insurance? Where I live in the UK insurance has always been ridiculous - I once was quoted £7200 on a car worth £4000 after I wrote the previous car off

And what price is fuel over there?

energysolutions

Yeah, but as iaink has already pointed out its not possible to view all the areas

energysolutions

What way does health service work in Canada? Is it a state run effort or does each individual take out a private insurance policy?

energysolutions

Surely Labrador would have some restaurants? I understand that the smaller towns might be lacking

Can I ask what "boonies" are? In the UK I have a car (which wifey drives 95% of the time) and a van (which I use for everything including work) - I would probably hope to have a similar setup in Canada

I`ve been watching snowmobiles on you tube tonight and it looks cool - just as well if Labrador is as cold and snowy as some have suggested!

iaink

Healthcare has a wiki and numerous threads on it out there, so probably best not to sidetrack this thread. Basically each province has its own mandatory insurance that covers the basics, but not generally prescription drugs or dental. Many (not all) employers offer insurace benefits to fill the gaps. Each province is a little different, and there is basically nothing like BUPA to go around the provincial care, unless you are wealthy enough to go to the States and pay your way there (insurance to cover that is not permitted under Canadian law)

Many threads on car insurance too.

Gas in civilisation is about $1.20-$1.30 a litre. You can probably google sites that have prices in the back of beyond.

Car insurance here is a total rip off. Ive 14 years of no claims here and still pay over a grand a year. New drivers with no track record (and no claims) routinely pay three or four times that. I was reading a Cdn driving magasine that had insurance quotes for the cars it was reviewing for 3 types of drivers... the cheapest quote for the 19year old with 2 clean years was about $7k on some entry level Kia! At the high end they were being quoited $37k a year for insurance on a $50k mercedes!

Most newcomers are happy to get change out of $4k it seems...


I dont get snowmobiling myself, just looks like a way to go deaf and get accelerated frostbite at the same time. Here in SE Ontario the snowfall coverage has become so unpredictable many years my neighbours only get out a couple of times locally anyway, the rest of the time that have to tow north to find trails. They all have ATVs now, fun regardless of whats on the ground, and usefull to plow the driveway too when it does snow.

Lychee

http://www.yellowpages.ca/search/si/...brador+City+NL

Lychee

Here's a blog post (published mere weeks ago) about the road to Labrador City (including petrol prices):

http://cesarabeid.com/footage-labrador-city-drive/

Here's another person's first impression of Labrador City (published this past June):

http://www.notyouraverageroadtrip.co...rans-labrador/

iaink

On the subject of the trans labrador highway, thats where this pic was originally taken...

Atlantic Xpat

Should IOC offer you a job, I strongly urge you to visit Lab City prior to signing on the dotted line. It is very much small town Canada, with the added pressure of a resource boom. I imagine it is isolated (although, unlike the island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador, one can at least drive to the rest of Canada/US) and expensive to travel to and from. Summers will be hot but short, winters will be long and cold.

A few useful websites:
http://www.labradorwest.com/default....angeSite&sid=1
http://www.theaurora.ca/
http://www.newlabrealty.com/

AX

mandymoochops

Boonies - out in the bush in the middle of nowehere! In Canada if you want toys such as bikes / sleds / quads you will likely be swapping your van for a pick up, and the wife will decide she might want an SUV!

bats

You might want to take into consideration how far from a hospital these towns are.