john fiona

hi there evereryone,let me introduce myself to you all... my name is john i live in the uk with my wife fiona and 2 daughters kate (15) and megan(11). me and my wife are 36 years old. we have decided that the uk has took its toll on us for long enough and in the summer 2010 have our goal to move to vancouver island. my wife is a teaching assistant/ nursery nurse and i am a welder. not knowing a great lot about the island can anyone help with imformation on best places to live? is education good on the island? is there many jobs available for welders and ta's? we have read loads of books on the island but its not up to date info on job prospects etc. basically we are trying to get a feel for our future home from people who are currently there.
any help would be very appreciated. thankyou.

Katie76

Hiya,

Well,.. I don't live on Vancouver Island, I actually live in the UK , but have researched quite abit there having been offered work. We were thinking of staying temporarily for a couple of years with our children, still may do sometime later in the future (who knows),..but we're in no rush, we've decided to stay here for the time being, as life in the UK for us is going well.

I think regarding to education, there's always going to good and bad wherever you go. I researched into afew schools, though never visited them (so my choice I guess isn't much use), some guys here live in Vancouver Island, they're sure to help you out there.

I called afew co's in Vancouver Island regarding work for myself, and they were very helpful. My partner is an experienced self employed Plasterer and gaining experience in Venetian Stucco, he also works in pretty much all round construction and from what I believe both Vancouver and Vancouver Island has a high demand for Construction Workers, I doubt you'll find it hard to find work for yourself, seems plenty.

After you've called different co's that specialise in Welding, it'll be a good idea to send forward details of your resume and build up a portfolio of your work. Unsure whether you'd really need to build a portfolio of work for welding, but you catch my drift, (anything to your advantage).

With regard to your wife, I have no idea about work for TA's. Hopefully, somebody else here has some info on that.

Location - Well,.. personal choice. We were looking into both Cowichan Valley (which looks really pretty and seems great for families), and having Victoria as a base to work which is roughly about 45mins drive away (which was no prob's for us seeing what we're used to here in the UK). Victoria seems like a nice place to live too, though you'll find the properties to be more pricey, but then that's expected for a City.

Good luck with everything and hope you're able to find something suitable .

gloveman

Hi and welcome - we moved to Vancouver Island May 2007 and love it. It certanly isn't perfect but we wouldn't consider going back to the UK. We have two girls aged 12 and 13 and have no complaints about their schools albeit some of the attitudes are different to that in the UK. What part of the Island are you looking at?

gloveman

Some websites you might find useful for info are Service Canada Job Bank, monster.ca, Career Click and BCjobnetwork.com. Good luck.

john fiona

hi, thank you all for getting back to me. regarding where to live, well any where on the island thats safe. thinking of parksville or nanaimo or inland? where are you based gloveman? thanks, john

gloveman

We're in the Comox Valley - 20 mins from Mount Washington and less than 5 mins to the sea. It seems to have just about everything that we need and Victoria is only about 3 hours away if you need the occasional retail therapy trip. Three hours may seem a lot by UK standards but by Canadian ones, it is very close! Parksville and Nanaimo are both great places but they weren't for us. We got the impression that Parksville was for the retired and Nanaimo is the place we catch the ferry. Everyone is looking for something different and I am sure you will find the place that suits you. If we can help with any info this end, please let us know.

bananahammock

Hi John & Fiona, we're in Nanaimo with kids that were similar in age to yours when we got here I'm an EA which is similar to a TA in the UK ..... if you use the search function you will find a wealth of info on most of your questions, anything else ~ just give us a shout ......

maddhobs

Hi, we live in the Cowichan Valley, between Victoria and Nanaimo, and love living here. We have been here 4 1/2 years and our children have settled in well (they are now 16 and 14). They are both doing very well at school and they get involved in a lot of sports, dance etc and also community events. We definitely feel that for all of us it has been a great move and we just wish we had done it earlier.

john fiona

thank you soooo much all of you for getting back to us. i hope all the people on the island are as friendly as you guys can anyone tell me whats the cost of living there... food... fuel etc etc and how much it costs roughly to rent some where for my family (and dog ). thanks once again guys.

gloveman

When we got here in May 07 fuel was 95c a litre - it is now about 129c. A couple of weeks ago it went up to 153!!! We moan about it but its still alot cheaper than in the UK However, most cars do less mpg so it can be swings and roundabouts. As for the cost of living, I think overall it is about the same as the UK - some things are cheaper and some dearer. BC apparently stands for 'Bring Cash'!! It is certainly not the cheapest area in Canada but it is a lovely place to live. Looking at the local paper a 4 bed house will cost about $1200 per month to rent in the Comox area - not every rental takes dogs so you will have to bear that in mind.

john fiona

Hi, thanks for getting back to us with prices. rent sounds cheaper than here in the midlands for a 4 bed house. its about £900. regarding jobs do you know of any steel industries? anywhere where welders are needed? ive had a look at a few agents but the work tends to be at saskatoon.i understand sasktoon is very flat very cold in winter? not that that would bother us but vancouver island seems to have beautiful scenery.... lakes ....etc etc. thankyou so much for your time.

gloveman

Don't now much about the steel industry or welding unfortunately. Have looked on some job sites and found quite a few vacancies for welders/fabricators in BC but on the mainland. There was one position for a mig welder in Duncan which is between Naniamo and Victoria. Looks like the average salary is between $20-25 per hour plus benefits.

john fiona

thankyou for all your help gloveman. most kind.

gloveman

You're welcome.

Monkey Puzzle

Hello John and Fiona, from Vancouver Island!

We are the same age as you and have lived here for nearly 2 years. We love it!

In answer to some of your questions ...

We don't have kids but friends of ours (who are also British) reckon the education system has been great for their kids aged 12 and 11. They love their teachers and have both done well academically.

We live on the Saanich Peninsula, which is the area north of Victoria towards Swartz Bay, where you get the ferry to the mainland. It's about a 30 minute drive to downtown Victoria so we are lucky to get the benefits of the more rural lifestyle with the city (and work!) not too far away. We would certainly recommend it here ..we have gorgeous parks, beaches and space but don't feel isolated.

I don't know about welding in particular but there is a fair bit of light industry in and around Victoria.

Regarding rentals, there is a lack of rental accommodation at the moment in Victoria and surrounding areas which means that, along with rents going up, there are less and less places available for those with pets. (We know this firsthand as we volunteer at the SPCA and pets are dropped off all the time as people's landlords won't accept them...) You would certainly need to take this into consideration. That said, we have 2 cats which we brought with us and we've now adopted a dog. Our lovely landlords okay'd that and now that we've just bought our own house we'll be lucky enough not to have to worry.)

The cost of housing is less but we are earning less ...groceries seem expensive (Cheese! Unreal!) ...second hand cars are expensive...as is the insurance...eating out seems good value...as do clothes ...Clinique beauty products are half the price () so it's swings and roundabouts. Overall, we don't feel noticably poorer or richer. (In money terms anyway...in lifestyle terms we are infinitely richer!! )

I hope you can make it for a recce trip sometime ... that's certainly the best way to find out more about the place and to sample the way of life. (Also to work on that job offer you'd need!?) We used to use Zoom airlines a lot until they went out of business but there are still some good deals on flights to be had. We're looking at ebooker.com on some prices for Christmas right now.

Good luck!