kaa0901

We have decided about moving to BC and had initially thought about Kelowna but have been put off by the prices of houses and the wild fires.

We had been given some info about Victoria on Vancover island and after trawling through the internet have found that vancover island in general looks fab and tbh more suited to our lifestyles - outdoors/quite quiet. Although Victoria looks nice I have been reading about Nanaimo. The town itself seems to have all the amenities that we would need (we are both nurses so would be looking to work at the hospital), schools seems in abundance (we have 3 DC who will be 6, 5 and 3 when we move) and access to great recreational facilities.

We are initially thinking about coming out for a visit next spring but were wondering if anyone can tell us about daily life in Nanaimo.

also we have seen houses in Sooke that seem reasonably priced - is this a good area to commute to Victoria (I know that Nanaimo is approx 2hrs drive which is more than we want)

TIA

kaa0901

Meant to also add, with regards to the "wildlife" on Vancover island, how often do you get a bear/cougar in your back garden

pontcanna

Sooke is very pleasant, about 50 minutes to Victoria, depending on time of day/traffic. Lots of new housing developments out that way, a beautiful drive in the summertime. Still retains a small village feel. There's a recreation centre (pool, ice rink) golf course, fishing and the big box stores outside Victoria (Costco, Best Buy, Home Depot, etc) are about 25 minutes or less drive away for most of your shopping needs. Spectator sports (footie, gridiron, ice hockey, indoor lacrosse) are also about 25 minutes away in Langford/Colwood. Several people at my workplace (which is right in downtown Victoria) live in the Sooke area and love it.

bananahammock

Well I like it here (most of the time)

Daily life is slower than it was in Bristol & with way less traffic, there are 33 elementary schools so plenty to choose from for kids the age of yours www.sd68.bc.ca
There is a bit of a north/south divide here but that's down to personal preference IMHO, the south end is nearer to the harbour with lots of older properties & probably more crime, the north end has more new homes & shopping. Hammond Bay area is popular, with lots of waterfront properties, the Jinglepot area is more rural so you'd be more likely to see a bear in this area (my daughter has had a couple of close encounters ) ~ I've been here 5yrs & never seen a cougar.
Public transport is pretty crap if you ask me & could do with a shake-up
The summers are warm & long, rain doesn't bother me (I think it rains more in Sooke ) & we only had 2 days last winter when it snowed ... woooohooo ~ Mt Washington is only 90mins away though if you want snow

There is lots of info here www.nanaimoinformation.com & here www.nanaimo.ca
There are 2 ferry terminals, loads of shopping, a couple of cinemas, a skating rink, 2 large leisure centres, countless parks etc.
A visit is a great idea but as I've said before, you need to be here a while to find the hidden gems, Nanaimo looks pretty ugly from the highway! Here's a link to the local paper http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/index.html & local TV http://www.atv.ca/victoria/news.aspx


I've added a few photos of downtown Nanaimo that I took today, good luck

ps ... someone more local to Sooke should be able to tell you how long the commute to the hospitals will take, my OH works in a hopsital in Victoria & commutes from Nanaimo every day ... he said it takes him approx 90mins to get to Victoria (100k ish) then another 30mins to drive the last 10k coz its bumper to bumper traffic!!

Chivers52

I second the information supplied by bananarock, have been in Nanaimo just over 4 yrs and have been able to start playing football again at a tender age, plenty of other sports and outdoor activites avaiable. Traffic is pretty light by UK standards, able to get anywhere in Nanaimo within 15-20 mins. Have not seen a couger or bear but there have been a couple of sightings near by, do sit in the garden and watch plenty of humming birds though, darting about, deer are all around by the road or in the garden, and every so often get to see large bald eagles flying overhead. Best I saw back in Norwich was a woodpecker on the back lawn.

P.s Yes the weather was stunning today, your pictures look good

rivingtonpike

I can't speak for Nanaimo, but last year we had the good fortune to spend September to December on an extended recce to Sooke. It was a great place; very friendly people, lovely library, pretty good stores, excellent swimming pool and ice rink. My daughter learnt to swim and skate in the space of 3 months. Beaches are great and the "potholes" (a local scenic spot) are spectacular when the rain comes (which it did in spades).

Will we move there? Probably not. We would like to but:

1. The commute into Victoria, if a daily requirement, is pretty bad.

2. Travelling to any other part of the Island takes longer as you almost always have to travel east before you can start your journey proper.

3. If schools are an issue, Sooke's 3 (I think) elementaries are pretty low down the league tables (www.fraserinstitute.org). I know these tables aren't the be all and end all, but having spoken with a lot of parents whilst we were there, consensus seems to be that the quality of education is better elsewhere.

These points aside, the Sooke area will probably remail our favourite regardless of where we actually end up living. If we were retired (which a lot of people around there seem to be) and didn't have to consider kids, business, travel etc. we would be back there like a shot.

If you have the opportunity for any sort of extended recce or are just landing in the autumn, you could consider doing what we did and renting a beautiful out of season holiday home, which would otherwise have been empty, for a fraction of what it would have cost in the summer. There are heaps of them in the Sooke area.

Good luck. Maybe see you there in the next few months!

Almost Canadian

That must be one hell of a quality of life to be willing to accept a 4 hour trip to and from work every day.

bananahammock

Fact of life over quality of life unfortunately he works with kids in wheelchairs, making seating systems to improve their quality of life ... he says it's great to have a young person in a chair be able to use one of the 'stand up' (I'm sure there's a more technical name ) chairs & 'walk' beside their parent for the first time, he's worked with a soldier from Afghanisan, he's even had someone bring in a kitten that some barsteward threw out of a car & make it a little cart

There's only 1 hospital in Nanaimo & no jobs like that (he loves his job) ... he recently retrained as a Biomedical Technologist in the hope that he could find something up here but no luck so far.

It's the 'rock & the hard place' scenario for us ... both the kids (18 & 21) are living at home & attend VIU, neither could afford to go to school & pay rent, I work for the school district & am just about getting there with my seniority ~ we have considered moving closer to Victoria but the traffic/cost of housing/cost of UVIC etc have put us off so far

pontcanna

OH should get a transfer to Vic General (just off the highway in View Royal) as that alone would take a good half hour off the commute each way. I take it OH works at Royal Jubilee, which is hidden away in the Oak Bay border area?

kaa0901

Thanks everyone for the replies.

We have been looking at the links (thanks Bananahammock) and it looks fab round the Nanaimo area.

A couple more questions:

how do you actually pronouce Nanaimo?

Hubby has now read that you get Black Widow spiders on the island and is now more worried about the 8 legged friends rather than a cougar

Is buying a second hand car really a minefield with additional taxes etc and do these vary from one province to another?

I see that the university area of Nanaimo seems to be run down and has the usual drugs problems - are these problems confined to this area or do you get problems throughout the town? Basically is it safe to be out alone at night in the town (apart from the bears, cougars and now black widows )

We will be bringing our two dogs and manic cat with us. Are there many off leash areas in Nanaimo?


TIA

R I C H

Nan-eye-mo

Steve_P

Neh Nye Mo or Nah Nye Mo

I see R I C H beat me to it.

kaa0901

thanks for that - we've spent the last 5 days guessing on its pronunciation

bananahammock

He just applied for one there actually although he probably won't get it & no, he's not at Royal Jubilee

Yep, we get the odd black widow ... I've seen 2 in almost 5yrs ~ spider v cougar ~ I choose spider!! The skeeters are more of a pain in the butt ... hope he's OK with snakes (they're only little)

The Uni area is a bit rough in parts, it's called Harewood ~ the locals call it Scarewood!! I'd rather be down there in the evening than where I used to live in Bristol though. There are lots of rentals & low rise student lets, my daughter's friends live there & love the easy access to public transport/bars/harbour etc.
I can honestly say I've never felt unsafe here, although I live in Jinglepot so am a few k's from downtown.

Both our cars are used ... no probs so far.

There are three off leash areas here with the promise from the city of more to come. http://www.nanaimo.ca/EN/main/depart...eashparks.html

desire68

Hahah, i wish i had known this when i came over to Victoria in 07. The customs officer wasn't impressed when i told him that i had family in Nanimo, which i pronounced Nanna-mo! Also Saanich is another one that had the locals in stitches. Say San-itch and not Sar-nish like my wife and i did lol!
Oh and Langford/Colwood is very good for lifestyle, schools and commute to Downtown Victoria. It used to have a bad rep but a shed load of cash has been spent and is still being spent to turn that around.
Mike