NS Recce
Oct 15th 2009 | 9:48 am
#16
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 38
From: Fall River, Nova Scotia
Re: NS Recce
Thrilled to hear about your positive experience during your recce. We are planning a similar trip at the end of November and would love to meet up with anybody already in the Halifax area for a cuppa/beer (to suit!). If anyone would be willing to make contact with us we would really appreciate it and details of the FB group would be perfect!
By way of personal introductions, we are a married couple currently living in Bristol with three children aged 8, 6 and 2. We work in financial management and higher education and will hopefully be applying for residency under the skilled workers route with a view to making the move in mid to late 2010 unless something comes up sooner!
We look forward to hearing/learning more about our possible life in NS via this wonderful forum.
Thank you.
By way of personal introductions, we are a married couple currently living in Bristol with three children aged 8, 6 and 2. We work in financial management and higher education and will hopefully be applying for residency under the skilled workers route with a view to making the move in mid to late 2010 unless something comes up sooner!
We look forward to hearing/learning more about our possible life in NS via this wonderful forum.
Thank you.
Oct 15th 2009 | 12:20 pm
#17
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 410
From: Bridgetown,NS
Re: NS Recce
Great post - glad to hear you liked Bridgetown, we love it here at wouldn't want to be anywhere else 
Wildlike - myself and hubby are into birdwatching on a very casual basis (ie we spot them when out, we don't go on tours or anything!) and we are amazed with the variety - hummingbirds, bald eagles, loads of raptors, turkey vultures, I could go on! Also loads of wildlife - cayote running down the main street last week in the night, we have a skunk and a racoon living in our barn, we have a grass snake in the garden and bear poop on our land (quite glad never saw its owner lol) Deer run across the garden, we have chipmunks at the back of the garden- I think maybe you were unlucky to not see too much.
Good luck with deciding where to settle!!
R
Wildlike - myself and hubby are into birdwatching on a very casual basis (ie we spot them when out, we don't go on tours or anything!) and we are amazed with the variety - hummingbirds, bald eagles, loads of raptors, turkey vultures, I could go on! Also loads of wildlife - cayote running down the main street last week in the night, we have a skunk and a racoon living in our barn, we have a grass snake in the garden and bear poop on our land (quite glad never saw its owner lol) Deer run across the garden, we have chipmunks at the back of the garden- I think maybe you were unlucky to not see too much.
Good luck with deciding where to settle!!
R
Oct 18th 2009 | 9:58 am
#18
Thread Starter
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 244
From: Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia
Re: NS Recce
HI
we will visit cape breton next year for sure. i love the wildlife!!! it's supposed to be lovely there!
didnt see hockey either but would love to!
good luck with your journey xx
helen
we will visit cape breton next year for sure. i love the wildlife!!! it's supposed to be lovely there!
didnt see hockey either but would love to!
good luck with your journey xx
helen
Hi rufus2000,
congrats on the trip... can't believe how similar our stories are! We applied under FSW October 06, and went on a two week recce in September too!
We also loved NS, we managed to get across to PEI while there - ferry there, bridge on the way back. We loved Annapolis Royal and really thought we could see ourselves living in Truro. It's a shame you didn't get up to Cape Breton, we'd seen almost no wildlife until then (except roadkill) then saw three moose in two days!
Did you manage to catch the hockey game while there? The Sens were playing the Panthers in the Metro centre... it was great although the Sens got beaten rather convincingly!
Good luck with the plans, we're just putting our house up for sale, then heading back to Canada (hopefully) in May/June next year...
Although we loved NS, we're still thinking we may head back to BC. We lived in Whistler for a year, and just can't stop thinking about it! Hopefully it'll quieten down after the Olympics!
Anyways, didn't mean to hijack your thread!! Best of luck with all you do
Belinda & Martin.
congrats on the trip... can't believe how similar our stories are! We applied under FSW October 06, and went on a two week recce in September too!
We also loved NS, we managed to get across to PEI while there - ferry there, bridge on the way back. We loved Annapolis Royal and really thought we could see ourselves living in Truro. It's a shame you didn't get up to Cape Breton, we'd seen almost no wildlife until then (except roadkill) then saw three moose in two days!
Did you manage to catch the hockey game while there? The Sens were playing the Panthers in the Metro centre... it was great although the Sens got beaten rather convincingly!
Good luck with the plans, we're just putting our house up for sale, then heading back to Canada (hopefully) in May/June next year...
Although we loved NS, we're still thinking we may head back to BC. We lived in Whistler for a year, and just can't stop thinking about it! Hopefully it'll quieten down after the Olympics!
Anyways, didn't mean to hijack your thread!! Best of luck with all you do
Belinda & Martin.
Jan 24th 2010 | 1:51 am
#19
Just Joined
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 17
Re: NS Recce
Hey All
Well I have been back from my NS recce for about 3 weeks and i miss it so much. now before i tell you the story, here's a little background on us. There is myself (30), my husband (32) , our son (10 months) and our dog.
We originally looked at Alberta for a destination and visited twice. Love it there but have seen the house prices rise quite a bit since we first started looking. We have been researching Canada for about 5 years. Applied for Federal Skilled Worker Visa in October 06 (see timeline for detail) and landed in NS in September 2009 to validate visa. So here is our experience:
Flight: Flew with Thomas Cook. Flight was fine except for our son screaming for the first hour. Nice!!! Apart from that, it was fine. good leg room space, staff lovely.
Arrival at Halifax Airport: Lovely airport, very friendly staff, welcomed by Canadian Man in Nova Scotia Tartan. Despite being tired, the welcome was great.
Immigration: fairly simple- showed documents to man (who seemed a bit miserable to be honest- i don't think he likes immigrants!). Took about 15 minutes. We showed him the proof of funds and he wasn't interested so all that rushing to the bank to get letter was waste of time but hey at least we had it. He signed some forms, we signed some and then we were off to the Customs Man regarding goods to follow.
Customs: Gave the very friendly man our goods to follow list. He made a copy, filled out another form and all was done in 10 mins. Our goods to follow was just an excel spreadsheet i devised with a front sheet summarising the value of the boxes (as described in the wiki). As we were only landing I asked him if we have more goods by the time we come back for good, what happens? He said, as long as you do not suddenly acquire a ferrari or something you are ok to add things on to your goods to follow as long as their value is low.
Luggage: Went to collect luggage and we were the last through as we had been with immigration etc. A member of staff was there and had taken all our luggage off the belt and put it on a trolley for us. He brought the luggage to us and said "hodgkiss family- welcome to Canada"- Now i have never been treated like that at Gatwick!!!
Hire Car: queue was short by the time we got there. all sorted really easy. Had booked and paid for it all before landing with www.holidayautos.co.uk
Only issue we had was that no member of staff seemed to know how the child car seat that they supplied fit into the car!!! great, so took about 45 mins to get sorted and it was getting quite late.... anyway, once all sorted, it was off to apartment.
Accommodation: we were staying at the Quaich Apartments in Oakfield (about 10 mins from airport). wonderful place, beautiful fully equipped apartments. highly recommended!!!! www.thequaichapartments.com
Our stay: Well we drove just under 2000 miles in 12 days but the roads were quiet and we got into the swing of things really fast. Visited Fall River and surrounds on first day- lovely place. Went to see mike and orla at UK2Novascotia. Very informative. Mike had even arranged for my husband to have an interview during our stay! (which went really well) Then went to Porters Lake with the realtor Jerry Murphy- what a great guy. Houses were lovely- except for one smelly bungalow
good to see that for about £100,000 we could get a split level house (some with a garage) with 3 -4 bedrooms. Porters Lake is very nice. Lawrencetown is too. could happily live there although need to research more about amenities as some houses seemed a bit far away from things.
Then went to Halifax- what a great city. not too big but just right for us as we do not want a city life having lived in london for too long. harbour is great. I met up with a group of ladies i have met through facebook for a coffee and it was wonderful. was able to get a real insight to canadian lifestyle and they were happy to tell me about where they live. most of the women in this group are new to Nova scotia and haved moved here from other parts of canada so it was good to hear their perspective as to why they chose to move east.
went for lunch with a few of them too. I cannot believe how friendly canadians have been since we've got here!
Anyway, so as to keep the post on the slightly shorter side, here are the places i visited:
Bridgetown (lovely town but maybe a bit too far from Halifax - if we can get work there then maybe?)
Peggys cove and around the Lighthouse route (Beautiful but a bit too quiet for me)
Annapolis Valley from Windsor, Kentville, Wolfville, New Minas and then across to Digby. Absolutely loved them all. Windsor did seem a bit small but it so close to other towns and skiing at Martock that i don't think it will be an issue. Really loved Wolfville and Kentville. Only 1 hour from Halifax too. So far, these are the front runners. Digby was great but too far from Halifax and the airport etc. will go back there though to go whale watching next year!!!
Then Off to Stewiacke- really liked it- not as remote as I'd imagined. definitely a possibility and finally Truro. To be honest, on first impression I thought it was ok but it did not impress me like other places have. can't put my finger on it but something didnt feel right. however, went back a few days later and found more areas surrounding it and actually it is quite a nice place so haven't discounted it. viewed a house there- stunning! only £95K for a 4 bed with 2 1 bed apartments at the rear. gorgeous! Victoria park is a must- lovely place
Went to Shubenacadie park- that was really nice and cheap!
Drove around Elmsdale and Enfield as they were near apartment- really like these too. this is getting harder by the day!!!
Sackville and Bedford - plenty to do and just outside of the city- very family orientated- could see us settling here! have been talking to a few expats too who live here so very promising!
Drove to New Brunswick for the day. not a bad drive (under 2 hrs from our apartment). was expecting to actually realise i had crossed the border to new brunswick but no- just a small sign to say welcome to new brunswick
Moncton was lovely as was surrounding area. Was hpoing to see some moose on our journey but no
On drive back to apartment we stopped in Amherst- nice town and well located for both provinces!
Summary: Nova Scotia was much nicer than I had ever anticipated. So glad we visited another province, so different from Alberta, not better just different. I felt that there is more of a community feel in NS and as a family with small child i think we will fit in really easy. Most of the towns we visited outside of the city still had enough amenities without feeling to remote. Around some places in Alberta, when we went outside of the city they felt quite remote. Again, it will all depend on what you need and want and what suits you. I am not ruling out ever living in Alberta because I love it there but we have decided that to start out we will begin in Nova Scotia. We already have PR so we can go anywhere (except Quebec). I had not expected to like Nova Scotia so much. I felt at home there and I love the fact that it is only 2 hrs to New brunswick, 5 hours to Maine and 1 and 1/2 hrs flight to New york. Plus being 5 and 1/2 hrs from uk helps as we will need to go back every 2 years or so to see the grandparents etc! The people are extra extra friendly- I have made some good friends expats and canadians already. (If anyone wants details of the facebook group let me know- it is for women only who are new or will soon be living in NS- some are single, some married, some have kids, some are 18, some 50, so a great mix of people). We still have not narrowed down where to live but this will depend on job offer!
Down Side: For me the worst part was not seeing much wildlife. Not sure if that is the norm but I think as you are so spoilt for choice in Alberta I was expecting to see much more. I love wildlife so to be honest it disappointed me. I have been assured by my canadian friends there that there is some wildlife there somewhere
Obviously, this would not bother some people and it is not enough to stop me living there but was the only down point i could think of.
Apart from:
Baby formula is quite expensive, especially the premixed cans like SMA Gold or Aptamil in the UK. For 6 250ml cans it was $30!!!!
By the way:
Cost of living etc- fuel was $1.03 a litre. food was about the same in general. we did a proper food shop whilst there and didnt eat out much.
If i think of anything else i will post. if you have any questions, please ask xx
Helen
Well I have been back from my NS recce for about 3 weeks and i miss it so much. now before i tell you the story, here's a little background on us. There is myself (30), my husband (32) , our son (10 months) and our dog.
We originally looked at Alberta for a destination and visited twice. Love it there but have seen the house prices rise quite a bit since we first started looking. We have been researching Canada for about 5 years. Applied for Federal Skilled Worker Visa in October 06 (see timeline for detail) and landed in NS in September 2009 to validate visa. So here is our experience:
Flight: Flew with Thomas Cook. Flight was fine except for our son screaming for the first hour. Nice!!! Apart from that, it was fine. good leg room space, staff lovely.
Arrival at Halifax Airport: Lovely airport, very friendly staff, welcomed by Canadian Man in Nova Scotia Tartan. Despite being tired, the welcome was great.
Immigration: fairly simple- showed documents to man (who seemed a bit miserable to be honest- i don't think he likes immigrants!). Took about 15 minutes. We showed him the proof of funds and he wasn't interested so all that rushing to the bank to get letter was waste of time but hey at least we had it. He signed some forms, we signed some and then we were off to the Customs Man regarding goods to follow.
Customs: Gave the very friendly man our goods to follow list. He made a copy, filled out another form and all was done in 10 mins. Our goods to follow was just an excel spreadsheet i devised with a front sheet summarising the value of the boxes (as described in the wiki). As we were only landing I asked him if we have more goods by the time we come back for good, what happens? He said, as long as you do not suddenly acquire a ferrari or something you are ok to add things on to your goods to follow as long as their value is low.
Luggage: Went to collect luggage and we were the last through as we had been with immigration etc. A member of staff was there and had taken all our luggage off the belt and put it on a trolley for us. He brought the luggage to us and said "hodgkiss family- welcome to Canada"- Now i have never been treated like that at Gatwick!!!
Hire Car: queue was short by the time we got there. all sorted really easy. Had booked and paid for it all before landing with www.holidayautos.co.uk
Only issue we had was that no member of staff seemed to know how the child car seat that they supplied fit into the car!!! great, so took about 45 mins to get sorted and it was getting quite late.... anyway, once all sorted, it was off to apartment.
Accommodation: we were staying at the Quaich Apartments in Oakfield (about 10 mins from airport). wonderful place, beautiful fully equipped apartments. highly recommended!!!! www.thequaichapartments.com
Our stay: Well we drove just under 2000 miles in 12 days but the roads were quiet and we got into the swing of things really fast. Visited Fall River and surrounds on first day- lovely place. Went to see mike and orla at UK2Novascotia. Very informative. Mike had even arranged for my husband to have an interview during our stay! (which went really well) Then went to Porters Lake with the realtor Jerry Murphy- what a great guy. Houses were lovely- except for one smelly bungalow
good to see that for about £100,000 we could get a split level house (some with a garage) with 3 -4 bedrooms. Porters Lake is very nice. Lawrencetown is too. could happily live there although need to research more about amenities as some houses seemed a bit far away from things.
Then went to Halifax- what a great city. not too big but just right for us as we do not want a city life having lived in london for too long. harbour is great. I met up with a group of ladies i have met through facebook for a coffee and it was wonderful. was able to get a real insight to canadian lifestyle and they were happy to tell me about where they live. most of the women in this group are new to Nova scotia and haved moved here from other parts of canada so it was good to hear their perspective as to why they chose to move east.
went for lunch with a few of them too. I cannot believe how friendly canadians have been since we've got here!
Anyway, so as to keep the post on the slightly shorter side, here are the places i visited:
Bridgetown (lovely town but maybe a bit too far from Halifax - if we can get work there then maybe?)
Peggys cove and around the Lighthouse route (Beautiful but a bit too quiet for me)
Annapolis Valley from Windsor, Kentville, Wolfville, New Minas and then across to Digby. Absolutely loved them all. Windsor did seem a bit small but it so close to other towns and skiing at Martock that i don't think it will be an issue. Really loved Wolfville and Kentville. Only 1 hour from Halifax too. So far, these are the front runners. Digby was great but too far from Halifax and the airport etc. will go back there though to go whale watching next year!!!
Then Off to Stewiacke- really liked it- not as remote as I'd imagined. definitely a possibility and finally Truro. To be honest, on first impression I thought it was ok but it did not impress me like other places have. can't put my finger on it but something didnt feel right. however, went back a few days later and found more areas surrounding it and actually it is quite a nice place so haven't discounted it. viewed a house there- stunning! only £95K for a 4 bed with 2 1 bed apartments at the rear. gorgeous! Victoria park is a must- lovely place
Went to Shubenacadie park- that was really nice and cheap!
Drove around Elmsdale and Enfield as they were near apartment- really like these too. this is getting harder by the day!!!
Sackville and Bedford - plenty to do and just outside of the city- very family orientated- could see us settling here! have been talking to a few expats too who live here so very promising!
Drove to New Brunswick for the day. not a bad drive (under 2 hrs from our apartment). was expecting to actually realise i had crossed the border to new brunswick but no- just a small sign to say welcome to new brunswick
Moncton was lovely as was surrounding area. Was hpoing to see some moose on our journey but no
On drive back to apartment we stopped in Amherst- nice town and well located for both provinces!
Summary: Nova Scotia was much nicer than I had ever anticipated. So glad we visited another province, so different from Alberta, not better just different. I felt that there is more of a community feel in NS and as a family with small child i think we will fit in really easy. Most of the towns we visited outside of the city still had enough amenities without feeling to remote. Around some places in Alberta, when we went outside of the city they felt quite remote. Again, it will all depend on what you need and want and what suits you. I am not ruling out ever living in Alberta because I love it there but we have decided that to start out we will begin in Nova Scotia. We already have PR so we can go anywhere (except Quebec). I had not expected to like Nova Scotia so much. I felt at home there and I love the fact that it is only 2 hrs to New brunswick, 5 hours to Maine and 1 and 1/2 hrs flight to New york. Plus being 5 and 1/2 hrs from uk helps as we will need to go back every 2 years or so to see the grandparents etc! The people are extra extra friendly- I have made some good friends expats and canadians already. (If anyone wants details of the facebook group let me know- it is for women only who are new or will soon be living in NS- some are single, some married, some have kids, some are 18, some 50, so a great mix of people). We still have not narrowed down where to live but this will depend on job offer!
Down Side: For me the worst part was not seeing much wildlife. Not sure if that is the norm but I think as you are so spoilt for choice in Alberta I was expecting to see much more. I love wildlife so to be honest it disappointed me. I have been assured by my canadian friends there that there is some wildlife there somewhere
Obviously, this would not bother some people and it is not enough to stop me living there but was the only down point i could think of.
Apart from:
Baby formula is quite expensive, especially the premixed cans like SMA Gold or Aptamil in the UK. For 6 250ml cans it was $30!!!!
By the way:
Cost of living etc- fuel was $1.03 a litre. food was about the same in general. we did a proper food shop whilst there and didnt eat out much.
If i think of anything else i will post. if you have any questions, please ask xx
Helen
Just read your thread , thanks it was very informative.
Like you we are also researching NS and are planning a recce trip for June 2010 , in many of the areas that you mentioned. We also have a young family , 3 kids who are 6 , 4 & 19 months.
Now to get back to learning how to navigate my way around this site!!!
Thanks
Kate
