Hey,

Just wondering if anyone has any info regarding St Johns. A friend of a friend mentioned it as a place to visit while in Canada so I had a look online and it looks a beautiful city. Not too big and very picturesque. Has anyone any experience of the lifestyle there, ie the weather, job market, I'd imagine with a big port there would be quite a number of manual jobs around the docks,

Any insight at all would be great, Thanks!

I've lived in near St John's for 9 years or so. What do you want to know?

Are we sure he isn't talking about Saint John's near me? I ALWAYS get the two mixed up?

I have a colleague from our Singapore office who ended up in the wrong one on her first trip over.

Assuming you are talking about St John's, Nfld:

Lifestyle can be good. Small vibrant downtown core, lots of bars, restaurants & nightlife. IIRC you are coming over on IEC visa? St John's is a University town so that will add to the nightlife.

Weather? When it's good there is no better place to be. But this is a place where it can be foggy and blowing a gale at the same time. Lots of snow in the winter. Life goes on. Doesn't get hotter than high 20's and colder than -10 generally.

Jobs? Forget about manual jobs at the (actually quite small) port. Like port jobs all around the world they will be heavily unionized & go to friends and family first. The economy here is very buoyant though driven by oil and gas. You should have no problem in finding min wage work - food service, bar, admin etc. Beyond that it'll depend on you and your experience. www.careerbeacon.com is a useful job site for this part of the world. Lots of residential and commercial construction happening as well so maybe labouring jobs to be had there. Might need a vehicle to access those though.

Rental market is tight with low vacancy rates. Expect to pay $800 - $1000 upward for a basement or downtown apartment (if you can find one). From there the sky seems to be the limit.

Newfoundlanders are extremely friendly people, with strong Irish and English influences. An English accent goes down a storm here.but thats true pretty much across North America.

Hope that helps. If it's Saint John, NB you are thinking of, disregard above.

Atlantic Xpat, yes sorry it is St Johns Nfland I was referring to. Many thanks for the info on that, it does seem to be a quite a beautiful place and you paint a nice image of it. Yes i'm coming on an IEC around the start of October, we were thinking of perhaps staying in Toronto for 6months and then heading to St Johns around April 14 time as we were unsure as too how cold and extreme the weather gets being right on the Atlantic. However it could well be that we go straight to st Johns after a week in toronto play it by ear tbh. I'm an accountant so would there be much office work etc about?

Yeah it does seem to be a very compressed area so I expected the rental market to be quite expensive. I have read that newfoundlanders are meant to be some of the friendliest people around and I have not heard of too many expats heading to St Johns so thought it could be something different and that attracts me also. In terms of general things to do, I presume like much of the rest of Canada there are plenty of outdoor activities etc for weekends and that?

I have a vague recollection of being told the NB one is Saint John (never St.) That's How I differentiate the two - and the coloured houses of course.

St Johns is nice but you have more chance of being made King of Canada than you do of getting a stevedores job down at the docks

Newfs are friendly but under no circumstances bend over if there is a bloke near you holding a frozen cod.

"Is you a screecher me son?"

Toronno is just another big city IMHO. OK if you like that sort of thing. Head straight to the Rock and experience the Far East. The weather is colder in Toronno than St. John's. (Granted it might be a little more extreme in St. John's but the world goes in even in a snowstorm).

You'd certainly be in the minority of expats moving to Canada but I would see that as part of the charm.

There are lots of outdoor things to do. Most involve needing a car to access them, or some kind of human powered or mechanical powered transportation to have fun. Depending upon your income this may or may not be a problem.

I have not had the pleasure of being screeched-in. One day, if I ever come to NF&L, it might be a fun thing to do. I'll stick with merely kissing the cod. The Annie Proulx version holds little attraction. None, actually.