Lychee

Vancouver Island is a mountainous island covered in temperate rainforest. Like the UK, it is green and lush year round. The rain is seasonal: it falls from late autumn until early spring. Summer is drought season. Given your interests, you'd feel right at home on Vancouver Island. Look up Cumberland, Comox, Mount Washington, Strathcona Provincial Park, Tofino, Ucluelet, etc. There's a big mountain biking, snowboarding, climbing, kayaking, surfing culture on Vancouver Island. Calgary is in the prairies, a dry, arid climate and rather flat terrain until you drive an hour west to the Rockies. Cold but sunny in the winter, intense thunderstorms in the summer. The climate is such that trees are small and only the hardy survive. Ecologically, it's a former grassland - you need to travel to the Rockies to get your mountains and forest fix.

Other areas to consider for you: the Sunshine Coast (i.e. Gibsons, Powell River) and the Kootenays (i.e. Nelson).

pontcanna

I'm a native of Victoria (Vancouver Island) and love it here. Have also lived in Cardiff and London. The south part of the Island can be expensive and some find the "island" (ferries to everywhere) aspect to be slightly off-putting. Come out for a visit and see what you think. There are lots of trade jobs in the Victoria area at present, many construction projects ongoing.

Alex_electrician

Thank you that's really informative 👍🏻 been also reading through my lonely planet book and it seems right up my street didn't realise how much there is to do and see there 😃

Alex_electrician

Thanks, good to know theres construction work going on over there. Are the ferries just to mainland or within island? Will probably head over November take a good look.

pontcanna

BC Ferries to/from Victoria to the BC Mainland and Gulf Islands (Saltspring, Pender, Mayne, Galiano, Saturna). Black Ball ferry (the MV Coho) runs between Victoria and Port Angeles, Washington and a Washington State ferry runs between Sidney (20 min north of Vic) and Anacortes, Washington. There are also ferry connections to the Mainland from Nanaimo and points north from Port Hardy.

There is also service (via Victoria Clipper) to downtown Seattle.

Websites:

Home | BC Ferries - British Columbia Ferry Services Inc.

Clipper Vacations Travel Deals: Victoria Clipper Ferry, Hotels, Vacation Packages

https://www.cohoferry.com/

WSDOT - Ferries

Jackandvictor

We are here too-trades being sought now for construction sites. Lots of building going on. We are in a temperate zone but warm and sunny in the summer. Had rain the other day-forgot what that was like- haven't had much since June.
Pretty great place for outdoor stuff. Don't have to travel far.
Come check it out!!

scilly

The West Coast of Vancouver Island gets much more rain than the rest of the island even in summer, and it gets massive storms in winter (can be fantastic to watch!!).


Note that the ferries are expensive, especially if you have a car. It cost us (2 people, one standard-size car) almost $200 for a return trip to Nanaimo last month.

Farmboy1892

Hi Guys,

Not sure if anybody will be able to help but here goes. I am an agronomist by trade. That means I look after farmers crops for them. I specialize in looking after dairy farmers and ultimately growing top quality forage to produce milk from healthy cows. We moved from the U.K in January to Ontario but I am working for a small farming cooperative which is not ticking the boxes. We are on the road to P.R which will give us a lot of opportunity when that comes through!!
I guess this is a long winded question based around having your cake and eating it but I have been told that there is a vibrant dairy farming industry in B.C. Is this correct and where in B.C would you relocate that would allow me to service these farmers but also be close to a larger cosmopolitan population which would suit my Wife and children.
As per usual we are football mad brits who come from a busy background and want to try and find little Britain in Canada. Many will scorn at this as Canada will never be Britain but I think you know what I am trying to say. It is the similarities that we are looking for so that we are not too far removed from our comfort zone. We are quite open to becoming part of the culture even though we will NEVER take up Hockey!! I think Canada has many positives and am very thankful for being able to make the journey and take up the opportunity however it is nice to find an area to settle in which will allow the transition to become smoother in terms of interests, food and climate etc etc.
Thanks for your help as per usual.

Regards

Farmboy.

misskatpaw

You would probably be able to get some help / guidance re: the dairy farming industry in BC, from someone in the Ministry of Agriculture. An internet search will bring up some details for you. I know some folks in that Ministry if you struggle.

scilly

I think the main dairy industry is in the Fraser Valley, with some on Vancouver Island ..............

it's heavily regulated so far as I know.

Misskatpaw's suggestions to contact the Ministry of Agriculture and to google are both very good ones.

BristolUK

Don't under estimate the time difference then.

Saturday games for me are a nice 8.30am, 11.00 and 1.30pm so even includes a bit of play at 3.00 which is nice.
For you, now, that is 7.30, 10.00 and 12.30 which is okay too.
Midweek games 4.00pm and 3.00pm.

In BC you're looking at 4.30am, 7.00 and 9.30 Saturdays and 12.00 midday. Not great times for the weekend, or even midweek if you're working.

Trivial, perhaps, but if you're football mad....

Farmboy1892

Hi Guys,

Thanks for your help Scilly. I will look into the Fraser Valley location.

Hey Bristol there is always a down side!! There was me thinking that getting up on Sat morning last week to watch the lunchtime kick off was bad. It was we got Whopped 5-0 and by the way it was NEVER a red.

YNWA

Farmboy

Moses2013

From what I've heard the market is huge in BC but I don't know how easy it would be for an outsider. Greetings from Ireland and at least here in the Republic it's also boom time again for dairy farmers. After a few tough years, they deserve it.

Farmboy1892

Thanks Moses

The dairy industry faces so many ups and downs based on the supply and demand scenario. The modern cow which we have bred has to produce so much just for the producer to stand still. The snowball effect then takes over when we produce a glut of milk as there is only so much value added product you can make in terms of powder, cheese and yogurt etc. The question is do we go to a low input system and look for cow longevity or keep going on that roundabout of price cycles. The issue is that with debt incurred at farm level to try and make their business more efficient with the inclusion of technology that this needs paying off and so the vicious circle continues!!

Regards

Farmboy

dbd33

I would have thought that there would be a place in the dairy industry in southern Ontario. There are loads of dairy cows north of Guelph and Guelph has a commuter train to Toronto for city stuff. Perhaps make contact with the university and see what they know?