Zeusmoose

Hello again,

We have been on here before saying that we are looking at moving to Winnipeg (Under skilled worker category - My husband, me, our son aged 10 and our dog!) from Derbyshire, UK. We got our AOR June 02 2004. We are coming over at the end of April, beg May and staying at the Delta, Winnipeg.

We would appreciate any positive advice on places worth seeing etc.........

Thanks a lot, your time would be really appreciated on this

Cheers,

Debbie.

Grah

Wow Debbie all most missed this I'm just rushing to catch a bus I'll give you some details later.

What do you like Sandy beach, Folk festivals, Rock concerts Sports?

Biiiiink

I'm absolutely no use to you at the moment but just wanted to say we're headed for Winnipeg in May, will be there for 2yrs. Funnily enough we're just about to take a furnished rental for the first 8wks that is right next to the Delta! In fact, use of the Delta pool and sauna comes included...that's what swung it for us

We're also bringing a dog (but not for the first 2mths) so if you're looking to rent, chances are I'll have trawled all the "will take dogs" rentals before you and will gladly share tips and info.

We've only been to Winnipeg once, for a week, just before Xmas last year. Didn't get to see much as it was so cold my little one was really reluctant to go outside...and the airline wrecked his stroller and he's too heavy for me to carry far. But we did get down to the Children's Museum at the Forks which was fun. Might be a little too young for a 10yr old but it's cheap admission so worth a shot. You can wander over to the Forks Market for lunch, lots of great eateries in there.

Biiiiink

Zeusmoose

Hello there Grah,

I was beginning to worry that because I'd put positive advice that no one was going to bother replying!

Would love to see the scenic places, get an idea of the place. Been to lots of Rock concerts over the years (can tell I'm getting older though, there is a place in Nottingham called Rock City which used to seem like a Palace - the last time I went to see a group a few years back I noticed the dingy decor and my feet sticking to the floor on God knows what.........things that I was oblivious too when younger!) Anyway, going off on a tangent there.......

Would be great to see a mixture of places. We are looking at hiring a car and doing a bit of travelling. 'Fraid I'm not very sporty apart from lots of walking. Hoping that I will drag myself a bit more in that direction though!

We will try and pack in what we can in the nine days, not that long to wait now, we are all really excited.

So any advice would be fantastic.

Look forward to hearing from you later,

Thanks a lot,

Debbie.

Zeusmoose

Hello Biiiiink,

Great to hear from you. I am addicted to looking on the ex-pat site and have seen you on here before - thanks a lot for replying.

Sounds like you got a good rental deal with use of the pool and sauna, think that would definitely swing it for me also

Any help on renting somewhere that will take our dog would be great, I was really worried about this, and how he will be on the journey over. Would be great if you could let us know how you get on when you come over and settle in etc. You must be getting excited now, not long to go......We could have ages wait yet. If fact, reading some of the threads on here, you could have done your two years before we come over, then maybe we'll move straight into your rental?!

I had a brief look at the Children's Museum info on the Delta hotel web page, places to go etc. It says something about little ones can dress up as Squirrels (which my son said wasn't for him, well, words to that effect!) but they seem to do stuff for older kids as well so we will go and have a look. What's the Forks Market like?

On my days off I live on the computer looking on here and sites for Winnipeg. Found a great one last week that had photo tours of the neighbourhoods around Winnipeg.

Anyway I'm rabbiting on, best go.

Take care and keep in touch,

Cheers,

Debbie.

Grah

Ok, things to do April/May well the big Lakes may still be frozen so if it is a nice day you'll probably not swim very much due to the icebergs. Yes, Friends have photo's of everyone in swimming costumes on a 20c day standing on the ice in Lake Winnipeg.

As you are here to see about living then some off the things I did was,
Catch the bus to the main 3 mall's - http://www.winnipegtransit.com/main/index.jsp Malls are in St Vital, Polo Park, Kildonan Park. Kenaston has a lot of high end outlet stores but there is only 1 bus the 78 and its a strip mall, so not a lot of eye contacts there. The South west is only strip malls so that's a neighbourhood to drive around stopping in the Fast food places. (Map 1, 2 & 7 on transit maps ) http://www.winnipegtransit.com/main/systemmap.jsp
By catching the buses you'll get to see the neighbourhoods, listen and talk to people on the bus and in the malls, and unless you are using a private school who you kids will go to school with. The food courts are usually a good place to talk to strangers, your accent will probably help with this.

Driving around the neighbourhoods, is easy its a grid formation maps on transit site are pretty good. Same as any big city some areas are "red light" with dubious activities. So good indicator is litter, run down houses and Graffiti. Stop at Parks and play grounds especially when you see others with kids about the same age. There are different school districts and school types, some will allow you to have a visit, if open, on very short notice so if you see an area you like find the school and call the next day.
http://www.mls.ca/map.aspx will help identify the types of houses and price ranges of the neighbourhoods. Look at the Bedroom communites as well Stonewall is a really nice small town with all facilites in, except the Arts.

http://www.winnipeg.ca/interhom/ will give you a lot of details with the Spring/Summer Leisure Guide will be available on-line Monday, February 28, 2005, according to http://winnipeg.ca/cms/leisure/ .
Also try http://www.tourism.winnipeg.mb.ca/live_ttdas.php
April - http://www.tourism.winnipeg.mb.ca/live_wgo_e_apr.php
May - http://www.tourism.winnipeg.mb.ca/live_wgo_e_may.php

For Walks from the Delta, evenings always head south towards the Forks and River walks ( provided not under water spring melt maybe still around).

Here's a taste of the Children activities. http://winnipeg.ca/cms/Leisure/pdfs/children.pdf
Here's a sample itinerary from the tourist website.

http://www.tourism.winnipeg.mb.ca/toolbox_ti_si.php

For your 10 year old there is a couple of things to do Children's museum ( learning by playing with the stuff) the zoo, a indoor tube play ground, swimming pools, again depending on weather go-kart crazy golf water park etc. When living here there is alot more to do.

Depending on the snow fall and melt speed the place may look a little dirty as the sand from the roads acts as an insulator and slows this process down but the cleaners come round sweep up the sand, brush the grass off and it will all look nice very before summer.

PM often and I'll let you know if anything has changed and we can arrange to meet if you like.

regards Graham

Zeusmoose

Hello Grah

I have sent a PM. (Well, I've tried, hopefully it's worked!). Thanks for replying with all the advice. Do you work for Tourist Information?

Cheers,

Debbie.

Grah

No, I procastinate in tech support which reminds me got things to do.

Zeusmoose

Only joking with you about the Tourist Info bit Grah, sorry!

By the way, procrastinate, had to look that one up!

Speak with you soon,

Debbie.

Grah

that's alright Zeusmoose, I should have added more ooooo's to the no.
I hate it when I get the Accounting software problems to many user variables that cause the errors.

crazydaisy

Hello Debbie - we moved up from the U.S. with our dog (we are British tho!) and had huge problems with finding a place that take dogs. I hope I haven't missed this in your post but how big is your dog? I can direct you to some useful sites that will take small dogs. If it is larger (ie more than knee high) then you will have more problems. An ideal compromise is to try a housing co-op as some have pet policies which allow larger sized dogs. (Some don't but I can let you know which ones to try if you fancied the sound of that.) Housing co-ops are handy places as you are never thrown out - basically you pay a deposit and that gives you rights to stay in that house and you have voting rights. Also if anything goes wrong you have a central office that deals with everything. I am happy to give any advice. If you want you can leave an email (the one on this site). If one is sent to my home account it may go to junk mail as unrecognised but I will be able to pick up mail messages from here.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Best wishes,

crazyd

scimdarren

Hi Debbie

Fort Whyte is a good bet, if you contact them first, they do snow shoeing tours and they have really good indoor displays, this is where we saw the Northern Lights- beautiful even in the haze of the city light.
If you aim for a visit to the forks early in your trip there is a tourist info centre with all the brochures for things to do that you could ever wish for.
Can you skate? If you can, they make trails down the red and assiniboine rivers, how surreal is that?
One thing we liked was when we stopped off at Kildonan park on a Saturday, some real fun facilities for the kids (Mostly skating related) were available for free- in England, you would expect to have to pay for this.


Cheers
Darren

Zeusmoose

Hello Darren,

Wow, it sounds absolutely amazing, can't wait to go. Thanks your your e-mail, we have just sent one back to you both.

I will look at fort Whyte as soon as I have sent this, as I said in our e-mail to you, it is so good to hear all the positive things about Winnipeg, it sounds beautiful.

Cheers,

Debbie.

crazydaisy

Hi Debbie - I meant to put my reply in this post re: but it went another post by accident. Here it is again!

Here's some useful links for people moving to Winnipeg. Some of these sites do stipulate if pets are allowed but often they have their own restrictions on size or weight of pet so it can be a little tricky finding the right place. Here's some suggestions for sites for renting:


http://www.homebase.ca
http://www.rentcanada.com/
http://www.myidealhome.com
http://www.places4rent.com (here you can search as well as advertise any wanted accom.)

Lastly a useful guide from the Winnipeg Humane Society on pet friendly accommodation at http://www.winnipeghumanesociety.ca..._Apartments.php

If anyone fancies stopping in a hotel for a few days, the Canad Inn next to Tavern United British Pub and also part of Celebtrations Dinner Theatre looks well cool. It is near Pembina Highway so close to town and University. http://www.canadinns.com/fortgarry/