My family and I are hoping to move to oz, but before we go any further can anyone tell me........Why oz? Canada seems like a buitiful place too...... ah decisions????

My brother is in Canada and is keen for us to move there, but the waiting time is around 4 - 5 years I believe. Also, most of our conversations are about the weather, with him usually saying (in the winter) 'it's really mild today, it's only 5 below' Being a fairweather person, I know where I want to be

They're both beautiful countries. Although in my opinion the big test is the temperature.

If you don't like cold for 6 months of the year then don't go to Canada. It really does get pretty cold depending on where you are. A Canadian winter is much colder than a UK one.

If you don't like one long warm season then don't go to Australia.

Otherwise they're quite similar.

Being the Oz forum you're going to get quite a few biased views. ;-)

The weather is certainly better in Oz, but a major benefit of Canada is the proximity to Europe (compared with Oz) for holidays back home to visit friends and family.

Try the wiki article:
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Canada_versus_Australia

The visa situation in Canada is difficult these days (v. long waiting lists).

That's a good article. It's missing one thing regarding hiking in the great outdoors:

Australia may have snakes which are more scared of you than you are of them and you can treat their bites effectively with good first aid. Canada, on the other hand has massive bears who love tearing people from limb from limb.

I did a bit of hiking in Denali National Park in Alaska and before you can go out you have to do a Bear 'awareness' course with the Rangers. The things you learn are eye opening and when angry, a brown bear is a truly ferocious creature and virtually unstoppable without a bullet between it's eyes. In the wild - at a distance - we saw Grizzlies that were running as fast as a dog. Incredible creatures.

What was that then? Look out for big fat hairy gay men with beards?

Agree!

We have Canada on our 'maybe in the future list', but Australia came up with a job offer first so here we are. If you're applying for a visa then Australia is usually much easier. Must also confess that I like the mild winters here, but wouldn't let that stop me trying somewhere cold. At least then I could use my hats/scarves/jackets that are currently 'away' in the back of a cupboard! OH loves his skiing too, he's much more a cold-weather person than I am. I reckon we'll get over there one day!

It's about what to do if you come into contact with Bears. Basically it's about kissing your ass goodbye.

I lived in Canada from birth to age 28 and I've never seen a bear in the wild. Mind you I didn't live in right next to the woods and I wasn't one to wander about deep in the forest.

So it's quite possible to never see a bear, or for that matter a poisonous snake in Australia. Although I suspect you'd be more likely to see a snake because they come into civilization more frequently than the bears do.

So basically what Renth said then!?

Yes canada is nice but you don't get the arm exercise we get waving the fly's and mozzies away

I beg to differ. In Nova Scotia where we lived the mozzies were worse than where I am in Perth. One month in the summer was blackfly season and if people in Perth think the flies are friendly they want to try the blackfly and they bite to boot.

To the OP. Having lived in both I love both countries equally. What wins for me (even with the horrid heat in Perth just now) is the weather. I am not sure I could go back to shovelling 3ft of snow off my driveway.

Patently untrue. In my 43 years of living in Canada I can count on one hand how many bear encounters I've had. One was while hiking in Banff National Park when we saw a bear down a ravine about 500 yards away, another when I lived in Northern Ontario at the tip of Lake Superior when we saw one at the garbage dump and another when we lived in the mountains of BC when one came down and tried to get in our shed where we stored the bins. None of these were grizzlies and not one of them tried to tear us limb from limb

Just FYI...Alaska isn't in Canada.