Guest Guest55385 Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 So... after a disastrous 2.7 years, 2 yrs in Perth and 7 months in Brisbane, we are looking around for jobs. We are looking at Canada, Toronto has a possibility of a job. Any thoughts?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maruska Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 What field are you in? My SIL lives in Toronto with family, they are both nurses and found a job within a month after they moved there. We visited in April this year and while I did like the area and the friendliness of the people, it was crazy cold ( our kids couldn`t play outside for more than an hour). If you don`t mind freezing temps, I was told that summer is great :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest55385 Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Thanks this is really helpful Maruska. My husband is an engineer, he would get a job before we went there. I was a social worker although I am now a photographer. I know the temps can be -40 in the winter lol. Eeek!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maruska Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 We`ve got friends in Hamilton which is about 35 km from Toronto, they are still able to do lots of outdoor activities - biking, kayaking etc. Sorry can`t help with living expenses, we only spent limited time in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfndirt Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Apologies for the thread hijack - Maruska, you moved from Houston, TX to Sydney then? Would be very very interested to get your views.... You MUST be spinning out at the cost of living, and the lack of good roads / freeways - surely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest55385 Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 There is currently a job in Houston for us, Possibly Toronto, Aberdeen & CRoydon. Have to go where the jobs are, although the husband refuses to consider Houston lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jac2011 Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Due to employment I was seriously considering the western provinces Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. I think you can have a really good quality of life if you are prepared to accept that Canada is not Australia. For us, the weather won. Although financially long term we may have been better off in Canada. It is also really close to USA and we would have loved some road trips or quick weekends away. Good Luck in your decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prairie Girl Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Hi, as a Canadian living in Australia, I would just like remind you that Canadian houses have central heating. The winter is an indoor life, going from heated house to heated car and heated malls and offices. Toronto is a modern, large city. If you can find a winter sport you enjoy you will like it better. :-). With the right coats, gloves etc you will be fine. I think Toronto won't be as expensive as Sydney, and there are lots of travel opportunities to New York etc. Too bad about the mayor though...!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perthbum Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Canada is beautiful with a real buzz about the place which is sadly lacking IMO in oz, the night life in the major cities is amazing and the crafy beers are some of the best in the world, food is amazing and the people are nice, dont know what the work situation is like though.....it gets very very cold for a large part of the year though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernbird Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 having lived in both it is a close run thing. The extremes of weather can be equally as confining so depends if you prefer the beach or skiing. Canada is better with regards to proximity to other places and it's scenery in parts is spectacular. I find the Australians and Canadians equally as friendly but the Canadians were less in your face IMO. The food is much of a muchness IMO, eating out was cheap when I lived there. It's a while since I lived there so can't comment on the current cost of living. I loved it and a piece of my heart will always remain there but I didn't like the snow so Perth suits me better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maruska Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Apologies for the thread hijack - Maruska, you moved from Houston, TX to Sydney then? Would be very very interested to get your views.... You MUST be spinning out at the cost of living, and the lack of good roads / freeways - surely! Yep did leave Houston behind and so far I don`t miss it at all ( except friends of course, and my favorite tex-mex Chuy`s!) . We came prepared, visited Australia last year and quickly realized that our dining out days are over - well almost :wink:. Funny thing about the roads, recently we used navigation while driving around in Sydney, when it said " turn right onto Princes Highway", we didn`t believe that the 2-lane road was the highway so breezed right through it and had to turn :laugh:. Public transport is great in Sydney though, we used the trains a lot this past 3 weeks - something that Houston doesn`t have ( and I certainly don`t miss the traffic ). We are 5 min. away from a beautiful surf beach, 10 min by train to work and a short ferry ride from the National park now, can`t complain about that :smile:. Rent - ouch, getting used to the fact that we pay more than what our mortgage was but in real estate it`s all about the location, Texas in general is cheap, I guess it would have been about the same if we lived in the North-East. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 My brother, Canadian wife and 3 children live around 45mins north of Calgary. Canada is a great country and Alberta seems to have some great things about living there. From watching their life and talking to them I do think the weather is a major negative factor though. At the same time as my children were playing in the local creek here in Brisbane in our Autumn sunshine in shorts and a t-shirt his children had "masses" of snow to contend with and it was their Spring. The winter seems really long (far longer than 1 season) and it takes ages to get the kids ready to go outside. It sometimes gets so cold with windchill that it is painful to be outside and you are stuck indoors a lot. This is Alberta so not sure about elsewhere. In Brisbane the children are sometimes inside during the middle of the day in the worst of summer but they can still get outdoors in the morning and late afternoon and the rest of the year is fine. Saying that, many Canadian kids obviously grow up with it and cope like kid do so for many families it wouldn't be a deal breaker, just for some. Like Australia, Canada comes high in many of the global country indices and is obviously a great country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canuck Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I am Canadian and living in Saskatchewan. Canada is great.....if you don't mind being stuck inside for months on end. Depending on where you live in Canada will determine how harsh your winter is. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have very long and cold winters. We pretty much don't go outside from November-March for longer than getting to and from our car. Alberta winters are just as long as ours, but the temperatures don't drop as cold (we will normally be -40 for the whole month of January, they may be around -20 for example) so you can spend more time outside if you are interested in skiing, etc. Vancouver has a wonderful winter and very seldomly have snow .... but it does rain a lot there year 'round. Toronto gets a cold winter, but its a big city, so I would assume they have a lot of indoor activities you could occupy yourselves with. Toronto also seems to get a nice hot summer (lots of 30+ days). I highly recommend Canada as a great place to live....but you have to be able to deal with the weather (a huge reason why we are considering migrating....the weather makes a huge impact on your lifestyle - I certainly can't run outside in 6 feet of snow when its -40 out ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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