# Moving to Vancouver Island



## valeria m (Apr 23, 2015)

Hi all,
We are thinking about moving to Vancouver Island from East Calgary, but we are not sure about the rain. We lived in Dublin for 4 years and didn't like the cloudy skies all year around. I understand that the Island has wet winters and dry summers. Is it comparable to Dublin or dry summers make a diferece?
I also would like some opinions about the different towns. The houses in Victoria are very expensive, so we were thinking about Mill Bay or Duncan. Job is not a problem, my husband would keep working from home.
I was wondering if anybody out there could tell me a lot more about:
-good schools and nice environment to raise kids.
-artsy community, I'm an artisan and I would like venues to sell my work. I noticed in Duncan there are some nice small stores, galleries and a farmers market.
-Does it rain much more than Victoria? Is it Duncan weather more like Vancouver?
-Any other area north of Victoria we should consider? 
Or we should forget about the Island and move to Kelowna or Kamloops? sunnier for sure.
Any comment would be so much appreciate it.
Thanks!
Valeria.


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## tootalong (Apr 27, 2015)

*from Duncan*

Hi!

I live in Duncan, BC now and have lived in Vancouver as well. 

RE: the weather - it IS rainy here in the winters and dark and if you like going to coffeehouses or to the library - your life will be fulfilled. that's about all there is here for entertainment. There is theater, but not great stuff. It rains as much as in Vancouver and, like Vancouver, when the sun comes out it's fabulous.

Duncan and North Cowichan have a lot of artisans. Think about health care quality for the place you choose. Find an MD - there are not many available here. You can run into long waits if you need special procedures and God-forbid you are an elder - you are written off or dumped into a facility against your will. If those things are not a concern for you, then aside from the rain - it's a good place to live in. 

If you are American be prepared for the usual anti-Americanism that is prevalent here in BC. There are no protests against us, but people think nothing of speaking disparagingly about all Americans - something they would not do about Africans, for example.

Just keep in mind that Bc has it's own personality - it's a pretty place to live in if you can put up with the people. LOL


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## valeria m (Apr 23, 2015)

Thanks for the reply.
I'm not an elder but I would need an MD for sure. And I'm not American but I'm an Argentinian, so I'm a foreigner too.
Too bad it rains like Vancouver, the weather is keeping us from making the move. Hard decision to make while we are enjoying the blue skies in Alberta. 
We are thinking on Mill Bay now, I read that they get less rain.
Thanks again!


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

valeria m said:


> Thanks for the reply.
> I'm not an elder but I would need an MD for sure. And I'm not American but I'm an Argentinian, so I'm a foreigner too.
> Too bad it rains like Vancouver, the weather is keeping us from making the move. Hard decision to make while we are enjoying the blue skies in Alberta.
> We are thinking on Mill Bay now, I read that they get less rain.
> Thanks again!




Personally, I'd take the rain in Victoria over the snow in Alberta every day of the week.


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## Heading South (Jan 29, 2011)

I lived in the Duncan area all my life, (Cowichan Bay, 5 min from downtown Duncan)and can say it doesn't rain any more or any less than Victoria. it can be sunny in Duncan and raining in Victoria, and vise versa. Duncan is the business center of the Cowichan Valley, which has a population of approx. 70,000. But housing costs are at least 25-30% less than the Victoria area. There's a reason they call the Cowichan Valley, the Warmland. The last snow in Duncan was 3" back on November 29th, and some area's less than 5km from us only got a dusting, if any. My main concern with moving to anywhere in BC would be healthcare. I know people who have been waiting over a year for MRI's, and non emergency surgeries. My sister is 7 months into an expected 2 yr wait for an MRI on her wrist. She could pay for it herself, but its not life and death, so $1000 can be better spent. My neighbor has been on a wait list for knee surgery since Feb 2014. I know others who have gone to Mexico and paid to have surgeries done because they couldn`t wait any longer for it to happen in BC. And before anyone comments, NO, they didn`t have any problems, infact all have said it put BC`s medical system to shame. But that's another topic, which used to get talked about on here, but not so much anymore as most of the members (like me) stopped posting. Duncan has all you need for shopping, numerous grocery stores like Superstore, Save-On, Thriftys, etc, even a large Walmart Supercenter that actually has a bigger grocery section than the 2 Victoria area ones and the one in Nanaimo. They even have a meat dept, a bakery, and a tire and lube shop. Theres also Canadian Tire, Home Depot, London Drugs, Best Buy, McDonalds, 3 Tim Hortons, Starbucks, Burger King, Wendys, Boston Pizza, etc etc, in fact, theres only one reason to shop outside of Duncan, Costco is only 45 minutes away in either Langford or Nanaimo. There are a few other people from the Duncan area that used to post on here, but doing some checking, looks like they haven`t done so in a long time. Good luck wherever you move to.


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## valeria m (Apr 23, 2015)

Thank you for the reply and all the info. I didn't think the health care was different from Alberta. We also complain here, but in comparison I think here it is not that bad. Another thing to consider before making the move. Thanks again!. Valeria.


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