Doesn't time fly!

Well, it's been roughly 4 months since we put our PR application on hold to wait until the new year to prepare for the next quota run of PR occupations.

Well it's almost the new year! Eeek!

As we ramp things up through January, I'll post details of what we're doing, but in the mean time I thought I'd make a long overdue post containing some photos from our reccie trip earlier in 2011 (lots of photos to follow. If it creates a page that takes ages to load, pop a comment on the post and I'll see if I can improve things).

So.....

Photos from Okotoks, Alberta where some very kind friends put up with us for two weeks (we are in your debt - you know who you are):

Okotoks Easter egg hunt. Hundreds of kids turned out to collect little plastic eggs to exchange for a massive bar of chocolate (and I mean massive - a pound in weight). Our kids loved it - obviously!

The Okotoks mascot.

Our eldest daughter got to try out school for a day.

A walk along Sheep River.

The footbridge over Sheep River - Strike a pose!

The "Okotoks Glacial Erratic", or Big Rock to you and I. Actually big rock translates to Okotoks in the native language. Apparently Native Americans (or whatever their official name is) used it as a navigation aid when moving through the area.

 
Okotoks residents share the town with more deer than you can shake a stick at.

Off to the Rocky Mountains

No photo or description of the Rocky Mountains could ever do them justice. Take a look at the bus in the bottom right of this photo to get an idea of the scale, but also know that this was taken in what could be described as the foothills. The scale gets much grander as you go on.

As you drive further into the Rocky's, you see these wildlife bridges that allow the animals to move around without having to physically cross the highway.

Walking on a frozen Lake Louise.

On the back road between Lake Louise and Banff without a care in the world, oblivious to the dozen or so cars that had stopped to take his photo.

Downtown Banff. We had a delicious dinner at Tony Roma's...... until our youngest threw up all over the place.......... twice. The poor Australian waitress was so understanding and kind, and insisted on cleaning everything up. I'm sure our photos are on the wall in case we ever try to go back :)

On top of Sulphur Mountain with Banff behind me, and a frozen Lake Minnewanka (tee-hee) in the top right hand corner.

Looking back at the cable car station and cafe on the top of Sulphur Mountain.

Calgary

The Rocky Mountains as seen from the top of Calgary Tower. To be honest we didn't think Calgary Tower was worth it. $48 (if memory serves me correctly) for 2 adults and 2 kids (daughter number three was free), plus about $8 for parking. Nothing but the view and the gift shop up there (plus a restaurant, but we didn't eat there), and it's not even the tallest building in Calgary any more - I think there are four or five taller buildings.

The Calgary Olympic park (or whatever it's official name is), from when the Winter Olympics were held in I think 1988. I remember watching Eddie the Eagle soar (ahem) from the end of those ski jumps on TV when I was younger. I think it's pretty cool being able to go skiing in the city.

The Alberta flag.

Fort Calgary. There was a full scale replica of the old wooden RCMP fort from 1870 ('ish - I think). Sadly it burned down and all that is left is a wall, a gate and a shed. But what I did learn from a very helpful employee on reception there was that this........

...... didn't exist until 1968. Before that Canada had the Union Jack as it's flag.

Heritage Park in Calgary. We only got to visit the transport museum, but there is also a historic town there (a bit like Beamish in the UK so I'm led to believe), but it was closed for restoration. That was the main problem with our trip really. We were in Canada when just about every attraction was transitioning from winter to summer mode so most were only partially open or closed all together (the Calgary Olympic park was deserted).

This felt a bit surreal. Having a picnic outside Heritage Park in weather easily warm enough for just a t-shirt (15 or 16 degrees Celsius).... next to a frozen lake.

And then......

Our ride home. Booooooooooo!

Okay, that's enough photos. I think you can get a feel for what we saw. In addition to all of the above, we also tried to live as realistically as possible, shopping at supermarkets, using local amenities, checked out the local school (or at least Lydia and our eldest daughter did), and I think we got a pretty good feel for what life would be like.

We experienced snow, but it was only really cold for the first two or three days we were there. We should plan another reccie for the deepest depths of winter, but I'm not sure how practical that would be as we'd probably be stuck indoors most of the time (but perhaps that's a Canadian winter experience we should take in). Something to think about I suppose.

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble on so I'll leave it there and I hope you enjoyed the photos.

So, a little backstory....

About 6 years ago, my wife Lydia and I were thinking about a move to the Calgary area of Canada.

If I am honest, it was more me than Lydia, but she was coming round to the idea (however she may post here to disagree), to the point where we were in touch with a contact in the Alberta Children's Hospital about how applicable here nursing qualifications were. At the time we had a daughter, and enough points to qualify (no targeted list of occupations back then).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, Lydia became pregnant with daughter number two and Canada slipped way down our priority list to the point where we thought nothing more of it.

Fast forward 3 years and some friends a few doors away announced that they were moving to Canada. I asked where and they said the Calgary area. I pointed out the coincidence and talked with them about their move at great length. A hectic few months of them selling as many of their possessions as possible, and they and their two kids were off on a temporary work permit (inter company transfer).

A little over two years later, and daughter number 3! we decided to go and visit whilst daughter number 3 could still fly for free. We couldn't really afford it, but it would be totally out of the question if we had to pay for 5 tickets. Off we flew in mid April of this year (2011) for 2 weeks in Okotoks - http://www.okotoks.ca/home.aspx A little bit of snow for a few days (a teeny weeny bit by Calgary standards I suppose), and a good bit of nice weather.

We saw some sights, local and farther afield (Lake Louise, Banff, Sulphur Mountain - the rockies are something else!), and tried to live a little as locals, shopping at the supermarkets, seeing what Okotoks had to offer, seeing Alberta Children's Hospital up close when daughter number 3 needed a visit to the emergency room ($650 for walking in the door - ouch!). Daughter number 1 even got to go to school for a day! That would never be allowed in the UK.

Our friends will remain anonymous unless they reveal themselves here, but I can't thank them enough for the opportunity to visit. We fell in love with the idea of moving to Canada.

So, to bring you up to the present, we discussed it at length and decided to go for it.

A few things have changed since I last researched the process. There is now an occupation list for permanent residence applications. We easily have enough points, but my occupation is not on the list, although annoyingly it was 12 months ago! Lydia's nursing occupation is, but her registration here in the UK has lapsed. That means a temporary work permit and see how things go from there (not a simple task to find an employer to sponsor one in my field).

So there you are, out backstory in a nutshell.