People & Places
Hobden's Canadian Blog April 07
In the first of a new monthly blog, the Hobdens fill us in on their emigration journey from Eastbourne, East Sussex, to British Columbia
We are the Hobden family: Darren (39), Mette (40), Daniel (14) and Anja (12). We emigrated to the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island, in beautiful British Columbia.
Our journey started in 2001 when we came to visit Darren's sister, who lives in Vancouver. We enjoyed the environment, the scenery, the atmosphere, the standard of living, the people and the positive attitude and when we went on a short visit to Vancouver Island we all fell in love with the place and said "this is where we want to live!" With the help of Stuart Bennett at Hand in Hand Immigration, we started our emigration application in July 2002, had our medicals in October 2003, received our visa Christmas 2003 and finally arrived here in April 2004.
We stayed with Darren's sister and her family for a week, bought a van (people carrier) and then travelled across by ferry to the Island. We rented a lakefront house for a month so that we could have a short holiday and have a base for house and job hunting. We found a house we wanted to buy and moved in exactly three weeks after putting in our offer - a little bit faster than the UK system.
Some of the groundwork we had to do when we arrived was to obtain our SIN Cards (Social Insurance Number Cards) and apply for Medicare (you have to wait 90 days before you qualify). Driving tests came next (you can drive for 90 days in BC before you need to take a test) and both of us passed.
Daniel and Anja started school and quickly made lots of friends. Then it was time to sign up for soccer (football), basketball and dance. There seems to be a lot more opportunities and clubs for the children here plus the different summer camps that they go on. Both have done well in their chosen activities. Anja has performed in dance shows in the Cowichan Valley, Victoria and Nanaimo, and Daniel's soccer team won the Vancouver Island Championship last year. In basketball he played for the grade 10s even though he is a grade 9 and they won the Vancouver Island Championship this year and came fourth in the Provincial Championship, their second-highest finish ever.
We have now been here three years and last April we moved house again to a place called Cherry Point. It is about a five-minute drive from where we lived before. We now have three and a half acres of land with a barn and a swimming pool. We could never have afforded anything like this in England.
Cherry Point is situated in the Cowichan Valley on the east coast of Vancouver Island. It is between Victoria and Nanaimo, near Cowichan Bay. From Cherry Point beach you can look across to Saltspring Island and Mount Baker and see the ferries entering and leaving Shwartz Bay harbour. There is a vineyard here called Cherry Point Vineyard (what else) and they produce excellent wine.
Well, till next month, eh! (Canadian expression)
We now operate our own relocation company called Emi-Great Relocation Specialists and we will be happy to help with any enquiries that you have. Please feel free to e-mail us at emigreat@shaw.ca
Read other emigration blogs