Coming to Canada!

[danvan 0]

Hi everyone,

My girlfriend and I are taking the plunge (no, not THAT plunge) and leaving our comfortable life in sunny Sydney, Australia, destined for the lovely Vancouver, Canada. Well, I hear it's lovely anyway :) I have a one year working visa that I must enter on by April next year, but plan to move in this coming October - just in time for the ski season! YAY!

Anyway, I have some questions and figure you guys could answer them (to save me having to do the hard work of researching it all ;-) ).

Firstly, jumping in Vancouver: What's it cost? Is it seasonal? How far out of the city are the DZs? Do I need any specific equipment? e.g. RSL, Cypress, etc - I have these BTW. Do I need to get affiliated with the USPA or CSPA or otherwise?

Second, I am thinking of buying a car for the time I'm there - nothing flash, so long as it gets me up to the ski fields every weekend. I really want to drive up from LA (via Las Vegas) so what do you suggest I do? Buy a car in the USA and drive it up to Canada, or buy a car in Canada? Are there any whacky laws I should be aware of that makes it hard for a car owned in one state/country/provence to be "permanently" in BC? Would I have to transfer the plates over? Would I have to take the car back to wherever I bought it from to sell it again?

That'll do for now. I'm sure I'll have more questions as the time gets closer.

Cheers
Daniel

p.s. If you know of any companies who might be looking for network admins (IP or VoIP) in October-ish, let me know. :)

http://www.danvan.com

[Cajundude 0]

I can't comment on any DZs over there (obviously, look at my number of jumps) but I can tell you that Vancouver is an awesome place. Make sure you go skiing in Whistler which is about 2 hours North of Vancouver. It is the best skiing I've had yet. Good luck with your move.

[Marz 0]

Quote

Hi everyone,


Firstly, jumping in Vancouver: What's it cost? Is it seasonal? How far out of the city are the DZs? Do I need any specific equipment? e.g. RSL, Cypress, etc - I have these BTW. Do I need to get affiliated with the USPA or CSPA or otherwise?

Second, I am thinking of buying a car for the time I'm there - nothing flash, so long as it gets me up to the ski fields every weekend. I really want to drive up from LA (via Las Vegas) so what do you suggest I do? Buy a car in the USA and drive it up to Canada, or buy a car in Canada? Are there any whacky laws I should be aware of that makes it hard for a car owned in one state/country/provence to be "permanently" in BC? Would I have to transfer the plates over? Would I have to take the car back to wherever I bought it from to sell it again?

OK, I' try to answer some of your questions. Other Canadians can correct me if I'm wrong....

Skydiving in Vancouver- I would check the dropzone websites. In Ontario, we spend between $30-$35 CND per jump. The Canadian dollar is (was?) about at par with the Aussie Dollar. Each DZ has its own requirements for Cypres use, but I haven't heard of one that requires and RSL. Most DZs in Canada are CSPA affiliated, but depending on the knowledge/level of paranoia of the DZO, you should be able to get away with using your current license. Lots of Yanks come here and jump on USPA licenses and vice-versa, although I've had to pay for a temporary USPA license one year when I went to Sebastian.

For the car thing, the Free Trade Agreement does allow for cars purchased into the US to cross into Canada, but it's a bit of a hassle. I would contact the Canadian Government to get the low-down on that stuff. A friend of mine does it alot though and once you know the gig, it isn't too bad, if the car is not too old and in good shape. Chances are you're going to have to get the car safetied and emmissions-tested before you are allowed to register it in BC. However, given the weather in Vancouver as well as the amount of backpackers/tourists/transients, finding a vehicle there should not be that difficult.

Hope this helps!

Marz

[chachi 0]

WOOHOO< welcome almost to Vancouver, I am chachi your personal tour guide on this little adventure and I will try to answer all of your questions.

Skydiving - Skydiving in Vancouver is the pops. We have almost year round jumping. Obviously due to rain we have a lot of non jumping days here, and we usually jump cessna's in the winter. We have a wicked fast King Air at the dz closest to Vancouver, Pitt Meadows. Here is the link Pacific SKydivers . We also have two other dropzones in a very close drive also, Abbottsford, and Fraser Valley Skydive. Abbottsford has a Porter, fun place to hang and Fraser Valley in CHilliwack is a cessna DZ but super fun place to hang. Jumps around here will average you around $28.00CA - $30.00 ranging from 10,000 out of Cessnas, to 12,500 in the bigger planes. You need to become a CSPA member I believe, RSL/Cypress are not mandatory off student status.

Skiiing - WHOA, boarding / skiing here rocks. Part of Vancouver itself are 3 ski mountains on the Nrth SHore jsut above all of the houses. These are about 10 minutes from downtown Vancouver approx to the base. Whistler / Blackcomb = 1 hour away and then we have many, many, many other ski hills super close.

Car, big mistake, you are not allowed to import a vehicle from US to Canada that is newer than I believe 10 - 12 years old. There may be some transfering clauses or something like that but buying a car in the states and trying to import it inot Canada is near impossible. This is what I have been told by car dealers as I was thinking of purchasing that Lotus in ayear or so but that is apparantly impossible. Fell free to PM me for my phone number if you would like to call me sometime to chat about life in Vancouver and if you need any assistance in getting here I would be happy to help out.

~Rob