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Location: Beach/Coastal, City/Suburbs, Island, Snow/Ski - Victoria, B.C. Canada - 15 minutes to downtown, ferry rides to Seattle WA (USA) and Vancouver, or take a float plane to either destination. Ski at Mt. Washington (2.5 hrs north of Victoria) or in Whistler BC site of 2010 Olympic skiing (2 hrs from Vancou.
Preferred Swap Length: Short Term (up to 4 wks), School Holidays, Christmas
Open to any Destination:Yes
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Preferred Destinations
Destinations
From
To
Australia or New Zealand
Anytime
Anytime
Member Profile
Profile: Family-of-4
My wife, Denise, and I want to spend more time seeing the world with our twin daughters (ages 10). Denise, a 'Le Cordon Bleu' graduate, operates a local cooking school (French Mint) from our home (commercial kitchen will be available for personal use only while on exchange) while I practise law and our daughters attend a local school. We have a small pet dog, Matisse, who will be boarding with our friends. Needless to say, we love food, wine and cooking and hope to travel to destinations that allow us to learn about and taste interesting local cuisine! We are adventuresome and will consider almost any location for an exchange. We are particularly interested in Australia or New Zealand for Christmas time 2010 or school holiday in March/April 2011. Both dates would be good times for skiing in and around Victoria/Vancouver or even Washington State.
About our House: Our home is a modern, sunny and beautiful south-facing two-story structure with over 5000 sq ft (500 sq m.) of living space. It was built in 1995 on a 3/4 acre lot, so there are many gardens to enjoy and lots of privacy and outdoor sitting areas including a sun deck overlooking a nature sanctuary and the Olympic Mountains (Washington State) in the distance. We have a very nice piano room with a grand piano for those who play and two kitchens including a commercial teaching kitchen which is available for personal use only while you stay here. There is ample room for a family of 6 with 3 bedrooms all with their own ensuite. We enjoy a private wooden back deck with a gas BBQ which we use year-round. It provides a nice cool eating area during the summer.
House Amenities
Bath
Bicycle
Lock Up Garage
TV
DVD
Fans
Fireplace
Dishwasher
Gas Cooking
Microwave
Heating
Internet
We live in a beautiful wooded suburb of Victoria, B.C., known as Broadmead. We are walking distance to banks, shops, grocers, wine merchants, etc. Our location is ideal for visitors as you can be downtown Victoria by car or bus in 15 minutes and on the ocean beach in 5 minutes. There are many small, local vineyards and wineries in the area which you can visit by car. For those wishing to visit the 2010 Olympic city, Vancouver, we live 20 minutes from the ferry that gets you to the mainland and Vancouver. The 80 minute ferry ride is beautiful as it passes through the Gulf Islands. If you prefer, a float plane leaves from downtown Victoria and will have you in downtown Vancouver in 20 minutes. If you wish to visit beautiful Seattle, there is a passenger-only ferry leaving downtown Victoria which can have you in downtown Seattle in 3 hours. The city of Victoria is known for its shops, restaurants and beautiful flowers - it is right on the ocean. Due to history, there is a distinct British influence here and a very strong tourist trade with many wonderful hotels, parks, horse-drawn carriages, tours, whale watching, fishing, cycling, skiing and walking. Vancouver Island will not disappoint you and the weather is mild year round. We enjoy the mildest winters in Canada (although there is plenty of snow in the mountains for skiing) and the months of July and August see almost no rain. Spring weather arrives in February and summer weather arrives in late June.
