Wednesday 6th May 2009…Nanaimo..

For those of you who want to know more about the place I live this article below was taken from the local Tourist Information office.

About Nanaimo

Nanaimo is a seaside city on beautiful Vancouver Island, Canada, across the water from Vancouver. It is British Columbia's third-oldest city, and its sixth-largest (about 80,000).

Early History

The indigenous First Nations lived here first, and many still do. But after the discovery of Nanaimo's enormous coal reserves around 1850, there was rapid colonization and several decades of booming economic conditions. Timber, sandstone, seafood and small manufacturing, as well as the premium-quality coal, ensured that Nanaimo was a rich, progressive centre of Victorian society in British Columbia.

Nanaimo Today

The mines were allowed to flood with seawater long ago, but Nanaimo thrives more than ever as a temperate destination city. Retirees and outdoors people flock here, as well as students, artists, professionals, hobos, performers, craftspeople, and a lot of tourists. Not all of the tourists remain in Nanaimo — there's just way too much going on in the mountains and rivers and beaches beyond Nanaimo — but the "Hub City" prospers very well with its healthy chunk of Vancouver Island tourism. There are gorgeous beaches 30 minutes away in Parksville, a ton of interesting little historic villages (relics of the early exploitation of the troves of resources here), a vast island wilderness to the north, and to the west, the infamously wild West Coast and Pacific Rim National Park.

• There are way too many options here for the shopper
• Our downtown is well loved and has ... character
• You'll love the light here, especially in the spring and autumn
• The arts have a very comfortable home in Nanaimo
• Vancouver Island University has a spectacular view of the ocean

The Land

The geography of Nanaimo is stunning, with the city stretched out along a bumpy strip of protected Pacific shoreline beside a 1km-high mountain. There are some huge trees here. Some of them — the arbutuses — have smooth, red bark and are only found here in the Gulf of Georgia. We also have lakes, and mighty rivers with canyons, and caves deep in the forest.