'There was snow everywhere': Australian family's big adventure on P.E.I. winds up

A family from Australia says their six months on P.E.I. has been "an experience that you could never learn in a classroom."

Siobhan Eagar and her Canadian husband, Chris, along with their two children, 6-year-old Tao and his 7-year-old sister Islay, arrived from Perth, Australia, in early summer.

Chris first began thinking about an extended stay with his relatives on P.E.I. a few years ago, but it wasn't until this summer that everything came together.

"It worked well, because we were leaving Perth in western Australia, and re-locating to Sydney," he said.

"So we were getting rid of most of our belongings. We sold our car."

Meet the Eagars: Australian family's big adventure on P.E.I. winds up

8 years ago

Duration 2:15

Meet the Eagars: Australian family's big adventure on P.E.I. winds up

The Eagar's children had mixed emotions when they found out they were going to a different country.

"We were excited and we were sad," said Islay. "We didn't want to leave our friends, but we wanted to go to Canada."

'Best six months of the year'

The couple decided that coming to Canada in summer would give the family a real taste of the different seasons.

"We timed it so that we would get the best six months of the year in Canada, said Siobhan.

"We had the summer here, then you get Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Christmas. So you get the beginning of winter with the snow and the excitement, but you don't have to stay for the entire four months of it."

"One thing I've loved, and one thing I've missed a lot, is the seasons," said Chris, who was born in Newfoundland, and also lived in Cape Breton.

"Hot Christmases are not the way to go, I like a snowy Christmas so it's nice to get that this time around."

Seeing their first snowfall was probably the highlight for the kids.

"It was amazing," said Tao. "We just looked outside and there was snow everywhere."

'Less stressful' on the Island

Aside from the weather, Siobhan said the education system here is different than Australia's but in a good way.

"It's less stressful here, there's not as much pressure on kids at such a young age," said Siobhan.

"Here they have sport and music every second day, It's not as much academically-focused over here which I think is a good thing."

Siobhan said the experience of living in a different country for six months has been better than she ever expected.

"We hoped that they'd take away just a bit of culture from outside of Australia and they've learned and grown so much more than we would have expected," she said.

"The fact that the snow came early was a huge bonus to them because snow at school is something they'll never, ever experience again."

"I guess I'll miss the quieter pace of the lifestyle here. When we get back to Australia, we'll be living in Sydney and there's traffic jams and there's people everywhere, she said.

The family will spend Christmas Day on the Island, then a few days later head to Australia just in time to start their summer holidays.

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