3 days in Victoria, Post 2: Butchart Gardens

On Tuesday, August 13th, Mum, Dad, Finley and I set off for a full day at the Butchart Gardens. Mum had been looking forward to it for months! As Ben, Finley and I had already been to the gardens with Jim and Jenny in May, and I'd known then that I would be back a few months later, I had purchased a year-long membership for myself. It cost slightly less than two separate visits, plus gives a discount to anyone I bring with me.

After arriving at the gardens and enjoying our morning coffee and treats at an onsite cafe, we set off to explore. It was a gorgeous day for it, and Mum and Dad really enjoyed finally seeing the world famous Butchart Gardens!

This was once a quarry!

Finley and I took the stroller-accessible path above the quarry garden...

...which gave us this vantage point

Mum and Dad are in the centre of this photo!

Mum and Dad both loved the dahlia garden. Mum had been told about it by Uncle Mal after he visited the Butchart Gardens a few years ago. I had fun taking macro shots of amazing flower buds!

Rose garden

Mrs Butchart's private garden - this has never been open to the public

After a yummy lunch at the Blue Poppy Cafe, we took an electric boat tour of Tod Inlet and Brentwood Bay. I think this is a fairly new option at the Butchart Gardens, as I don't remember having seen it until this year. With my membership discount, it was only around $15 per person and lasted for 45 minutes. Our boat captain was very knowledgeable and funny, and we learnt lots of fascinating facts. This was my favourite part of the day; I highly recommend it!

There were only two other couples on the boat tour with us

Tod Inlet Marine Park

Part of Mr Butchart's old cement works

Nesting boxes for purple martins (migratory birds)

A tiny island with seals sunbathing on it!

Brentwood Bay

Apparently this was a (Navy?) spy boat decked out as a fishing boat!

Finley enjoyed the boat tour too!

Once we'd finished seeing the gardens, eaten some gelato, and checked out the gift shop, we drove back to Victoria and cooked and ate dinner in our room. After dinner, we had a visit from Wes and Lianna, who had arrived on the Island that day after spending the previous couple of nights at our place on the mainland with Ben. We again headed to the Inner Harbour after dark to show Wes and Lianna the Parliament lights and take in the antics of some artists and buskers along the waterfront. It was another beautiful evening for an Inner Harbour walk!

To be continued...