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...

3 days in Victoria, Post 1: Inner Harbour

From Sunday to Wednesday, August 11th to 14th, Mum, Dad, Finley and I spent 3 days visiting BC's capital city, Victoria, on Vancouver Island. We left Ben behind to work... and entertain more Aussie/NZ visitors, Wes and Lianna!

The four of us took the ferry from Tsawwassen across to Swartz Bay on Sunday afternoon. Due to it being summer time, school holidays, and a weekend, we had to wait in the line-up of cars for a couple of hours before we could get on a ferry! We checked out the souvenir stores and coffee shops in the ferry terminal building while we waited.

After the 1.5 hour ferry ride, we drove half an hour south to get to Victoria, stopping at Boston Pizza for dinner on the way. We had booked into the same hotel we'd stayed at with Jim and Jenny in May: Helm's Inn, right next to the Royal BC Museum in the Inner Harbour district. This time we didn't have the convenience of a ground floor suite, but had to lug everything up to the third floor of an elevator-less building. Lucky the location's amazing!

The next day, Monday, was a bit foggy, so we decided to explore Victoria that day and take a chance on Tuesday having better weather to visit the Butchart Gardens (the #1 priority on Mum's list!). The fog soon lifted and we had a beautiful day walking along the Inner Harbour, watching the pedicabs, stretch limos, harbour ferries and float planes. We relaxed in a quiet nook inside the Fairmont Empress Hotel, ate lunch at Earl's, took a free guided tour of the Parliament Buildings, checked out interesting little shops in the downtown area, and watched the impressive IMAX movie Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure at the Royal BC Museum.

Mum and Dad with Parliament in the background

Mum and Dad in front of the Fairmont Empress

Finley and me in the Empress grounds

After cooking and eating dinner back at our hotel, we headed down to the harbour again to see the Parliament Buildings lit up at night. No photos, as we'd taken plenty in May and this time I just wanted to enjoy it. It's a truly spectacular view!

To be continued...

Family photos

Here are a few photos from the end of July...

Roxy joined us for 3 days in early August, as a surprise for Mum and Dad! It was the first time we'd all been together in almost 3 years. Here are a few photos she took at convention...

Fraser River boat ride

On Saturday, July 27th, we went for a 4 hour boat ride on the Fraser River with David and Deb and two of their kids, Naomi and Marc. Finley enjoyed his first motorboat outing, although he wasn't a huge fan of his life jacket! We soaked up the gorgeous sunshine and river views, cruised under some of the local bridges, and docked to buy lunch (eaten aboard) in Fort Langley.

Finley, almost 6 months old

Finley, Ben and Deb

Mum and Dad

David at the wheel

L-R: Ben, Finley, Mum, Naomi, Dad, David, Marc

Nap time

We took Mum and Dad to Bruce's Country Market for their Saturday night chicken dinner on the way home. This 65 year old, family run, commercial fishing/ retail store/ restaurant business is owned by friends of friends. It was a nice way to wrap up a fun day!