Day Twenty Six

Another early start on the bus, but this time the weather is perfect. A 45 minute drive and we catch the ferry for a 1.5 hour cruise to Vancouver Island. The ferry makes the Kangaroo Island ferry look like a row boat.

BC Ferries operates a number of services between the mainland and the islands. It's basically the only way of getting to and from the islands, apart from flying or private boat. It's so popular that in summer you can wait up to 4 hours to get on if you haven't pre-booked. Our ferry can hold 2,100 passengers and 470 vehicles (cars, trucks, buses), and it was full both ways.

The ferry passes between a number of large and small islands some of which are inhabited and the scenery is incredible. We saw a few seals on the way, and I spotted a whale but it was gone before I could take a photo.

We land at Victoria which is the capital city of British Columbia (not Vancouver City as we thought) and have a quick drive around before being driven to the Butchart Gardens. The garden is privately owned and was once a quarry that mined limestone for the local cement plant. After the quarry ceased operation, the owner's wife hated the eyesore left behind and decided to plant trees and flowers to beautify the site. After their death, the gardens were retained by the family. The plants are abundant and beautifully varied: there are 250,000 dahlias alone planted every year. The gardens are separated into different themes such as sunken garden (which used to be the quarry), rose garden, japanese garden, Italian garden and mediterranean garden. It attracts over 1 million visitors each year, and you don't have to like plants or gardens to appreciate how nice the place is.

Afterwards, we drove to Victoria for a look around before driving to the return ferry. A few of us had the same idea and finished up in the Bard & Banker pub for a couple of drinks.

All in all, a very enjoyable day.