Vancouver Island, Butchart Gardens


Vancouver Island.
20th August, 2018

For over 20 years, I can remember my parents taking about the Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island. We spent a lovely morning there today after a coach and ferry ride.

Vancouver Island is three hours away from Vancouver, so it’s not just a case of catching a ferry ‘across the harbour’.  Interestingly, the lifeboats on the ferry were from ‘Life Raft Systems Australia”, so it was good to feel safe with some Aussie know-how.
The gardens are amazing, built on the site of a former limestone quarry. They have been there for over 100 years and have thrilled millions of people. 

After lunch we drove to Victoria, the capital of British Columbia and also on Vancouver Island.
Unfortunately smoke from bush fires further west in British Columbia and California have meant that visibility is quite poor - so no mountain views. We have heard that the further north we go, the clearer it is.

As I write, we, along with 500 other people, are on the Rocky Mountain train heading for Kamloops.
The next day, we head for Jasper on the train.


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