Panorama of harbour area, Victoria, Vancouver Island
Boats & Empress Hotel, Victoria, Vancouver Island
Homestead, Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island
Rose bush, Rose Garden, Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island
Ross Fountain, Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island
Pink dahlia, Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island
Fuschias, Butchart Gardens, Vancouver Island
Sunken Garden, Butchart Gardens, Victoriia
We wandered around the Sooke Harbour House hotel grounds and took photos of this lovely seaside location and the hotel’s gardens.
We then followed the main route back towards Victoria but diverted towards the Butchart Gardens which we’d been told not to miss if we were in this neck of the woods.
The entry fee for the four of us was a cool $136 and we were somewhat taken aback at this unexpected price but pretty soon we realised that it was certainly not an unreasonable charge at all.
The gardens occupy 53 hectares and began from an idea Jennie Butchart had to beautify the worked-out limestone quarry that supplied the raw material for her husband’s nearby Portland cement works.
The sheer magnificence of these gardens is beyond adequate description. The numbers and varieties of plants in flower is extraordinary and equally impressive is the setting in which these extensive gardens have been developed. There are sunken gardens with ponds and seemingly acres of flowering annuals, trees and shrubs. In amongst these meticulously manicured gardens are elaborate fountains, small pavilions and hideaway corners where the beauty of the gardens can be appreciated in relative tranquillity.
We wandered for several hours in amongst rose gardens, dahlia gardens, Japanese gardens and specialised Mediterranean gardens where horticulturalists had blended plants to flower in a complementary fashion. The lawns and surrounding garden beds were devoid of weeds and the fountains and ponds were tastefully placed in amongst this unbelievably glorious floral extravaganza.
In order to maintain these gardens in their pristine state requires 60 full time gardeners, hence the cost of entry being high.
The gardens were crowded beyond belief being a public holiday weekend but nonetheless we thoroughly enjoyed the visit and now understand why a visit to Victoria must incorporate a visit to the Butchart Gardens.
In the afternoon we wandered around the harbour of Victoria in glorious sunshine and joined the many thousands who were here for the annual Victoria Classic Boat Festival. This was somewhat reminiscent of our Hobart Wooden Boat Festival but for larger cruisers many of which were wooden and built in the 1960s or there abouts.
Amongst the hundreds of boats on display were a dozen or more luxurious wooden boats with perfectly varnished and polished timber superstructures, brass portholes and brass window frames plus million dollar fit-outs. Most were twenty metres in length or more.
It was a day for the super-rich to exhibit their wares and with the gloriously picturesque Victoria Harbour being at its very best in sunshine and glassy waters it was hard to do anything but look upon the scene and say ‘wow’. Our walk along the kilometre of waterfront was past buskers, jazz bands and numerous market stalls selling all sorts of touristy wares from the usual souvenirs and massages to ‘organic’ rock pendants!
During the afternoon there were cruise boats large and small continually taking visitors out onto the harbour and close by there were sea-planes landing and taking off every few minutes.
Right on the road forming the perimeter to the Victoria Harbour are many impressive buildings most notably the famous Empress Hotel, the Dutch Carillion and Government House.
With absolutely perfect weather it was visually spectacular for us to be in this city and the dockside crowd seemed to be in agreement as there was a vibrant party atmosphere apparent. We had heard from others that Victoria is a very special and beautiful city but now we had first-hand experience to support this totally.
To finish the day we bought food from a nearby supermarket and returned to our luxurious and spacious Isabella’s Apartments on the waterfront. These two units are the ones we were supposed to have had last night but due to a booking problem that didn’t eventuate.
Tonight we’ve indulged ourselves in luxury in our self-catered facility and tomorrow, being September 1st means that we start the final episode of our North American adventure when we will have a week travelling across the Rockies by car to Banff and then two days coming back on the train to Vancouver.