Welcome from Victoria Vancouver Island

We were collected successfully from the airport by Bill's cousins Tricia and Barry (English in origin but resident Americans for the last 28 years) and driven to our apartment - a welcome relief for Bill not to drive.

We thought we had walked before but yesterday out did all other days. We seemed to cover every possible tourist destination according to the list Tricia had compiled - think I may need to take over… HOWEVER I do feel an intimate knowledge of Victoria which is a beautiful city. Flower gardens and hanging baskets adorn the city. The sea planes fly in to the bay regularly and very tiny water taxis take passengers across the bay.

Today we visited Butchart Gardens - a truly magnificent manicured 55 acres. The dahlias were in full bloom even encouraging Bill to plant on our return. We then went to the seaside town of Sidney where we found a lovely spot overlooking the Bay with a snow capped mountain in the background (Tricia has decided the mountain was in USA). We had a lovely seafood chowder for lunch. I thought I had better mention lunch otherwise you may have thought we had stopped eating… but not to be.

Off to Tofino tomorrow.