After a day of visiting Victoria, and a night sleeping at the James Bay Inn, I got up in time to grab breakfast and head out on my way up island. I had one person to pick up on the way. I was being accompanied by the eleven-year-old spawn of The Brunette of my Acquaintance. She likes to be referred to as Mavymag when going incognito. So, I picked her up and headed up island to The Butchart Gardens. Voucher Fourteen was free entry to probably Victoria's most famous attraction. The Gardens remediated lands that were once a quarry and gravel pit for a concrete works at the end of the Saanich Inlet. Mrs. Butchart spent years turning the area into a series of planned gardens, showcasing all different styles.
We started our walk through in the Japanese Gardens, which is complete with a maze of streams and paths, bamboo bridges and arches, raked zen gardens and quiet little corners for contemplation. If you're not disturbed by a horde of other visitors coming through to share the peace with you. We walked back through the English Rose Gardens which were lacking in Roses (it being February, not July). We then scuttled through a maze of twisting little paths, all the same, and into the Sunken Garden. Here there's a mix of alpine rockeries and formal lawns, leading down to the Ross Fountain. These are Victoria's answer to the Fountains at the Bellagio in Vegas. Mavymag was fascinated by the patterns the water was making, with the jets changing in power and direction. It's very restful to look down into the pool at the base of the quarry and just watch the water spraying up and around.
We didn't have time to visit every corner on this trip, and headed out against the incoming crowds, and over to the Butterfly Gardens. I had hoped for a coffee shop there, but instead we walked across the road to Sassy's. Coffee for me, a portion of Poutine and a glass of milk for the eleven-year-old. It got us fuelled and ready to face the butterflies. Voucher fifteen was a free entry to the Gardens, and we headed into the big greenhouse. It's warm and humid inside, and was another popular destination. We didn't do the location justice in the 45 minutes we were in there. We got landed on my large iridescent blue butterflies, saw giant moths who can't eat, watched a blue macaw who was gobbling down seeds and nuts with aplomb and searched out the flamingoes. Mavymag made friends with a green parakeet, and I think she wanted to spend the rest of the day chatting to the bird. It certainly seemed to be happy with all the attention, walking around the stone walls, and all over the visitors. I enjoyed looking at the huge pitcher plants and the insects emerging from the racks chrysalises. There was a lot of staff on hand to tell the children fun facts about animals too. Worth a longer trip if you have children who like wildlife up close.
Into Sidney, was got rockstar parking outside the Sidney Archives. Voucher sixteen was another free entrance. This basement museum wends and winds all around underneath shops on Main Street. It's a mix of items, some local history and a lot of Lego. There are lego kits and models from the eighties and nineties to more modern stuff. Shelves and shelves of models made and on display. Not to be played with. There are several dioramas, mixed in with mannikins modeling old-time clothing or old farm equipment for separating out the cream from milk. It's an odd mix, but I supposed the kids love the Lego, and the scavenger hunt to find certain models. While the adults can learn about the local history. This adult learned Sir Arthur Currie used to teach in Sidney before he made a name for himself during the first world war, especially the storming of Vimy Ridge.
We then went down to the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre, for Voucher seventeen, and half priced entry to this watery world. I like aquariums and animals under the sea, watching them just hang out and float around. The Centre specializes in only animals from the local waters of the Salish Sea. Somehow, while I found it very restful and interesting, it seemed over too quickly, even wandering through slowly. There's an amazing mix of colours and types of stuff around here, not least the kittens of the sea, the giant octopi. The one here was sitting around having a rest during our visit though. But while giant octopi aren't man-sized, dangerous predators, they are smart and curious. And being able to flow into the smallest cracks has got to be a useful talent. For a cat burglar, especially. Maybe they should be called Octopus Burglars?
On that, we headed off south towards SeaCider, to see what they had to offer. But the time was conspiring against us, plus I couldn't drink samples as I was driving. Mavymag only drinks champagne. So we took and executive decision to head straight down to the Ashton Armories on Vanalman Road.
Using Voucher eighteen, I wasn't sure what to expect here, which was the main reason for trying to get there before it closed. Inside a gym hall, there was parked up several light vehicles, wrapped in the smell of oil, diesel and various lubricants. One old soldier gave us a personal tour of the museum collection. This was a whole heap of decommissioned guns and rifles, swords and clubs. I enjoyed being able to pick up a Lee-Enfield, the standard issue rifle during World War Two. It's heavy, and I can't imagine having to carry it with a full pack up through the surf and onto the Normandy beaches.
There're all sorts of curios in the collection, that required a little historical background to understand. The labels are purely informational rather than contextual, so you had to know why a Zulu shield was there and what it meant, for example. Still, I got to show off my knowledge of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift. We then toured around the vehicles. The Armory keeps up newer, logistical vehicles while preserving old trucks used by the Canadian forces. There was a stripped down Ferret (a reconnaissance vehicle) which an enthusiast was taking about the transmission on. A UN jeep. A 3 tonne truck built for use in the UK during the war. And outside a HUGE hulking beast of a tank recovering truck. Designed to pull massive lumps of wreckage around, it was impressive in its size.
We had to leave as they were shutting up shop for the end of the open day, but there was a fair amount to see, and talk about, even if it needed someone to tell you what you were looking at. Mavymag enjoyed getting to clamber into the driver's seat of a few of the vehicles too.
And that was it, time to head home for a nice cup of tea, and meet up with the Brunette herself. I had seen a lot of Victoria in the last thirty-six hours. I now just wanted to put my feet up and digest it all, and work out what was really worth it, and what was just so much foam.
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