Now, first, a little recap. Vancouver is both a city and an island. The city of Vancouver is not on the island. Vancouver Island has its own city called Victoria. Victoria is also the capital of British Columbia. Vancouver is the largest city in British Columbia. I hope all that is clear, so we can proceed.
The city of Victoria is located a fair way from Vancouver, and to get there involves a ferry trip from a terminal not close to Vancouver city. The alternative is to take one of the many small float planes that leave from the harbour in Vancouver direct to the inner harbour in Victoria, a flight time of approximately half an hour. We leave the hotel early, around six in the morning and walk to a restaurant for breakfast, Prestons, close to the waterfront terminal. Very good, if rather gargantuan breakfast which neither of us was either prepared for or able to finish.
Check in at the Harbour Air terminal ready for the eight o’clock flight. The flight is full. Passengers are a mix of tourists and commuters, nineteen of us in total on the largest plane in the fleet. For many of us it is the first time on a floatplane.
The commuters are rather nonchalant with it all. As we fly over the sea, rafts of logs being towed by small tugs are all around. Silt from the Fraser river is tinting the blue waters of the Salish Sea into myriad shades of blue, like the patterns of a child’s kaleidoscope. Later we pass over many small islands, some inhabited by what appears to be only one dwelling.
We land in Victoria harbour and take in the picture postcard view. This place has a completely different atmosphere to Vancouver. The pace is noticeably slower, and the pavements cleaner.
We walk toward the museum. A number of First Nations people are setting up for a weekend Aboriginal Cultural Festival. There is a stage for dancing, food stalls and craft stalls selling First Nation artefacts; drums, blankets, clothes and jewellery all bearing aboriginal designs. My fellow traveller buys a drum stick to use as a mahl stick.
At our allotted time we enter the museum, and stroll around the exhibits. Soon after seeing a large stuffed woolly mammoth and bear we are met by an elderly volunteer, Annette who must be in her eighties. Originally from Aberdeen she has spent a large part of her life in Canada, living and working in the north. She does not say what she was doing but she gave us the impression she worked with wild life in some way. She knows all about the birds in the display and is willing to share her knowledge with us. She is waiting for the arrival of a large group of school children, and she does not seem to be looking forward to it.
After the natural world exhibition, she ushers us into the Gold Rush section, we move quickly through pausing only to check the value of my fellow traveller based on her weight. The result is a bargain at just over $3,000,000.
On now to Human History. Many of the exhibits here point to the activities of the Europeans when they first arrived. All very moving knowing that “we”, Europeans virtually destroyed them and their way of life by grabbing their lands plundering their riches and introducing disease. (Smallpox is reputed to have killed seventy-five percent of the native population). It left us feeling a little guilty.
Outside now and we listen to speeches being given by the First Nation elders and chiefs. Mostly they are thanking Government of British Columbia and the City of Victoria for allowing them to put together this festival weekend, intended to promote Aboriginal tourism. They speak in their language as well as English. After an hour, the first performance of traditional dancing and singing takes place. Although entertaining, it does make us feel sad that the original inhabitants of this country are reduced to performing in such a way for the benefit of us tourists.
Now it is lunchtime, and we make our way to The Veranda at Fairmont Empress. We sit outside. On arrival it did seem warm, but once sitting at the table my fellow traveller began to feel chilled. Fear not, as the waiter appears carrying blankets for us. I decline, not wanting to appear feeble. My companion however wastes no time in wrapping one around her shoulders. A very pleasant lunch here, nothing too over the top, a nice green salad and sandwich for both of us with a beer.
Straight after lunch we make our way to the shuttle bus for a transfer to the Butchart Gardens. The driver was very informative along the way, but insisted on the use of double negatives which I pointed out to my companion. The gardens were spectacular, with the flowers in full bloom. Fifty-six hectares of gardens, woodlands, ponds and sculptures all very well kept. I became rather amused at the antics of a tour guide, who was attempting to round up her party, and becoming increasingly more agitated as time went on. She noted my interest and remarked “I am a tour guide”.
Although we had two hours here we could have taken a lot longer, it was a bit too much to take in.
At quarter past four we made our way to the dock for the next event, the boat trip back to Vancouver on the Prince of Whales whale watching boat. Very fast, and smooth two hour journey back. We donned oilskins for the journey to keep out the wind and spray. We were asked to keep a look out for two transient bull whales that had been seen earlier in the day. We did see a group of seals, on which we were told the whales had been feeding. We passed by a number of small islands, and often the water flowing between them appeared as smooth as glass, but when the boat passed over turbulence was noticeable. We had long conversations with the friendly crew members on the way back.
Returning to the hotel we stopped for coffee, hot chocolate and a snack at Tim Hortons feeling tired and hoping to get a better nights sleep after another long day.