Tuesday September 5th
I had chosen this campground not least because it was near to the Butchart Gardens, an amazing place which had been a quarry, and had been gradually turned into beautiful botanic gardens. I had read about and seen pictures of the place a long time before, and so I had made sure that my itinerary included the place. It was one of the sights I was most looking forward to seeing. After another brief visit to the beach next to the campground, I headed off to drive a quarter of an hour to the gardens, to get there for the 9am opening.
There was a lot of parking, including a separate RV parking lot which I was directed to. There was plenty of space at that time on a Tuesday morning. I went in, and – well I had high expectations, and I wasn’t disappointed. Coming in, there were lovely arrangements even by the visitor centre, and mixed plantings that had been done very tastefully. It was clear that a lot of work and maintenance went into the gardens, and there were quite a few people working on it as I walked around.
The gardens were large, with a number of sub-gardens with different styles. I headed to the sunken garden, which looked as though it had probably been the original quarry. There was a lookout at the top before you descended into it. The sun was too low to be shining directly on it yet, but the huge drifts of plantings of colourful flowers were amazing to see, including variegated impatiens growing out in the sun and looking healthy. I wished I could get them to grow like that!
There was a lookout in the middle, a raised stone formation, almost like an island sticking up towards the level of the surrounding ground, from the sunken part. At the far side of this garden was an amazing fountain that kept changing, with a lot of different jets that would move around, sometimes spurting way up, and other times waving around in interesting patterns.
I walked around to see some of the other gardens, including the roses, and the Japanese garden, which had a bit of a rainforest look to it, like the ones on the Olympic Peninsula. The gardens weren’t crowded, though there were quite a few people around. The gardens touch onto the sea, and from one spot you can look out onto a bay. There’s a jetty there but it was closed and I couldn’t go down there. I guess sometimes boats come in there, maybe tour boats.
The Italian garden was very manicured and organised, with an ice-cream shop in it with a lot of flavours, so I enjoyed one while I was there. I had toured pretty much all of the garden, and still had a bit of time left. I had budgeted for about three and three quarter hours there. So I visited the sunken garden again, seeing it with the sun shining on it this time. The Lord had blessed me with a perfect sunny day for seeing the gardens.
From there I drove about half an hour to the ferry terminal at the northern end of Victoria Island, which was to go through to Vancouver on the mainland. I had booked the van in on the ferry as 18’, but now I had been upgraded to a 20’ van. They charged me a few dollars extra apologetically. I had rung ahead to make sure that there would be no issues with a longer vehicle, but was glad everything went smoothly. I made some lunch while parked waiting for the ferry.
The hour and a half ferry trip was an adventure in itself, winding through quite a lot of different islands as it went across to the mainland. Sometimes the ferry sounded the horn as it went through some narrow strait, presumably to avoid running into something coming the other way! The views were beautiful, of the wooded islands and mountains in the distance. After a while we got out into the open and headed for Vancouver. I was on the outdoor deck as usual, and people were on the lookout for whales I think. Someone had pointed out something, and people went to look, but it seemed to be a false alarm.
My aunt Heather had suggested that I could meet with a couple who were friends of hers, who lived there. Hannah had visited our family in Adelaide some years back, and had gone to Heather’s church for a while I think, and had married Andrew, a pastor. They had lived in Calgary, and had recently moved to Vancouver, where he was pastoring a church in the suburbs.
They were really nice, and Hannah found a place I could park the van in the suburbs, where there was free parking on the road near a park, and it seemed a safe place. I had suggested some places I was interested in seeing, and she had compiled a bit of an itinerary of what she thought might fit in the time available. They hadn't had a chance to do a lot of sightseeing in Vancouver either, so many of the sights were new to them too.
The ferry arrived around 3.30, then I headed to the rendezvous place, plagued a bit by heavy traffic in places. It was around 4.30 by the time I got there, then we met and headed into Vancouver to see a bit of the city. We all chatted as they drove. The centre of the city didn’t seem to have much traffic, which surprised me, on a weekday at 5pm. We had a hunt for a car park, and I spotted one on the street near where we were going.
They showed me the famous steam clock, about the size of a grandfather clock, but run on steam, apparently very old. Then they went off to buy some dinner, while I went up the Vancouver Tower, where you could go up in one of the high buildings and get views around the city. For a tourist trap it wasn’t very expensive. We had a bit of a job finding it, as it was within a kind of shopping mall. Once we found the way up, I went up and spent around half an hour looking around the 360 degree view over the city, hills and harbour. It was a good way to see the city.
From there we headed to Stanley Park, a headland right next to the CBD, which juts out into the sea, and is all parkland. We stopped at Prospect Point lookout, which offered a great view over the sea and a bridge across an arm of the sea that separated most of the city from a smaller set of suburbs to the north. Lighthouse Park had been recommended online, and we drove there, and there were some views, but a lot of it was blocked out by trees. I wanted to see Howe Sound, and Hannah had found a marina a bit of a way along, where we could get a view of it. It was around sunset by then, and it was very beautiful, with the sea and layers of mountains in the distance.
We were finishing up with a visit to Cypress Lookout, on our way back from the marina. We’d figured that with the limited time, that was something we could do after dark, and see the lights of the city. It was just on dark when we got there, around 8.30, and it was very pretty. It was then I mentioned to them that I needed to get to Edgewater Bar campground where I was booked in, by 10pm, because it closed then. I had no idea how far away from it we were, until they looked a bit worried! They Googled how long it would take to get back to where I was parked, then for me to drive to the campground (which was a bit out of town), and it said I would get there at exactly 10pm! The Lord provided a backup plan though. They said if I didn’t make it, Andrew’s church was in a suburb only about 20 minutes from there, and I could park the van in the car park there.
So we set back as fast as we could, and said quick goodbyes and I drove to the campground. I found a campground that was not far from where Google said it would be (the actual spot Google had marked didn’t have much of anything). I arrived at about 10.01pm! The campground had a different name, and was firmly locked with no one there, and a sign saying it closed at 8. This was very confusing. I drove around a bit to see if there was another campground nearby, but there wasn’t anything to be found. Anyway that was all I could do at that stage. So I let Andrew and Hannah know, and headed to the church parking lot.
They gave me the address, and I found what I thought was the church, but the gates were locked. I spoke to them again, and after a while we worked out that I was at the church next door, there were two next to each other. I got settled in the car park, and finally got to bed, maybe 11.30 or so. It was a big day!
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