Blair's Blog

This post was delayed a couple of days because the server crashed. Thanks to Sean’s Emergency IT Response Service Inc., we are back on the air.

Our two days in Victoria were really quite enjoyable. On Friday afternoon, we walked about the harbour front and saw a couple of buskers and just enjoyed the warm day. After a bit of discussion with the kids we decided to head for the Bug Zoo. Despite a bit of a dodgy start with the entrance being the gift shop and then seeing that the whole “zoo” was only about double the size of our living room, it turned out to be a really great place to visit. It turns out that you just don’t need a lot of space for bugs.What really made the experience a good one, was the enthusiastic commentary provided by the two ‘twenty-something’ guides. Both were young ladies that had an ability to grab some giant bug out of it’s cage, show it around, maintain their narrative and never flinch. The one girl was so good at her job that she got Brenda to hold a tarantula! We spent several hours there and the kids interest never flagged.

In the evening, we were able to catch up with some friends from our time in Australia. Back in 1997, Errol and Maria were a newlywed Canadian couple that we met as they spent about 8 months touring Australia and used our house as bit of a base from which to launch their various tours. After having lost touch in the last couple of years, Maria found me on Facebook and we were able to spend an evening with them and their two boys.

Saturday we had a slightly later start to the day, but the first thing we did was to walk a block to the BC Legislature in time to see the Emperor and Empress of Japan on part of their Canadian tour. Apparently, this is a pretty rare opportunity as the Emperor and Empress rarely make appearances in public.

The afternoon was spent on the waterfront again and we watched the buskers again. Steven was picked from the crowd to assist one of the performers and actually made $5 from a busker! We had lunch at the Olde Spaghetti Factory (one of the kids favourites on holiday) and then went to the Undersea Gardens in the Victoria harbour. This was the opposite of the Bug Zoo, it looked good from the outside but the actual exhibits were pretty second rate – not recommended!

In the evening we headed to our friends Keith and Pippa’s new place in Victoria for dinner and a visit. Keith and Pippa used to live in Chestermere, but moved to the coast last year, so it was good to see them again.

Today we slept late and then made our way up to Thetis Island, catching the ferry at 2:10 pm. That gave us plenty of time to settle in to our cottage at Capernwray Harbour and spent a little time exploring the beach before dinner. We are looking forward to the rest of the week here at Capernwray – it’s a beautiful spot and there are lots of great activities for the whole family.

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