Vancouver Island

I seem to way out of kilter.............. hwere I am in Banff and I am about to write about Vancouver Island! Anyway will continue. Last Friday we moved out of the very very nice accommodation in Vancouver , The Renaissance. We had decided to head off to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Originally we had just been gong to go off to the Rockies but 8 days is a long time to spend loooking at very large mountains.
Well, the day strated well, until we went to pick up the car- guess who had not finalised arrnagements( I can claim that the Tourist Information people failed to tell me that they had not done it) Fortunately I am accompanied by very competent individuals who solved the issue without a backward look- it was only my shame that kept me quiet. We collected the Chevvy ( or Dodge Caravan) which is actually like a roomy Tarago and then caught the ferry over to the Islands.
Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands are so numerous - they cover an enormous area. Look at the hyperlinks to those places and you will get some idea.
The main thing we wanted to see there was the Butchart Gardens - created out of a limestone quarry. Have a good look through the web page ( on the hyperlink) It gives you a much better idea than mere words can.
After that we collapsed , ate , slept and left sooooooooooooooo early again, on the ferry. We were off to begin the trek up to the Rockies.