greetings from Victoria in today's video we bring you the final episode of our
Vancouver Island road trip after experiencing several days of torrential
rains in the last few episodes we're happy to say that the Sun came out to
bid us farewell which meant we had a really nice day visiting Butchart Gardens
and exploring downtown Victoria well good morning guys today is the
final day of our Vancouver Island roadtrip so we are finishing things off
exploring Victoria BC and first stop of the day is the Butchart Gardens
my beautiful place yes this place has been going for over a hundred years you
have a hundred and thirty acres property out of which 55 acres are gardens if you
like flowers this is a place because I have never
seen so many flowers and so many different type of flowers and plants in
my life yeah they have different theme garden so you've got like your Italian
garden Japanese garden sunken gardens so there's lots of different areas to
explore within the park exactly and they also have nice restaurants and yeah
we're going to we're gonna have afternoon tea at Butchart Gardens
yeah and I'll mention the price while we're here we've got our tickets in hand
it's not a cheap attraction I'll tell you that it's 35 dollars and 49 cents
per person but you can come and go as you please for the whole day let's go
see it and come along but Butchart Gardens are hardly a well-kept
secret but we can assure you they are worth the hype these are some of the
most beautiful gardens we have ever visited and I for one spent the whole
morning mooing and eyeing at the beautiful displays so first garden of
the day today is the funkin garden it is beautiful but I was shocked to learn
that this used to be a quarry so basically they just had this ugly
looking pit and they've completely transformed it with flowers and trees
and it just looks like a secret garden quite the transformation
who knew a former quarry could be transformed into something so beautiful
you seriously can't miss this place if you come to Victoria BC
we are now visiting the Rose Garden what brought us here was the aroma we
literally just followed our noses there's just such a beautiful sweet
smell in the air and I guess Rose season must have just ended because there
aren't too many flowers left I think they've already bloomed but I mean what
is left over smells amazing also it's almost time for our afternoon
tea booking so we're gonna be heading over to the Tea Room soon and then it
will continue exploring a few more Gardens
and now we're going to take you to the Butchart Gardens dining room restaurant
where we ordered afternoon tea for lunch oh yes that's how we roll
it's not red rose guys we want for something a little fancier today so I'm
having the lemongrass ginger tea my dad went for something more traditional tea
I mean Sam is having like a special edition yeah like a tea to celebrate the
100 years of the garden we're starting off with something sweet
a trifle mmm so we have a vanilla sponge cake with custard and whipped cream and
raspberries try it we basically skipped breakfast
this morning so oh yeah we couldn't enter the menu featured scones with
cream and jam Cornish Pasties leek and cheese quiche and savory sandwiches with
salmon cucumber and egg salad we also got a plate of delicious
house-made sweets it was all delectable and we tried to save her each bite to
the max the good arrives we've got three layers we're starting with the bottom
one that has all the savory items so we've got a quiche a sausage roll that's
delicious by the way and so many different sandwiches
you know the sausage roll very good amazing and we got like a tray full of
sandwiches that we have sweets then we have scones on top all right so we
finished afternoon tea what did you guys think of the gardens and the experience
let's start with the food first yeah we cannot finish it all so we've got our
little bags this is going to be our real afternoon teas already preparing for a
late afternoon yes and yeah the garden itself
it was beautiful like this place is just stunning the amount of flowers and the
colors and we learned that they have 70 gardeners 70 garden they plant 350,000
plants at different times of the year because it's not always the same flowers
okay they you know seasonal it keeps changing
and the place is visited by a million people per year that's a lot hey that's
basically it we did the whole the whole garden about an hour and a half go
slower if you have more time you can stop in front of each little display and
picture I would say about three eight three to four hours either it's a
beautiful place to visit if you are a Victoria we recommended hi laughs and
now we're going to continue to downtown Victoria yeah yeah drive that way and a
little bit some historic buildings
arriving in Victoria was quite the contrast after spending the majority of
her trip in the north part of vancouver island it's surprising how quickly we
got used to being in small town surrounded by forests and all of a
sudden we were in a city with traffic and street lights and lots of people our
senses were slightly overwhelmed but we still had a nice time visiting the Inner
Harbor and hitting up a few of the main attractions
well hello hello hey guys it's Victoria we sure have is what like a 20 30 minute
drive and the gardens too here to join me Sam's been behind the camera all
morning and a little lazy in terms of speaking chattering hey you guys
something I am I am here yeah so basically we were
just walking along the waterfront checking out the boats all the little
taxis on the water like glad there's a lot of cool water taxis you can take
there's little tours that you can do and the weather couldn't be cooperating any
more it's beautiful sunny day nice little light breeze it's just it's
refreshing to walk around kind of like the lost I've called the last hurrah of
summer everyone's everyone's out at the cafe kind of enjoying a coffee at the
air so yeah and behind this is probably the most famous landmark in the entire
downtown area of Victoria the Empress the Empress one of the most famous places you can
have afternoon tea a little bit pricier too it's double what we paid today how
Butchart Gardens I think it's like almost 80 bucks 70 or 80 bucks it's just
a beautiful area like this is the place where you want to come and go for a
stroll get some great views of the harbor and also admire the architecture
- all right and next up we're just gonna cross the street and head over to the
Parliament building yeah
the British Columbia Parliament Buildings are home to the Legislative
Assembly of British Columbia the buildings were constructed in the 1890s
in a mix of Renaissance Romanesque and classical styles and they are stunning
once we set foot inside we were wowed by the mosaic floors the elegant dome and
the beautiful stained glass windows in short it was a feast for the eyes
I also added this place to trover because I didn't even know the
Parliament Buildings were open to the public but it turns out they are plus
it's free to visit and you can do a self-guided tour and go at your own pace
when did you guys think of the British Columbia Parliament building well that
was a wonderful surprise yeah it is beautiful inside you love checking it
out the building itself is just the majestic piece of our architecture you
know and then you have stained-glass windows with inscriptions and Latin
there's a beautiful dome some beautiful paintings as well yeah a beautiful piece
of history because this thing apparently was they started building in 1893 and
they finished it by 1897 at a cost of two million dollars but then today with
two million dollars in the city you don't buy much it's worth coming here to
visit because me this is a architecture marvel a lot of people don't realize
that the provincial capital is here on the island in Victoria BC a lot of people a
lot of people would assume it's Vancouver it is not thank you Victoria
Victoria this is the head of the provincial government
oh yeah british columbia okay right here right there that's where everything
happens after wandering along the harbour a bit longer we decided to head
back to the apartment because we had some leftover afternoon tea treats
calling our name we had a quick stop at Clover Point Park to snap some pictures
and befriend the dogs out on their afternoon walk and that was the end of
our day but now some final thoughts on our two weeks on the island
well guys it is the Last Supper actually the supper has already been Supper's
been devoured now dessert time I know wait overall we had a nice day today
what a difference between yesterday I mean came in and it was like Armageddon
yeah terms of the rain and wind and today we had this like picture-perfect
it was sunny and you know just a few clouds off in the distance 19 degrees
sunny yeah just you couldn't be better than that probably the the last taste of
summer that this place is gonna get for a while it'll be a nice walk around the
downtown area of Victoria we saw the most important and most beautiful
buildings easygoing town you know laid-back I'm the same no one seems to
be in a hurry here granted there is a lot of there are a lot of tourists and a
lot of retired people yeah so maybe that's the feel that we we kind of
experience experience right overall what a trip I mean we covered so
much on this island but um in terms of the places we visited did you guys have
any favourite favourite yeah let's go around and share our highlights
highlights would you like to begin yeah if I had to live here I think I
probably choose Mount Washington the a ski resort
the reason being because up there you get snow down here you get water rain
and I don't like the rain and when it's snow you can go out and enjoy the
outdoors and whatever you come home you shake yourself a little bit your clothes
you go in and no problem but if it's really raining heavy it has nothing you
can do I mean any way you want to look at it you're gonna get drenched that's
one of the reasons why I would pick Mount Washington they get like a meters
of snow yeah in the winter or during the winter month the highlight of being up
there is your radar nature and the mountains but you're only like 20 20 25
minutes away from like some majors city centers and Comox and Courtney so my
macaron yeah that's like my personal personal favorite idea you know then
after I liked everything you know they not sure
the provincial parks the forest a huge monster trees we seen I mean everything
is just the wilderness I love the wilderness
what would you Audrey for me in terms of parks two of my favorites were cathedral
grove in McMillan park with those towering cedars and Douglas fir trees
those were so impressive and also the day we went to Elk Falls Provincial Park
just outside Campbell River even more ancient trees there's that's that's so
close to my house I was really impressed by that trail and what was your favorite
place I feel like we already know the answer well it was nice to revisit my
hometown and to do the the you Chuck experience to friendly Cove I've always
wanted to do that I think like what I really liked about this particular trip
there's about 75 or 80% of the stuff we did and the places we covered were
things that I didn't get to see when I lived on the island because you know
when you live somewhere you don't always play tourist there and you know a lot of
the places I visit on the island were honestly through hockey trips and maybe
some school functions and things like that so there was a lot that I did for
the first time I actually one of the highlights for me was doing some of the
the island hopping up north going to Malcolm Island to see sewing Toula and
also going to alert Bay I found that really interesting just going on those
little ferry rides and visiting these these these remote islands and they were
really fascinating places I'll be honest we didn't have a single bad day on the
island like I think everything we did here yeah it was fun we did and we were
able to see as much as we wanted when it came to wildlife yeah the only thing
that we we didn't get to see what the elk and the Cougar and the Cougar and
the whales well but that's stretching it a little yeah I mean to see a cougar and
the wild you gotta be lucky or unlucky all right yeah either way you like it
you know it depends all friendly that animal is decided to be but then we saw
that black bear we saw horn oh yeah for spotting for spotty black amazing two
weeks yeah that's honestly way more than I
thought like and I lived here we didn't see them that frequently
yeah but why do we yeah the bald eagles but we were we were on
I think that's one of the reasons we saw dear we got tired of seeing those yeah
yeah that was like at the end we didn't pay much attention to them anymore
because he been three four five six they'll be right it's funny in some of
these smaller towns that we visited the deer are walking right in the middle of
town on the sidewalk right and between the people you know like I mean whole
families of deer walk there like pets they're like yeah well I think what
about guys in terms of tips for visiting the island for me like my biggest tip to
share would be you know not to get stuck in the the Victorian and I am Oh taffy
no corridor triangle if you will because so many people who come to the island
don't get to the central part which is like Comox come River called River area
for instance and even fewer people make it to the north to like Portales court
Hardy port McNeil Alert Bay so in Tula those areas so the further north you go
and the further west you go the more remote and rugged it is and if you're
really into outdoorsy types of things and you like the mountains and sheer
nature and animal encounters my biggest tip would be to be heading north and to
be heading west whenever you can yeah and on top of that if you're that type
of an explorer and you like that type of a lifestyle I would strongly recommend
you rent a Motorhome an RV you know because there are so many but so many
beautiful places to stay overnight in the middle of the wilderness in both
parks you have all the services you have your areas to park the RV and you know I
can only imagine what it must be like to be there like let's say 11:00 12:00 1:00
o'clock in the morning total silence you know in the middle of those forests and
you have all the conveniences of animals like home you know if you if you can
afford and if you like that type of activity yeah I would suggest that you
there are so many companies here in Canada
that they rent rvs that isn't possible either you know and my tip would be in
relation to driving maybe not a lot of people who visit the island are used to
driving in very rainy weather and there's a lot of warnings on the highway
about hydroplaning we saw like a vehicle completely lose control on the highway
we did and we read about it we read about of fatal accidents yeah so you get
easy yeah be safe driving like follow the speed limit and I mean locals do
like to drive a bit faster than the posted speed limit especially up north
when you only have the one lane highway so there's areas where you can allow
them to pass and can you pull over to the shoulder where there's like a wider
area and just you know let them go faster but like don't be out of your
comfort zone like don't speed yeah sure yeah
but overall what it what an incredible island yeah this is a place this is a
magical part of Canada and if you have a chance to visit we couldn't recommend it
more we hope you guys enjoyed this series 13 episodes in total and we'll
see you soon with more travel and food videos
and that's a wrap for a vancouver island road trip once again we want to give a
huge thank you to our partner trover for making this trip possible for those of
you who are curious about all the places we visited on the island I'll link our
trover profile in the description below with a list of all the places we went to
and if you missed an episode we've also got a whole Vancouver Island playlist
waiting for you on the end screen so thanks again for watching and we'll see
you soon with more adventures