Another warm and hazy summer day in Vancouver. We bid farewell to Vancouver, an interesting but not outstanding city, enjoyable and friendly, an international city that is experienced everywhere. Off to Victoria, capital of British Columbia, and to explore Vancouver Island.

An early taxi to the airport and we negotiate a better car than booked. Ended up with a Nissan Pathfinder, plenty big enough for the four of us with all our luggage. Tip for car hire. We priced the inclusion of a GPS for the trip and passed up the $500 quoted. Turns out the Nissan built in GPS works just fine.

Then off to Tsawwassen to catch our first ferry of the trip. While we had a 1pm booking we managed to snag the 12 noon ferry for the 1hr 30 voyage to Swartz Bay. These are seriously big boats and in summer do this run every hour. It is amazing the number of cars using this service.

Long waits at the ferry terminal is good for vendors.

Seriously big boats.

The first half hour was all water and boring. Then we entered the passage threading through hundreds of small islands and isolated bays and beaches. It is a very picturesque trip with many small islands obviously privately owned.

Tour guide Nicky suggested Sidney was worth a look. 10 minutes off the ferry and we drove into a gorgeous seaside town with lots of class. Could easily live here. It was a 4 block walk to the seaside park so plenty of opportunity for retail therapy.

Sidney’s main street

The Bench People, an attraction of Sidney. This lady sits outside a large bookshop.

Nicky’s favourite

Around the seaside park is a number of statues called the Seaside Sculpture Walk. This is a beautiful park with an open air stage, surrounded by sculptures set wonderfully into their environment.

What a great idea. One that could certainly come to Queensland.

We decided that we had an opportunity to cook at home tonight so some food shopping was required. Another half hour drive and we arrive at our cottage on the outskirts of Victoria. A quiet night is required as this schedule is very hectic.

Tomorrow we explore Victoria.