Canadian Holiday
- Day 11 : Thursday 18th September
Last night we fixed plans for the next two days, and today was chosen to be the day we went over to Vancouver Island. That meant taking a car on the ferry, and that meant a very early start! So we set off in Lorraine’s car to her son Gordie’s house, picked him up, and he drove to the ferry – in a bit of a hurry, as the first part of the journey had been in heavy traffic. He got us there in time, we boarded and headed up to the on-board restaurant … we’d planned to breakfast on the boat, having had to get up so early; and the breakfast buffet was substantial! The weather was rainy (we hadn’t had a lot of rain on our Canadian holiday, but Thursday was the rainy day) which obscured the views a bit, but the boat took us on a very pleasant route between islands and promontories.
Visit one was to the number one tourist attraction, the Butchart Gardens – the story is that a quarry owner was “told” by his wife that when he’d finished extracting stone, she would take over the quarry for some gardens. Many years later now, the result is spectacular, with colour all year round and great use made of the sunken area. Even though we were under umbrellas most of the time, we had a good walk in pleasant grounds – and took a fair quota of photos.
Next we met Sherryl Harris (she, like my grandma, was a Moores who married a Harris – so we’re connected by Moores family not Harris!) at a junction, and spent the rest of our time on the island with her; but we cannot recall all the places we were taken to – one where we got out was a high view over the city. And later on we were taken to the Victoria waterfront (which we recognised from the tourist brochures we’d seen), and driven through the grounds of Governor’s House (you know, where the Queen stays when she comes to BC!). Sherryl is a very knowledgeable tour guide, and made the journeys very interesting.
Our family visit of the day was to the home of Ronnie and Cathy Moores; we knew that they had visited the UK (because we had photos of them with my Grandma Harris at Stony Stratford), so this was a chance to really catch up on family developments. While we were there, their daughter Patty called in, and at the end Barry arrived with his children. Again the family tree was inspected and updated, photos taken, and much chat indulged in. Ron has a family heirloom clock – that belonged to great-grandfather T W Moores, and it was good to see that tangible link to our common ancestors.
It was dark when we got back to the mainland – we’d had a great day out. Thanks, Lorraine and everyone!