Wandering around Victoria ...

Inner harbour of Victoria

After inhaling plenty of marijuana smoke at the Salt Spring Island market, C. and I boarded the ferry bound for Victoria on Vancouver Island.  Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, which is surprising given that it is so much smaller, both in size and profile, than Vancouver.  The town has some striking similarities to my home town of Hobart in Tasmania.  Both cities have a beautiful waterfront area as their centre point and both have lovely streets and neighbourhoods to wander through. C.'s parents live just 10 minutes from downtown, which was very convenient for our wanderings.

Wooden boats in front of the famous Empress Hotel

Wooden boat festival

Sunday was spent simply wandering.  We parked in downtown Victoria and strolled all through the city centre and into the inner suburbs.  After dividing my time between the ranch and the island, and spending many weekends in the mountains, it was lovely to amble about in the city, browsing in the book stores and antique stores.  By mid-afternoon, we found ourselves at an inner city pub, where we met some of C.'s friends to sample local beers and enjoy a bite to eat.  In the late afternoon, we drove around the waterfront and sticky-beaked at the big ritzy houses.  In the evening, C.'s parents cooked delicous Sockeye salmon.  Sockeye salmon are a west coast speciality and the 'run' is currently part way through.  2010 has seen the biggest run in nearly a century, with commercial fisherman having caught over 2 million fish already (now, who counts those fish, I wonder?).  After dinner, we watched 'The Godfather' - C.'s dad was horrified that I hadn't seen it.  After a day of wandering in the sea air and a late night, I was exhausted and fell asleep quickly to the sound of the rain on the roof.

More wooden boats

The Parliamentary buildings

Parliamentary building

Cute cricket clubhouse in the inner suburbs

First nations art work

Totem pole at the inner harbour

Pretty street lamp decorations

Looking across Foul Bay

On a clear day, you can see right across the water to the mountains of Washington, USA