Vancouver Island Part 5

We drove from our hotel in Victoria (which was right on the harbor so very central and easy for us to walk to the downtown area) along the coast toward Oak Bay.  Oh wow!  We barely got a km before we made our first stop.

 This was Ogden Pier.  It was clear when we first saw it, and by the time we stopped and parked the fog had rolled right in.  We walked along the nice dock and enjoyed the morning.

 We stopped whenever we saw a park, I think this one was Clover Point.  We drove past the beautiful houses that lined the coast.  Talk about amazing homes.  The yards were beautiful and we saw a lot of deer along the way as well.  We went past Saanich and found a restaurant before heading to Butchart Gardens.

                  We were extremely lucky to get such a warm and sunny day to enjoy the gardens.

                I have no idea what these flowers are but there were a lot of them and they are so pretty.

                   

                       There are rhododendrons everywhere on the island in so many colors.

                                                    This is called a monkey puzzle tree

 The Japanese maple trees are amazing!  First they are loaded with pink flowers then this beautiful foliage!

 These are dogwood trees.  Another gorgeous tree that flowers.  You can spot these large buttery yellow flowers a mile away.

 There are also magnolia trees everywhere on the island.  These huge blossoms are so attractive

 After we toured the gardens we got on a little ferry at Brentwood Bay and went  across the water to Mill Bay and headed back home.

                                                               selfie from the ferry

We made one last stop in Chemainus and walked around the downtown area.  These are a few of the many murals on the buildings.
We could have made a couple more stops but we had walked and walked and walked and we were pooped so we headed back to Salmon Point.