Traversing the Northwest Passage
1 - 27 September 2025

3 September 2025: Day 3

Victoria - Buchardt Gardens

Introduction

Victoria is the capital of British Columbia and one of the oldest settlements in Canada. It has a wealth of distinctie buildings as well as being the seat of government for the province. There is much to see and do in Victoria but the stand-out tourist attraction is the Buchardt Gardens to the north of the city. You can reach the gardens on public transport but it takes a while. You can also pay a little more and take the tourist bus from outside the Fairmont Empress Hotel. This takes you to the gates of the gardens, the price includes the entrance fee and you get an animated commentary there and back. The first bus leaves at 9am - we were on it.

Butchardt Gardens

The Buchardt family established a concrete cement industry in Victoria, based around a large limestone quarry. With time the quarry grew and Jennie Buchardt descided to camoflage the bare rocks with flower gardens. The concept grew and became an overwhelming passion. The private garden passed to her grandson who saw the tourist potential. Today the gardens are still in the Buchardt family but now host thousands of visitors each year.

The gardens cover a relatively small area but have several theme gardens. We started with the sunken garden, built in the original quarry.

The Buchardt Gardens entrance

The main buildings - information and teas

Water wheel at the entrance

The usual T's and C's

Start Here - so we did!

The Sunken Garden occupies the old limestone quarry.

The path heading out of the Sunken Garden.

Dahlias, dragons and other flowers

The bronze horse is well liked by children

The round building that houses the old Merry-go-Round

The Organ Pavillion

Start of the Dahlia Collection

The bronze dragon

Entering the Rose Garden

Donkeys and boar near the entrance

Tea rooms and gift shop

Walk around Lauren Point to Fisherman's Wharf

After lunch and a rest at the hotel we decided to explore Fisherman's Wharf, a trendy part of Victoria. from the hotel we walked west to Laurel Point and Pollen Park. The walkway around the edge of the harbour has recently been upgraded and is now a pleasant path to Fisherman's Point.Here we found plenty of colourful houseboats and then an eclectic mix of bars and food places. It is clearly the place to visit as it soon became crowded with visitors, cruise ship people and others doing bar crawls and food crawls. After a beer or two we took one of those cute yellow water taxis back to the Red Fish Blue Fish wharf near the Fairmont. Here we found the Flying Otter Grill for dinner.

The Johnston St Bridge (AKA Blue Bridge) open for a barge