Victoria: The city delivers; our bodies do not!

So it's been a while, but I promise I had a good excuse - the return of the dreaded killer Canadian flu-cold! But let me start at the beginning...

Friday June 17th, Missy, Dave, Steve and I headed off on our next adventure - to Victoria, capital of Vancouver Island. The primary reason for our trip was for Steven to compete in the Victoria Half Ironman which was to take place on Sunday June 19th, but we had decided to try and fit in some sightseeing during the weekend. We'd heard so many great things about Victoria we were determined to check it out for ourselves! 

The afternoon started off with panic, anxiety and excitement as we rushed to make the ferry on time. We were booked on the 7pm ferry but got stuck in horrendous traffic after a car flipped on the highway. Thankfully we made it in time (6:52pm thank you very much!), thus began our Victorian adventure! 

Right on time!!

Views of a ferry from the ferry ... hehe

Friday night was pretty much a write off once we arrived on the Island. The ferry trip takes about 90 minutes and by the time we'd found our hotel, checked in and organised ourselves, it was about 10pm.

Before our own trip I had heard many people talk about Victoria and how beautiful it was - well, they were 100% correct - what a beautiful city! Hard to describe, but think of it as a cross between Toowoomba, Melbourne & Italy - cooler and more exciting than Toowoomba, quieter and cuter than Melbourne and a cleaner and less-inhabited-by-sleazy-European-men Italy. Okay, so perhaps it's easier just to list the features to give you a better idea - think flower pot plants hanging from antique looking street lighting, inner city cobblestone streets, manicured gardens, friendly people, a smattering of grand old municipal buildings and cute little cafes, back streets and alleyways. We fell in love immediately - Victoria certainly made us question our newly established loyalty to Vancouver!

Pretty manicured gardens

Empress Hotel (we saw a movie being filmed outside here)

Government House in lights.

Saturday morning was spent wandering around in town, exploring the little alleyways and you know, just chillin' with Darth Vader.

One of the many cute little alleyways.

A very talented Darth Vader.

I may or may not be attempting to abduct someone's pet again...

Saturday afternoon we made our way to Elk Lake (the location for the Victoria Half Ironman) so that Steven could register and rack his bike. What a gorgeous setting! The amazing thing about Victoria is that only a short drive away from the main city centre you will find yourself in beautiful forests/winery areas a la Maleny. So pretty! 

Unfortunately only a short time later I was struck down by the return of the KCFC and it was pretty much downhill from there. We ate an early pre-race dinner and attempted to get to bed at about 7pm. Sadly (mostly for Steve), an early night was not to be. I couldn't believe how sick I became in the space of a few hours and I can't remember the last time I was so sick I couldn't even sleep. Disaster! I felt so bad for Steven because he was trying to get a good sleep before his race and I'm snotting and coughing every two seconds - like the genuine charmer I am. Steven assures me he ended up getting to sleep pretty quickly despite the odds (although I am told I almost got kicked onto the floor) but I was up until 1 am, allowing only 3 hours of semi-sleep before getting up to leave for Elk Lake on Sunday morning. Testament to my serious lack of sleep, I even accidentally put some of Steve's tri-shave cream in my hair thinking it was hair wax (consequently my head smelled like a man for the rest of the day!). By 4 am Sunday, I had almost completely lost my voice slash could only bark comments or instructions every now and then. 

Transition

The athlete.

After watching Steve punch out an awesome swim and set off on the two and a bit hour bike leg, I made my way back to the trusty warm car and fell asleep. If I wasn't on my death bed I would have been out there cheering everyone on, but I just couldn't do it. Luckily Missy set the alarm and we were up and ready to cheer Steve on when he came in off the bike and headed out on the run course. About a minute into his run, we were in the middle of discussions as to where the best run course viewing was going to be, when Dave turned around and swiftly pointed out that Steve was in fact limping towards us. It turns out he had strained his calf muscle coming in from the swim and it wasn't worth it to push through the 20k run for a 'practise' event. So our day of triathlon came to a sudden halt! 

Swimmers warming up (hah!) in Elk Lake on Saturday afternoon.

The good news was that we ended up having some extra time on Sunday to sightsee. It would have been awesome news if I wasn't on my death bed but nonetheless I wasn't prepared to miss out on the fun, so we all piled back in the car and drove out to Butchart Gardens (22ha of floral/garden display) - I would say this is Victoria's most advertised tourist attraction. After a quick nap on the back seat to pep me up, we arrived at the Gardens and amused ourselves for about 2 hours. I struggled through with a few nana stops to rest here and there! 

Just one small portion of the many gorgeous gardens!

Pretty garden scenery

Missy & Dave

Japanese Garden

Speaks for itself ...

On the way home I was super excited to see my first deer and it was a little baby one too! The poor thing was a bit startled when we stopped to take some photos and it ran behind a tree.... 

I can see you!!

After yet another nap Sunday afternoon (post Gardens visit), Steve had organised to catch up with an old friend (Shawn) of his from Brisbane who works at a local hotel lounge bar and has lived in Victoria for the past 5 years. We ended up having a great night tasting a myriad of fancy cocktails (Shawn is a very highly regarded bar tender) - I even had a special one made that had such a high alcohol content, I was told it was guaranteed to cure my sickness. Who was I to question the professional? To my great surprise, I woke up Monday morning not feeling 100%, but definitely feeling 100% better than I did the day before!

Steve and a very strong cocktail (featuring awesome massive ice cube)

My tasty grapefruit & lychee cocktail - delish!

Shawn & Steve

Lucky it all worked out, because Monday morning marked my long anticipated whale watching adventure! What an amazing morning! Although we didn't manage to get many good photos, just catching a glimpse of the Orcas was an amazing experience and something I thoroughly enjoyed. In the end I gave up trying to take photos and just decided to enjoy it! Yet another list item to cross off (woohoo) although it's definitely something I would like to do again if I get the opportunity.

Astronaut meets ginger michelin man!

Looking good in the attractive whale watching get-up!

Some pretty views along the way

House boats

Monday afternoon we were all a little tired and miserable as we made our way back to BORING Vancouver. Also, I may or may not have managed to sneak in one final nana nap for the weekend! Miss you Victoria!! - You've not seen the last of us!