Well our journey continued from Hawaii, flying with Northwest Airlines to Seattle a five and half hour flight. We understand that Airlines are in the business of making a profit by installing as many seats as they possibly can. Boarding the flight we soon realised what they mean calling it “cattle class”!   Me being 5ft 6ins tall, had a 2inch gap from my knees to the back of the seat in front, once seated. But low and behold it was a different story for Steve, who is 6ft 2ins, he couldn’t even manage to put his legs in behind the seat in front, thankfully he had a aisle seat and could put his legs out in the aisle, which you are not meant to do…. the crew took pity on him in allowing him to do so. Need-less to say Steve stood for most of the flight, while passengers slept as it was a night time flight. Our flight from Seattle to Vancouver Island was a short hop 45 minutes and on a much smaller plane, I believe this plane was designed to prepare you for Canadian weather, hehe. I am sure you all have heard  that saying “Teeth chattering from the cold”…well it was my feet chattering, it was freezing. From my window seat I caught a glimpse of snow on the mountains, my senses soared with expectation of seeing more, but alas it was not to be, it was raining and cloud cover so low visibility was zero. But nothing could dim our excitement at landing on Canadian soil - our dream holiday was to begin NOW! Going through customs was hilarious, asked if we were bringing food into the country to which I replied, Vegemite & Frogs, Vegemite was fine ( they knew all about Vegemite, sorry OB), but frogs brought a puzzled looked until I explained they were just chocolate frogs,( forgot to tell them about the caramello bears). We were allowed into the country. WE WERE FINALLY IN CANADA! On walking out of the airport to load our bags onto the bus which was to take us to our hotel, we knew we were in Canada. 0 degrees, raining, grey and gale force winds which nipped at your bones. We were ill prepared for these conditions, clothes wise our thoughts of buying all weather gear once in Canada was on the top of our list of priorities. The views on our drive to our hotel was limited to low clouds cover, down to just the tops of the trees, but what our eyes took in was pure beauty - so lush and green, the closer we got to the town of Victoria, flowers & cherry blossom trees as far as the eye could see. On arriving at “The Royal Scot Hotel” we were two weary travellers in need of a hearty breakfast and somewhere to lay our head. The hotel’s décor was very English and felt homely, and after indulging ourselves with a hearty breakfast, we slept till 2pm. In need of stretching our legs, we walked the short distance to the town centre,  past horsedrawn carriages, straight from Jane Eyre and down to the harbour and shopping centre. First priority was outfitting ourselves with arctic survival gear – just in case !   It was the end of the skiing season, so bargains were plentiful, so we both returned to the motel with warm and windproof jackets.   The next day was perfect ! warm sun and clear skies as our coach collected us for a tour of the island and a visit to the world famous Butchard gardens . The island was a picture of spring flowers and blossoms, beautiful English architecture and a most relaxed environment. We marvelled at the grandure of the Empress Hotel and of Parliament House, with a public car park on the other side of the road with one parking spot reserved for the Govenor ! - the rest for tourists and the government ministers and staff – first come first served !!   We parked next to the Governor’s car and made the Minister for Whatever find a spot further down !  Loved it !   The Butchard gardens were quite breathtaking !  ( Sunken Garden}  Starting with a disused quarry, long since abandoned, the gardens were designed and created by the Butchard family and opened to the public on their death. Covering many acres and incorporating many unique themes, the gardens were a mass of spectacular colour, we counted over 12 different colours of tulips which a team of gardeners change weekly as the seasons develop. We took so many photos, but could have taken so many  more. The Italian garden was just breath takingly beautiful..      When it was time to leave, the coach took us to the ferry terminal and the two hours trip to Vancouver, during which time we sat in the restaurant for dinner and watched the world drift by.   Another coach trip to downtown Vancouver, and the hopes for a good nights sleep ! Wrong !! We are used to sleeping with the windows open and lots of fresh air !   The windows were locked to prevent us escaping in the night, or plunging 20 floors to the ground if we happened to be sleepwalkers, or jumpers ! and so we could’nt breath, so neither could we sleep !!   We would have loved more time on Vancouver Island, it was so beautiful, and the wildlife so tame but tomorrow we will explore Vancouver and then, we leave on the “Rocky Mountaineer” the most spectacular train trip in the world ! Sending Love to All Janice & Steve xxxx