Victoria, 11th June. (Pt 1)

When you talk about Vancouver, it can get a little confusing. There's the big city, called Vancouver obviously), and all the little edge cities like Burnaby, Richmond, Surrey, New Westminster etc., which most non-Canadians consider to be 'all there is'. But actually, there's a whole island which belongs to Vancouver too - unsurprisingly called Vancouver Island. It's actually got the provincial capital of British Columbia on it - Victoria, situated to the South of the island on the coast. It's quite a long way to go to get to it - the ferry itself is like 2 hours long (longer than the English Channel ferry but half as boring - and half as expensive) and the drive either end is about the same amount of time. But when you get there, it's more than worth it.

So our day started in the little coastal port of Tsawassen with a ferry - a BC Ferry, which smelt like new paint and disinfectant. I don't know why, but here's a funnel shot...

I actually fell asleep just after we left the dock and was woken up. "You might want to get photos of what's outside..."

The islands were beautiful. They've all got communities on them who basically live by the ferry service from mainland Vancouver.

Annnnnd 2 and a half hours later we're here! In very hot, sunny Victoria. The Empress is a 5* hotel in the capital - and the only hotel the Queen uses when she visits Vancouver. The guy in the bottom left of the image, on the bike, offers lifts around the city for like, $8, like a pedal rickshaw. Legs of steel, man.