Apr 21, 2011 - Victoria

For our full day in Victoria, the elders relinquished responsibility for the youngsters, and left us to our own devices. We firstly, responsibly, headed for a greasy spoon, the likes of which even English builders would reject. After a quick bout of shopping (Jo and Vic then) we headed back to the tourist centre to catch our Cruise Victoria bus to Butchant Gardens and the Butterly Garden. Both were absolutely stunning, the butterflies were one of the wildlife highlights of the trip. We meandered around, got some lunch, soaked up the Victoria sun and then headed back to town for (ahem) some more shopping, and then some real shopping at Thrifty Foods. By this point we were on our knees and actually caught a taxi back to Last Mango in her berth in front of the Empress Hotel. Dad came up trumps for dinner and landed us a table at Brasserie L'Ecole which was absolutely fantastic. Wine, fries, tuna, ribs, pate - even Calvados for the Captain. After several unnecessary repeat toasts, and a heap of fries later, we weaved rather uncertainly back to the boat to - basically - pass out.