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Published: September 22nd 2016
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After a good night's sleep in our high rise bed (we almost needed a ladder to get into it) our day started with a four course breakfast at the Victoria B&B. It is well known for it's breakfasts and the Victorian house and rooms. Needless to say there was more than we needed for the breakfast so our lady gave us a bag to put in any excess food which we did - true to our TTATs philosophy. We shared breakfast with four Ozzies three of whom were immigrants which made them interesting. The man ( a real Ozzie bloke) was married to a Mauritius woman who was born in Australia. She had her Mum and Aunty with her and they were originally from Mauritius. How much do we know about Mauritius? Practically nothing. English is the first language used by all but they speak Creole and French. The island is in the Indian Ocean and not far from Madagascar. They had four large bags to get to the Gardens so we helped them with their luggage on the buses and into the Gardens as they were getting the ferry to Vancouver after the visit. An interesting foursome.
We had
The fountain in the old quarry bottom
The fountain has a lovely sequence in it's play - oscillating and shooting high plumes a true TTATs day. Instead of getting the Butchart Garden Bus at $28 each, we got a local bus. When we got on the bus the driver asked us where we were from. He said "We're friends with NZ so you can have you ticket for nothing". So, not only did we save $28 but also the $5 for a day pass on the buses.
It took quite some time to get to the gardens which were 26kms from Downtown and the bus wound it's way through various suburbs and eventually country estates to get there. Everyone knows that the Butchart Gardens are wonderful but nothing prepares you for the scale of the place, the colour, the pristine upkeep and amazing setting in an old quarry. They cover 22ha and were set up by a Mrs Jennie Butchart who wanted to beautify the old limestone quarry owned by her husband, the owner of the Portland Cement plant.
The gardens now contain the themed gardens: Sunken, Japanese, Rose, and Italian with lakes, lawns, waterfalls and fountains. The colour is amazing and it drives home the advantage of planting for mass colour for effect. Begonias, salvias, geraniums, dahlias, impatients, chrysanthemums
and so many more well known flowers abound as well as the colourful autumn foliage at this time of year. You cannot describe the experience only actually experience it. The closest garden in Taranaki to this type of garden is the Tupare Garden in New Plymouth - much smaller but similar in theme. There wasn't a weed or a fallen leaf to be seen. Most of the tourists visiting seemed to be Asian. We were struck by the quiet amble that people did, just soaking in the ambience.
After busing back to Downtown we walked back to our lodging for a short time before heading out across the Beacon Hill Park to Cook St Village again for a most excellent pizza at a very popular restaurant that we couldn't get into yesterday. So ended another wonderful day. One to go then off home.
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