Sydney – Part III – Royal Botanical Gardens
Thursday, our last full day here in Sydney and it purports to be another very hot one. Luckily we have saved the Royal Botanical Gardens for last with very large trees for shade.
New South Wales, Government House, is situated within the Royal Botanical Gardens, an imposing structure resembling an English Castle. Although we did not have time to go inside, entrance is free.
We joined the Garden Tour at 10:30 am for a one and a half hour duration, which was also free. The friends of the gardens, all volunteers, undertake this task. Luckily, the gentleman, who conducted the tour, took us through nice shady places. The fern house was quite a feat of architecture, designed by a student. The students were all given the project of designing a new Fern House for the gardens with no intent of any of them being used. The curator of the gardens was so impressed with this design he left it on is desk hoping one day to procure enough funds to have it constructed. He estimated that it would cost ¾ million dollars to complete. One of the gardens benefactors, an English Lady, saw the design and asked when it would be built. The curator answered that it would probably never be built due to the cost being ¾ million dollars and there were no funds available for such a large project. Several weeks later a cheque for the full amount was received from the Lady funding the whole project. Hence, the magnificent Fernery, designed to deflect the sun’s intense heat and allow cool breezes to pass through, is enjoyed by visitors to the park today. They even planted a fern in my honour, The Todea Barbara, King Fern.
During our tour we met Clarence, an Aboriginal Garden Warden, who played The Didgeridoo magnificently for us. We also saw many interesting plants, beautiful blossoms, interesting structures, lovely views and impressive sculptures.
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| Government House |
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| Todea Barbara |
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| The Fernery |
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| Blue Ginger |
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| Wollemi Pine - The Rarest Tree in the world |
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| Clarence |
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| Plumeria |
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| Giant Water Lily |
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| Giant Water Lily |
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| View to Fort Denison |
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| Barbara from the Gardens |
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| Jim at Mrs MacQuarie's seat |
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| Bronze Mare & Foal |
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| The Rotunda |
This was our last day in Sydney and it left nothing more but to pack up and prepare to move on tomorrow. Stay tuned for South Maroota and Nelson Bay…………………
