Going botanical – Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens
No Comments »25th September, 2007; Category: Botanic Gardens, Holidays, New South Wales, Parks and Gardens
Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens, NSW
Our holiday in New South Wales
September 2007
One of the places we wanted to visit during this holiday was the Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens in the Blue Mountains north west of Sydney. On the drive from Lithgow to the gardens we had driven through some quite heavy rain showers. It was looking gloomier by the minute, so when we arrived we armed ourselves with umbrellas expecting the worst. It never rained a drop while we were there.
Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens, NSW
During our visit I was on the lookout for birds, especially those I hadn’t seen on the trip to that point. I chased a beautiful Superb Fairy-wren around some bushes but he was too slick for me, constantly hopping along the ground. I was also pleased to see some White-browed Scrubwrens but the photos didn’t turn out. They are also fast movers and hard to focus on. I heard an Eastern Whipbird but couldn’t find him in the undergrowth.
Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens
Lavender Farm, Parkes, New South Wales
Flower in a garden in Parkes NSW
On our visit to Parkes, New South Wales several years ago we did some touring around the town and the nearby district. One of the places my wife wanted to visit was the Lavender Farm on the eastern edge of town.
Flower in a garden in Parkes NSW
Lavender bushes
During our stay at the Lavender Farm I was free to wander through the garden looking at the flowers as well as all of the birds to be seen there.
Flower in a garden in Parkes NSW
Click on the photo to enlarge the image.
St Kilda, South Australia
Today we had some business to attend to north of Adelaide. After this was completed we travelled on for a few minutes to St Kilda. We had heard many positive comments about this location but over the years we had never made the effort to visit.
On arrival we had morning tea with our daughter before she travelled back to Clare in the mid-north of the state. It was a sunny day with a gentle breeze, although it did get windy later. It was one of those wonderful spring days we often get her in South Australia.
St Kilda Playground pirate ship
Next to the picnic ground is a wonderful playground with equipment suitable for all ages. One of the features is a wonderful pirate ship, complete with cannons. We were amused to see at least one group of children dressed up as pirates using the ship and playground to fight a mock battle. What a great idea of the parents concerned as it was obviously a special birthday party theme.
After a wander around the playground, picnic grounds and the nearby foreshore to check out the birdlife, we had a picnic lunch.
Castle in the playground at St Kilda
Wittunga Botanic Gardens Part 4
On our recent visit to the Wittunga Botanic Gardens in the Adelaide Hills, I was torn between photographing flowers and watching out for the birdlife. My wife is more interested in the plants because that is where her interests are strongest. She has a small nursery growing plants native to Australia.
My attention was diverted from taking a few shots of the Anigoznathos family (common name Kangaroo Paw) when I heard a disturbance in a nearby eucalypt tree. Looking up I could see an Australian Magpie being quite upset with the presence of a koala in the branches of the same tree. Despite much raucous calling, a a few dive bombing attempts by a Noisy Miner (a honeyeater), the koala just kept on snoozing. For more details, and a photo, go to my birding blog (click here)
Wittunga Botanic Gardens
Despite being in the middle of a very dry winter, we were delighted with the variety of plants that were flowering. This garden, like so many South Australian parks and gardens, will become a kaleidoscope of colour come spring time.
Wittunga Botanic Gardens Part 3
The Wittunga Botanic Gardens near the suburb of Blackwood in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia is an annex of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Wittunga was once a private garden.
Wittunga Botanic Garden
Wittunga Botanic Garden at Blackwood dates back from 1901, but first opened to the public in 1975. The Garden is of interest all year round however its displays of Australian and southern African plants are especially dazzling in Spring. Species of ericas, proteas, leucadendrons, banksias and hakeas are featured, as are good collections of bulbous and cormose species. Two lakes and a sandplain garden make your visit memorable, whether as a botanist or casual visitor.
Protea flower at Wittunga Botanic Gardens
It had been quite a few years since our last visit to these gardens, but they did not disappoint. Despite being in a busy residential part of the city and hills, there is a wonderful peace, an almost tangible tranquillity in a garden like this.
And this peacefulness is apparent despite the noisy, garrulous screeching of the Rainbow Lorikeets as they feed in the eucalypt trees that abound in the gardens.