The Botanic Gardens

Fruit bats. Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney


Wisteria and Palms from the Botanic Gardens Restaurant

Was invited to lunch the day before Christmas Eve at the Botanic Gardens. So I spent a very pleasant half hour in the gardens photographing some beautiful trees (not shown here)

After lunch, I spent a considerable sum of money in the garden's shop. The excuse was Christmas. They had some stunning books (too expensive for me, most of them), some beautiful original botanic artworks (ditto) and other things (also lovely) which were a bit more within range. But there was no dross. (Or was it my alcoholic euphoria?)

(The bat photograph was taken just outside the restaurant facing the garden's shop.)

The Zoo

Taronga Park Zoo. Water bird exhibit with casuarinas in the sunlight and a very obscured pelican.


Araucaria cunninghamii from the skyway. (Such a splendid tree.)


Tiger. (He was exceedingly handsome.)

Went to Taronga Park Zoo, with the children and the grandchildren. It was a lovely day. Both children enjoyed all the animals they saw and so did we. The displays of the animals were the most natural I have seen in a zoo (or anywhere) with most of the barriers being apparently insignificant and not impeding your view. And most of the enclosures appeared remarkably natural. (And in the case of the waterbirds, they were not enclosed at all, despite the jabirus and brolgas on display and lots of pelicans in addition to the various ducks.) The credit for the lovely displays must go to the gardeners as well as the designers.

The price was a bit steep ($23 concession!) but did include as many rides on the skyway as you pleased, a fact I only discovered when I pulled out my money to ride.

We got to see a platypus in what appeared to its natural environment. Fabulous. This was a first for me, not for the sight of a platypus, but for seeing it other than in a most artificial and ugly environment.