Hello again! I spent this morning walking through Sydney and the Australian Royal Botanical Gardens. I thought it would be cool to see some of the native species up close, and also check out some more views of Sydney Harbour. I was actually surprised how many attractions I found along the way! As a side note, if you haven't figured this out you should be able to click on the pictures to make them bigger! Also, they paint "Look Left" and "Look Right" (depending on which you should do) at crosswalks and intersections so that none of us can be confused when we're crossing the street haha.
Well, first of all, here's what some Australian money looks like! The coins are different in size, shape and colour, while the bills are just size and colour...the $10 bill actually has Edith Cowan on it, who my school was named after, but I had to spend that on lunch ;).
When I got to the gardens I was impressed with the scenery! Oddly enough, they have a section dedicated to the trees that grow in the backyard in Florida (with the annoying seeds falling on the ground), because those are endangered over here. But I was definitely surprised at what I found when I looked up! The brown-headed flying foxes (bats are flying foxes here) were everywhere! Apparently they are damaging the trees, so the gardens have been given permission to use non-harmful means to have them move-on, but it was really cool to see them up close.
As I kept going through the gardens I had my first encounter with an Australian spider, which was about the size of a saucer. It was a white-tailed spider, which is apparently quite common in the gardens - it is venomous and can cause skin irritation, but they've never been fatal. Apparently the area was originally governed by the Macquarie's, who were responsible for bringing large groups of people to settle the region. The gardens contain the Macquarie culvert, which went under the road leading to the Macquarie estate, and also the last remaining sections of the Macquarie wall, which was built to separate the town from the government. They keep small sections of the wall for history, but most of it was torn down when the people in the area realized they did not want that segregation.
Macquarie Wall
Macquarie Culvert
Here's a few more pictures that I got while I was in the gardens...
The Moreton Bay Chestnut tree apparently produces a nut that can be eaten if boiled long enough (to remove toxins). Currently, the nut is being used to develop AIDS treatments!
The Opera House and Harbour Bridge from the gardens!
This is a unique tree native to New Zealand. It's roots are high in starch content, and when boiled it has the same texture and a similar flavour to North American potatoes!
This is the Wollemi Pine, one of the oldest and rarest plants in the world! This one is tiny, and the only one planted in "captivity", but it will grow to be 40 metres tall! The first live Wollemi Pine was discovered near Sydney in 1994, but fossils of the tree date back over 90 million years!
On my way home I visited Hyde Park, and took a few more pictures...
Australian War Memorial in Hyde Park.
St. Mary's Cathedral from Macquarie Road.
The Sydney Tower from Hyde Park.
Well, that's it for now. I have more pictures, but I think I'm going to start an online photo gallery as well, because this actually isn't the easiest system to use for showing pictures...but these are the best from what I got today!
P.S. Isn't it a good thing ferns don't get this tall in Florida...
Well, first of all, here's what some Australian money looks like! The coins are different in size, shape and colour, while the bills are just size and colour...the $10 bill actually has Edith Cowan on it, who my school was named after, but I had to spend that on lunch ;).
When I got to the gardens I was impressed with the scenery! Oddly enough, they have a section dedicated to the trees that grow in the backyard in Florida (with the annoying seeds falling on the ground), because those are endangered over here. But I was definitely surprised at what I found when I looked up! The brown-headed flying foxes (bats are flying foxes here) were everywhere! Apparently they are damaging the trees, so the gardens have been given permission to use non-harmful means to have them move-on, but it was really cool to see them up close.
As I kept going through the gardens I had my first encounter with an Australian spider, which was about the size of a saucer. It was a white-tailed spider, which is apparently quite common in the gardens - it is venomous and can cause skin irritation, but they've never been fatal. Apparently the area was originally governed by the Macquarie's, who were responsible for bringing large groups of people to settle the region. The gardens contain the Macquarie culvert, which went under the road leading to the Macquarie estate, and also the last remaining sections of the Macquarie wall, which was built to separate the town from the government. They keep small sections of the wall for history, but most of it was torn down when the people in the area realized they did not want that segregation.
Macquarie Wall
Macquarie Culvert
Here's a few more pictures that I got while I was in the gardens...
The Moreton Bay Chestnut tree apparently produces a nut that can be eaten if boiled long enough (to remove toxins). Currently, the nut is being used to develop AIDS treatments!
The Opera House and Harbour Bridge from the gardens!
This is a unique tree native to New Zealand. It's roots are high in starch content, and when boiled it has the same texture and a similar flavour to North American potatoes!
This is the Wollemi Pine, one of the oldest and rarest plants in the world! This one is tiny, and the only one planted in "captivity", but it will grow to be 40 metres tall! The first live Wollemi Pine was discovered near Sydney in 1994, but fossils of the tree date back over 90 million years!
On my way home I visited Hyde Park, and took a few more pictures...
Australian War Memorial in Hyde Park.
St. Mary's Cathedral from Macquarie Road.
The Sydney Tower from Hyde Park.
Well, that's it for now. I have more pictures, but I think I'm going to start an online photo gallery as well, because this actually isn't the easiest system to use for showing pictures...but these are the best from what I got today!
P.S. Isn't it a good thing ferns don't get this tall in Florida...
Labels: Sydney, Things to See, Wildlife
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