Brisbane, Australia Botanical Gardens

I know ya'all are are looking forward to hearing more about our trip to Australia, and I desperately want to get this all out there, but now that we're home, the Christmas season is in full swing, and of course, it's the busiest time of year for me at work, so I'm working 60 hours a week.  UGH!   But, that's just the way life is, right?  

This is all about Brisbane -- actually mostly the Botanic Gardens.  We were lucky enough that our hotel, the Royal on the Park Hotel was located directly across the street from the Botanical Gardens.  It was a beautiful old hotel, full of luxury!  

(HINT:  click on any of the pictures to enlarge them!) 

The first thing we did was visit the Botanic Gardens across the street. 

A little history about the Gardens:  

City Botanic Gardens history

Queensland's Heritage Register recognises the City Botanic Gardens for their natural, historic and cultural values.

The gardens' plant collections include the first Queensland native plants to be formally planted. Visitors to the gardens will also see exotic plants. Some exotic plants were imported in colonial days to establish crops for the new Brisbane colony. Artists have also created number of heritage features at the gardens.

Gardens' development

Part of the riverside site where the gardens are located was originally a botanic reserve. It was established in 1828 to provide food for the early penal colony.

The City Botanic Gardens officially opened in 1855. That year, the botanic gardens' curator Walter Hill was appointed as the first superintendent. He began an active planting and experimenting program. This included:

• trailing crops and plants from around the world to determine their suitability for growing in subtropical climates
• introducing mangoes, pineapples, pawpaws, custard apples, sugar cane, tobacco, ginger, coffee and many types of nuts and grape vines to Queensland
• establishing ornamental plant collections in the gardens for visitors to enjoy

Major redevelopment of the gardens took place in 1987. Redevelopments included building an information centre, upgrading the paving and converting the former curator's residence into a restaurant.

Plantscaping and developments continued in 1989 with the construction of the Riverstage.

Having worked at Tropical Gardens, a (now defunct) greenhouse and wholesaler of tropical plants, I was absolutely fascinated by the flora and fauna here!  There were so many plants that just "grow" here!  These are plants that we can't grow outdoors here in Wisconsin, and many of them, we can't even grow indoors without a tropical greenhouse!   They're just so incredible!   I recognized so many plants, but had a difficult time remembering their names as I haven't worked at the greenhouse in almost five years.   There's going to be a lot of pictures here, but seeing as I took almost 1,500 pictures on our trip, you're really only getting to see the best of the best!   

Our first view of the Botanic Gardens!  How GORGEOUS is this?!  

Some of the ferns are HUGE!   How I would dearly love to have these around the Mik Deck & Dine!  

I am absolutely fascinated at the Staghorn Ferns that grow on the trees here!  When I worked at the greenhouse, we had some that would be attached to wood so you could hang it on your wall! (and they cost a fortune!).  Here, they just grow on the trees like they're supposed to!   They're actually a "parasite" of sorts, because they need another plant to grow on.   I took a boatload of pictures of these ferns.  

The Bamboo Grove is a collection of 23 bamboo species and was planted to commemorate the bamboo collection that was lost in 1937. The loss occurred when the gardens' Fern Island attraction was drained and filled as a result of mosquito complaints.  (Seriously?)    They are so beautiful!  I know they are incredibly fast growing and will take over, if not pruned consistently and properly, but I sure would love to have the climate that would allow some in our yard!  

In the picture below, if you look closely, you can see some larger birds in the tree near their nest. 

The birds in the tree above are the same species as the one below.  There were a boatload of them at the Gardens!   Unfortunately, I do not recall the name of this particular bird.

The tree below was planted in 1849!  That makes it  169 years old!  WOW!!!

  

I really don't think there is anything more beautiful or exotic as a Bird of Paradise blooming in it's natural environment!   Just another one of God's incredible masterpieces!   

More Beautiful ferns! 

Check this guy out!  He really wasn't too afraid of us, but would move if we got too close!  I can't imagine living someplace where these creatures are just right there in your back yard!  I'm not sure what kind of lizard this is, but he sure is cool!  

The stairs on the trail were quite uneven and not easy to go down, but what a beautiful path! 

Hey to all my former Tropical Gardens co-workers!  Your absolute FAVORITE plant below!  Yep, those are Peace Lilly's, a/k/a SPATH!  

The brother/cousin/uncle/aunt of the other lizard?   Too cool to find them all over here!   

Not sure what the deal was with the piles of dirt here, but I'm guessing that it was loaded with bugs and these birds were having a field day!  

The Botanic Gardens wind around the Brisbane River so the next pictures are all about the river!  The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland and flows through the City of Brisbane.

The tree below was so cool looking, we just had to take a picture of it!   I have no idea what it is.  Maybe someone will comment and tell us?  The first picture is a close up and the second picture is of the whole tree.  

We're guessing that someone was living aboard this particular "vessel!"  

We are sitting on a particular park "bench" that had seats facing in opposite directions.  Kind of cool!  (Well, actually quite hot!  It was in the mid to upper 80's while we were here! )

They have some funny looking bubblers here!  (For anyone not from Wisconsin that's reading this, what you call a water fountain, we call a "bubbler."  !!!  And yes, we tried it, and yes it worked!  And yes, the water tasted funky (at least compared to what we're used to!) If you look closely at the bottom of the bubbler on the left side, you can fill a "cup" for your dog!  

Need a bike?   There are plenty to rent here!  Just swipe your card and off you go! 

We had dinner at the Buffalo Bar, which advertised as having "American" burgers.  While they were awesome, they were still a bit different from what we normally get here in the States.   Abby decided to get herself a "boozy" milkshake.   She said it tasted a lot like the Grasshoppers that Joe and Marty used to make when we'd go camping!  

Greg had the "Big Bird" which was a chicken burger with bacon (different bacon than what we're used to), gigantic onion rings and lettuce.   The buns are more of a brioche bun, which seems to be the norm in Australia.  Oh, and we never did see any iceburg lettuce anywhere, even in the grocery stores! 

I had the "Lionel Sternberger" which was a Wagyu beef patty, bacon, cheddar, lettuce and pickles.  it also came with jalapeno mayonnaise, which I had them put on the side, as I'm not fond of spicy stuff.  I must admit, I absolutely LOVE the little baskets the french fries came in! 

Abby got potato wedges and dusted chicken wings (dry wings, versus wet BBQ type wings).  

All of the food was quite incredible!!!!!  Great place to stop and eat dinner!   Most of the restaurants have an open area and seeing as there were no bugs, we sat outside to eat and enjoy the warm air and fresh breeze!

The trees across the street from the hotel really fascinated Greg (and me, as well)!  The way the roots grow above the ground really makes them showstoppers!   The trees have obviously been here for many, many, many years, as those roots have grown all around the wrought iron fencing!  

The trees are HUGE, as can be seen by Greg standing here in front of them!  

  
More ferns growing on the tree!  

This has got to be the largest Dracaena (corn plant)  I've ever seen!  

And more amazing GIANT plants (ferns?)!  I'm not even sure what these are, but they are incredible and were all over the parts of Australia we visited!  

Here's a close up of it!  

And finally, a couple pictures of me and Greg in front of the roots of those incredible trees!  I couldn't decide which one I liked better, so you get to see two of them!  

The next entry will be all about the Australia Zoo (a/k/a Steve Irwin's zoo!)  Crikey!  

Hope you enjoyed viewing the Botanic Gardens in Brisbane!  I can tell you, without a doubt, I wish I was back there!  

Love, Peace & Prayers to all! 

Julie

Sydney Harbour

No trip to Sydney is complete without a boat tour of the Sydney Harbour!  I grew up in Milwaukee, and there's lots of shipping, but I have to tell you, Jones Island doesn't hold a candle to the Sydney Harbour!  Hell, Jones Island doesn't hold a candle to any harbor!  (Anyone from Milwaukee will understand!)  

 The Harbour is actually a drowned river estuary carved out of the sandstone about 29 million years ago. The sea level rose about 17,000 years ago flooding the river and creating the harbour.

In reviewing some pertinent facts about the Sydney Harbour, I discovered that there are over 586 species of fish in Sydney Harbour!  That's more than you would find off the coast of the United Kingdom!!  An estimated 74,000 tons of fish were caught by recreational fishers during the 2008 summer period.  

Port Jackson, also called Sydney Harbour, inlet of the Pacific, 12 miles (19 km) long with a total area of 21 square miles (55 square km), which is one of the world’s finest natural harbours and the principal port of New South Wales, Australia. It has minimum and maximum depths of 30 feet (9 metres) and 155 feet at low water, and its irregular foreshores extend more than 150 miles, affording extensive docking facilities. Its principal wharves are near Sydney’s business district.

Its entrance (1.5 miles wide) is between North and South Heads, where naval and military stations are located. The Parramatta River, Cockatoo Island (shipyards), and Middle Harbour Creek form the inlet’s western and northern branches.

The picture of these steps is from the front of the Opera House. 

 
These are pictures from the eateries at the Opera House.  Beautiful outdoor dining! 





The pictures below are all pictures I took while we were on our tour of the Harbour. They really don't need any explanation! 

The Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened on March 19th 1932 after six years of construction. Made of steel the bridge contains 6 million hand driven rivets. The surface area that requires painting is equal to about the surface area of 60 sports fields. The Bridge has huge hinges to absorb the expansion caused by the hot Sydney sun.  It is the world's largest (but not the longest as that's the New River Gorge in the USA) steel arch bridge.  Its total length including approach spans is 3,770 feet and its arch span is 1,650 feet. The top of the arch is 440 feet above sea level and the clearance for shipping under the deck is a 161 feet. The total steelwork weighs 52,800 tons, including 39,000 tons in the arch. The 161 foot wide deck makes Sydney Harbour Bridge the widest Longspan Bridge in the world!

You can even book a tour to walk the bridge.  Not just walking the "bridge", but walking the ARCH of the bridge!  More information is here:  Walking the Bridge 

More to come on our Aussie Adventures in the next day or two!  

Love, Peace and Prayers to all, 

Julie and Greg

Sydney Opera House

As previously stated, we landed in Sydney at about 8:30 the morning on November 24, 2018.  We only had the one day in Sydney, as we were flying to Brisbane on the 25th. so, we had to get our butts in gear!  

I've seen pictures of the Sydney Opera House many times.  It is such an iconic building!  The Opera House was on my bucket list of things to see while in Australia.  Abby wasn't too excited about it, but she came along because it's what we wanted to do. 

The Opera House was Designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon.  Utzon's design won an international competition in 1957. His design was quite unique, but had many unanswered questions about the structural engineering at the time he won the competition.   Although the name suggests a single venue, the building comprises multiple performance venues which together host well over 1,500 performances annually, attended by more than 1.2 million people.  The original cost estimate of this design was a mere $5.5 million.  As it seems to be with all projects, the final cost was just slightly over budget at $102 million and was ten years late in its completion.   The Sydney Opera House was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on October 20, 1973.

While the shells appear uniformly white from a distance, they actually have a subtle chevron pattern composed of 1,056,006 tiles in two colors: glossy white and matte cream. 

The Concert Hall  in the picture below has 2,679 seats and is the home of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.  It is used by a large number of other concert presenters and contains the Sydney Opera House Grand Organ, the largest mechanical tracker action organ in the world, with over 10,000 pipes.   Every single thing in this hall was designed for the ultimate acoustic experience and every seat is designed to experience the same acoustic quality.  The "disks" at the top of the picture, above the stage, were designed to allow the musicians to hear their own music, by making it bounce back to them.  

 For our tour, we had headsets so we could listen to our tour guide without her needing to be too loud.  There were various things happening in the Opera House as far as building sets and rehearsals, so we had to ensure that we were quiet on our tour.   That is our tour guide on the right.  She was incredibly knowledgeable about the entire Opera House and provided a great tour.  


Here is a picture of one of the bars at the Opera House, as they were getting ready for the night's events. 

I think it would be incredibly amazing to see Spartacus as a ballet!    Wowsa!

Here are more pictures of the various areas of the Opera House -- absolutely stunning!  

And, as it's right on the Harbour, we had to have pictures of the Harbour from inside the Opera House. 

If you'd like more information about the Sydney Opera House, feel free to check it out here:  Sydney Opera House Information.  There's a ton of really interesting information on this incredible building!  


Hope you enjoyed our "virtual tour" of the Sydney Opera House! 

Love, Peace and Prayers, 

Julie & Greg