Royal Botanic Gardens

On Sunday, August 25th, we were blessed with more gorgeous winter weather in Sydney.  Sundays are a great day for us to get out and explore since we can get Family Fun Day tickets for just $2.50 each and then we can use that one ticket for any form of public transportation in Sydney.  On this day, we decided to go to the Royal Botanic Gardens.  Even though we have been on the outskirts of the garden many times, we had never walked all the way through it.  It is a such an amazing use of the prime waterfront property.

The Royal Botanic Gardens start on the back side of the Sydney Opera House and runs alongside the Sydney CBD (Central Business District).

We started out by walking from our apartment to the Cremorne Point Wharf (about a 30 minute walk) to catch the ferry into Circular Key.  

Carter and Aubrey wanted their photo taken by this cool tree face on our walk in the Cremorne Reserve.

One of the first structures we ran into in the Botanic Gardens is the Government House.  We had walked around this section of the Botanic Gardens back in January.  On this visit we took the time to do the official tour of the Government House.  It was very interesting, but cameras were not allowed during the tour, so we have no photos of the inside.

Waiting for the tour to start

This was a massive fig tree outside the Government House.  It was planted around the time the house was built in 1843.

The east side of the Government House

We followed the coastline of the harbour on our walk around the Botanic Gardens.  It was interesting to see the different views we got of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge throughout the walk.

The sails of the Opera House poking out from behind the trees

The beautiful coastline.  There was a little bit of a haze over the city and harbour on that Sunday.  It was due to some controlled burning going on right outside the city to help prevent bush fires.

Part of the Main Pond in the Botanic Gardens

The poinsettia shrubs were flowering

Cool shot of the fig trees

The Botanic Gardens contain many lawns that are perfect for a picnic.

Another shot as we were rounding the curve around Farm Cove

Mrs. Macquarie's Chair at the end of Mrs. Macquarie's Point (the peninsula on the other side of Farm Cove).  From this point you have an amazing view of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

Like I said.......

As we walked out of the Royal Botanic Gardens, we found ourself along the wharfs in Woolloomooloo Bay.  

Finger Wharf on Woolloomooloo Bay

We had a great snack after all our walking at the famous Harry's Cafe de Wheels.  It has been here since 1945 and many celebrities have visited it through the years.  I can verify that it was one of the best meat pies I have ever eaten.  The kids had hot dogs that were also excellent.  I read that the cafe started selling hot dogs in the 1970's to appeal to American sailors.  We will have to make it a point to come back here!

After our snack, we hopped on a train and headed back into the city.  While walking in the CBD, we came across a really interesting laneway called Angel Place.  There are dozens of bird cages suspended over the alley as part of a public art display.  The name of the display is called "Forgotten Songs".  You can hear the sound of bird songs playing in the air to represent the forgotten birds in Sydney that have been displaced due to the urban development.

After a long day of walking, we were ready to catch a ferry and go back home as the sun was setting.  This is my favorite time of day to be out on the water.