Wednesday, November 28, 2012

EvBetPGH Down Under: Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens


Admittedly, I am not the girliest girl. I've always been a bit on the Sporty Spice side, even though in high school when my friends (hello, Milana, Eva, and Lindsey!) and I dressed up as the Spice Girls for fun (we really did), I was always Baby Spice. What I'm trying to say, is that I'm not about to wear a combination of pink and leopard and spend three hours on my hair and make-up. But I do like fun dresses, am starting to wear heels and lipstick (gasp!) more often, and there's always my tendency to love even the worst romantic comedies. Another girly thing I like: flowers. 

For that reason, Phipps Conservatory has always been a favorite spot of mine in Pittsburgh. 

Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens are like Phipps times at least one hundred.

My first few hours in Sydney were spent wandering around the Gardens as part of a scavenger hunt Marlana had prepared for me while she finished the rest of her working day after picking me up from the airport. I was so instantly charmed that I didn't want to leave. I visited them three more times during my trip, either for walks to take up time, walks to find things, or walks to steak dinners. They are absolutely beautiful, and more like walking through a dream because they are so immense. It's kind of funny to see that photo above with the city in the background, because being in the gardens makes you completely forget a bustling metropolis is just a few hundred yards away. 

Pretty lily pads!

I will take a dozen of these plants in my fantasy backyard garden, please!

A couple dozen or so of these guys too.

Sydney might not get a fall with the changing leaves like we do, but they have crazy purple trees! It's like being in a Dr. Seuss book.


So many carvings on all of the bamboo tress in the gardens.



A real treat was coming upon the Wollemi Pine!


Now, because I saw the word dinosaur and got excited, I think I jumped to te conclusion that these trees were around with dinosaurs. Rereading that sign now, it's a little unclear if that is true, but let's go with it cause I posed for the picture and all. (Note: very sleep deprived, the day after crazy Melbourne trip, and we'd been walking around all day long by this point.)


If I lived in Sydney, this would be one of my most favorite places. There are still so many nooks and crannies of it I've yet to explore. I'll have to hit those the next I'm down under.

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