Botanical Gardens

Through the gates, the vegetation changed again, from native bush to a diverse range of tropical plants from around the world. I found myself quickly joining the masses of other tourists with their cameras taking pictures of everything in sight. We slowly flowed with the foot traffic before coming across the timely placement of the washrooms and cafe.  

As we sat at the sheltered cafe with the organic fancy food among the tropical plants, I found my thoughts drifting to my Nana, the one who instilled and nurtured my love of gardening. She would have loved this, sitting in the warmth enjoying a tea before strolling leisurely through this exquisite garden.

We stopped in the giftshop to pick up a magnet and had a wonderful conversation with a very generous lady who gave us lots of advice for the park and a few things we should do around Cairns. Afterward, we continued our walk, enjoying the numerous textures and colours of this great diversity of plant.

The park was also full of life, including several sightings of skinks and these odd spiders, as well as a host of birds which included several brush turkeys who refused to sit still long enough to have their picture taken in the dim light. The best of course was not seen but heard, the unmistakable call of the Kookaburra, fighting off in the distance. So many programs on Australian wildlife would highlight the sound of this iconic bird and now we were listening to it first hand, and in the wild.

The gardens did a spectacular job of highlighting both foliage and flower. We wandered slowly over bridges, down stairwells, and under low branches to see all the amazing splendors the park had to offer. It was really exciting to see many plants that simply would not survive in many of the parts of the world I have had the opportunity to explore. I, of course, also took the opportunity to practice some photography for your viewing pleasure.

Two particular oddities of the park for us were the cannonball tree and some species of vine whose flowers were the most spectacular aqua colour. I tried many photos, but none of them truly captured the odd colour of these flowers, one which is rarely seen in plants.

Mary-Ellen and I thoroughly enjoyed this park and as the afternoon started to set in and our stomachs began to rumble we said goodbye to this fabulous collection of plants and started our way back through the rainforest on our way back into town.