Today is our last day in Cairns and we decided to visit the Botanical Gardens. None of the many maps and brochures we had made it clear exactly where they were, but they had to be very big so heading in the right direction should be good enough. Fortunately we found a bus with a driver who dropped us right at the main gate. We were confronted with a magnificent solid wall of rain forest trees.
As we wandered through the pathways we caught up with a small group who were on a guided walk led by a volunteer. We joined them for the rest of the walk. She showed us many flowers and fruits and we took many photos.
One of the flowers looked like a pink waratah.
She told us that she had never seen a Ulysses butterfly in the garden, but we reckon we saw one later.
Could not photograph it to prove it. At the end of the walk she showed us an Amethystine Python in a glass cage. This is Australia's largest python.
We got it on movie as well.
We moved to the Tanks Arts Centre, which consists of three huge concrete water tanks that have been decommissioned. One was a restaurant, another was a performance area for bands, etc.
We spent some time in the third one where there was an extensive display of the life and work of Ron Edwards.
We have one of his bushcraft books at home.
The gardens were located on both sides of Collins Street, so a possum "highway" has been built overhead.
We did a walk to the Centenary Lakes along a boardwalk and found some huge paperbarks like this one.
Some of them were being strangled by the figs.
One section of the gardens was devoted to bamboo species. These Burmese Black Bamboo were amazing.
We walked home following creeks, which meant we took two hours instead of one. Quite a lot of walking today. We have a 6am checkout tomorrow, so spent the rest of the day washing clothes and
packing.
As we wandered through the pathways we caught up with a small group who were on a guided walk led by a volunteer. We joined them for the rest of the walk. She showed us many flowers and fruits and we took many photos.
She told us that she had never seen a Ulysses butterfly in the garden, but we reckon we saw one later.
Could not photograph it to prove it. At the end of the walk she showed us an Amethystine Python in a glass cage. This is Australia's largest python.
We got it on movie as well.
We moved to the Tanks Arts Centre, which consists of three huge concrete water tanks that have been decommissioned. One was a restaurant, another was a performance area for bands, etc.
We spent some time in the third one where there was an extensive display of the life and work of Ron Edwards.
The gardens were located on both sides of Collins Street, so a possum "highway" has been built overhead.
We did a walk to the Centenary Lakes along a boardwalk and found some huge paperbarks like this one.
Some of them were being strangled by the figs.
One section of the gardens was devoted to bamboo species. These Burmese Black Bamboo were amazing.
We walked home following creeks, which meant we took two hours instead of one. Quite a lot of walking today. We have a 6am checkout tomorrow, so spent the rest of the day washing clothes and
packing.
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