Royal Botanic Gardens and My First Meat Pie

I just found out this did not post last week when I wrote it. Sorry!

Today being explore Sydney Wednesday, Adam and I first started off taking an hour tour of the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Every day at 1 p.m., there is a volunteer that walks the group around a section of the gardens and points out different plants and things that a person walking by would not know. There were only 4 of us in the group today, which was nice because we could see more things. I have been to the Royal Botanic Gardens before, but it was on the first full day that I arrived, so I was not paying close attention. The gardens are full of plants and different things from not only Australia, but around the world.

I remembered there being bats in the gardens, but I thought that it was only on one of the trees. As I looked around in the beginning of the tour, I noticed they were everywhere! The tour guide explained that there are over 14,000 bats in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The gardens are not small, but it is definitely not huge. These fruit bats kill all of the trees that they land and sleep on being their claws dig off the bark on the trees. These bats are endangered, which you would never know because of the numbers, so they are protected under the law. The people running the gardens cannot physically kill or move the bats to another place because they are protected. Since they cannot touch the bats, the people have set radars in the morning and early night to try and scare the bats away. When we were walking through the gardens, people were setting up nets which can capture the bats. Once a certain amount of bats are captured, someone can move them to another habitat but can never touch them. These fruit bats are a pest to the garden and houses nearby because they are killing all of the trees and fruit nearby. Since bats are nocturnal, they are supposed to sleep at night. Most of the bats were sleeping, but a good amount were flying around. The tour guide said that these bats know something is going on and people are up to no good so their sleep habits are disrupted. Here are pictures of the thousands of bats hanging in the trees. Yes, all of the things dangling from the branches are bats!

The first tree that the tour guide pointed out was the Wollemi Pine, which is almost as rare as a dinosaur! It is one of the world's rarest plants, but is native to Australia. There are only a few stands of adult Wollemi Pines known in the wild.

We then walked across one of the oldest bridges in Sydney to get to another part of the gardens!

The tour guide pointed out a plant that she said is related to the banana tree. When it is banana season, this plant grows fruit that people can eat. Right now, the fruit is pink because it is not the season for bananas and most of them are dead.

Next, we saw a plant that when you smelled it, smelled exactly like a cherry pie. The name has the word cherry pie in it, but I thought it was cool to smell a flower than smelled exactly like a dessert!

All around the gardens, scarecrows were set up to scare off any of the birds and animals.

It is also spider season, so there were a ton of spiders spinning their webs all over! I hate spiders, but some of them were HUGE and I had to take pictures of them!

The tour guide pointed out a coffee bean plant! I have never seen one in person, so it was pretty neat to see it. I wanted to try a bean, but forgot to grab one off of the plant! I guess I was too busy taking pictures!

This next plant is called the sandpaper plant, because when you felt it, it felt exactly like sandpaper!

We got to see a paperbark tree, which actually felt like soft paper! The Cadigal people used the bark for sleeping mats, for lean-to shelters, and for dressing wounds and wrapping delicate objects like newborn babies.

They made a fake model of what the Aboriginal people used to sleep under, which was made out of this paperbark tree.

We then went into a greenhouse, which was all Ferns! Dad, you would have loved it here! When you come to Sydney, I will make sure I take you here. There were all different Ferns and plants growing everywhere. The greenhouse is mostly shaded, and during the Summer when you walk in, the temperature drops about 10 degrees.

My favorite plant of all, was this one shown below. Can you guess why?!

The tour guide pointed out a plant that felt like braille on the leaves. She told us one time she was taking a group of blind children around the gardens and had them feel this plant. They got really excited because they thought this plant was made especially for them!

We got to see Australian Camellias, but unfortunately, there was no Camellia Grill close by. I guess I will just have to wait for New Orleans!

There were so many statues and nice places to sit down in the Royal Botanic Gardens. It was so peaceful walking through them.

Rochelle and I are talking sometime in the future to take a run through the gardens and near the Opera House. It would be such an amazing experience!

After the tour was done, Adam and I walked to Lady Macquarie's Chair, which is a spot at the end of the gardens that overlooks Sydney Harbor. There is a spot with places to sit overlooking the harbor, which is why I think they call it Lady Macquarie's Chair!

Adam and I then walked to Harry's Famous Pie's, which is known for their meat pies. Meat pies are very popular in Australia, and everyone keeps saying that I at least need to try one while I am here. Today was the day that I would meet my first meat pie! All meat pies have the "meat" in them, but you can order extra stuff in them, which I did not know. Adam ordered the plain meat pie, while I ordered the bacon and cheese meat pie. I thought I would just get bacon and cheese inside, but boy, was I wrong! It had all of the meat stuff, the bacon, and the cheese. I thought that the pie was absolutely discussing, but Adam seemed to like his. I am not a very big meat person, so I knew I may not like it very much. The inside is really runny, and the consistency is gross. I am proud of myself for trying it, but I will never meet another meat pie again. EW!

On the way back to the buses, we had to walk by the Opera House. I stopped by to get a pamphlet for all of the things playing in the Opera House when my family comes and visits. I realized that I have never actually been in the Opera House while I have been here! I have seen it many times before, but never been on the steps or inside! I did not get very far inside to look, but it was really nice! I am planning on taking a tour and seeing a production in the Opera House when my family comes out and visits!

I am going to miss Sydney so much when I head back home in 2 months. Luckily, I have been here a little over 2 months, and still have 2 more months to go! Time seems to be flying by though, and I want it to slow down! The weather is really starting to change, and it is getting so cold outside! The tour guide said today that the weather has been unusually cold the past week, which is good to hear because it has been frigid.

I am off to Tasmania tomorrow for the next 4 days, so I will update you when I get back! I am so excited to see the Tasmanian Devils!

Heaps of Love,

Heidi