Botanical Gardens And Other Bits - Sydney

Saturday 9th May

Adam decided that a trip into the city was called for today and for a number of reasons;

1. To buy an electric guitar (For Adam, not me. He's decided to take it up again)
2. To get some lunch by the harbour
3. To have a walk through the Botanical gardens
4. To pick up a code Adam needed from his office (It also meant I could see inside the office)

We had a lovely lunch at the Guillian Chocolate Cafe on Circular Quay. (I realise that I seem to be constantly talking about food! Whether its making it or eating it! I can assure you that Adam and myself still have a completely balanced diet and are definitely not in need of 'Over Eaters Anonymous') Anyway... We both had a light lunch. For myself - A roasted vegetable quiche and salad. For Adam - A mozzarella, tomato and Pesto baguette. Ok, ok, so we cracked and ordered dessert, but only one to share and it did consist of lots of fruit. We had a lovely Fruit plate with a chocolate dipping sauce. Definitely one to try if you can.

After lunch we walked over to the opera house and into the Botanical garden's entrance. It really is a huge area. You could spend an awful lot of time wandering around or just sitting on the grass having a picnic or relaxing with a book (Checking for any hidden creepy crawlies, like spiders, of course!)

Little did I realise, but Adam had a secret agenda in the gardens. One that he thought was best kept secret from me, because if I had known about it I wouldn't have gone anywhere near the particular part he wanted to visit! We stumbled on it by accident. Adam suggested that we have a look in the shop for postcards for our parents and he said he wanted to get a map. Once outside the shop he said that he wanted to find 'The Palm Grove' I said we were already there and pointed to the sign. I then asked why, and sadly found out. Up above in the trees were thousands of bats hanging from the trees. Oh my God, it was horrible. They were everywhere and it looked like something out of a horror movie! Adam loved it and began clicking away on the camera. Apparently the bats are a pest and are steadily killing off some of the garden's oldest trees. The bats strip off all the foliage from the trees and end up killing them. All the bat poo apparently stinks too. Luckily we didn't get that close. This link gives you more information on why they want to move the bat colony.

http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/welcome_to_bgt/royal_botanic_gardens/garden_features/wildlife/flying-foxes/Flying-fox_relocation