Araluen Botanic Park

The first time we tried to get to Araluen, we were caught in the longest line of traffic, and decided to turn around. Turned out it was Father's Day, (which is at the end of August here; yes, it's a bit strange) and also the height of their Tulip Festival. Well, seeing as how we got to witness all the tulips in Ottawa last May, we figured we'd wait until a quieter weekend, in September, and go early. Which proved to be a good idea. This place gets nuts! It's bar-b-que madness with plenty of screaming kids! Yahoo!

Araluen Botanical Park is a nature park which was built up in 1929 by the Young Australia League (maybe like the YMCA?). Imagine a remote valley in the hills where the Tuart trees grow especially tall, and the waterfalls and natural pools are surrounded by a winding set of nature paths. Most striking though is the stonework throughout the park, giving the feeling of being amongst Roman ruins. Not surprisingly, the cascading waterfall was almost entirely dried up (another indication of the crazy dry weather here). The park was abandoned for many years, before it got bought up by the current care-takers in the 80's, and is now protected as a historical site. It's a huge attraction for locals and tourists alike. It seems especially to attract young families as well as seniors, and can be a bit of a challenge to those with walking difficulties if they don't stay on the main paths. It is in and up the sides of the valley, so there are lots of little paths that lead to isolated benches and flowers. We took advantage of these and mostly stayed clear of the crowds. Some other walkers pointed out a bilby to us, foraging in the underbrush; we shared our apple with him. (the one we saw had smaller ears, but I couldn't find his picture on the net).

The flowers were really beautiful, and I especially liked all the pansies. There were many colours to enjoy. They always make me think of the movie Fantasia, when the flowers come alive and dance around; you can see their little faces beside me in the picture!