Royal Botanic Gardens

Wanda and I visited the Royal Botanic Garden today to check out all of the plants and have a relaxing walk.  Downtown Sydney is to the west of the park.

The Art Gallery of New South Wales.  I plan to return here another day to check out some of the art.  Looks like a neat place and there were plenty of people going in and out.

One of the formal entrances to the botanic gardens.

A statue and water fountain in memorial to someone who died long ago.

In the fernery.

Proof that I visited the gardens.

Woolloomooloo has to hold the record for the most O’s in a single word.

One of the main garden ponds.

This plastic lotus flower inflated and deflated about once a minute.

All inflated!

There were many random pieces of art sticking here and there out of the greenery.

The Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.

Downtown Sydney.

At the northeastern tip of the park.

Someone designed the path we walked on.  She got a stone dedicated to her.

The Australian navy.

Motorcycle-only parking.

A tree guard to keep some species of animal off the tree.

Wanda taking a photo of the funny character on the guard.

This tree is in the process of falling over.  The people who maintain the park are in the process of keeping it standing.  The tree seems to be slowly winning.

A bunch of people feeding the parrots.

Some neat, big trees that evidently drop branches without warning.  At least that’s what the sign said.  I trust the signs in this city.  They are usually right.

South beach walk to Bondi Beach

Along the pedestrian walkway in Coogee.

Coogee Beach and the town behind it.

Yay beach!

This collection of boats is really strange.  The tide must come up high enough that they can slide them down the ramps and into the water.  Never seen anything quite like this before.

People out SCUBA diving.

The divers are in the center just to the right.  The sea was pretty choppy and had some good waves.  It must have been an interesting entrance and exit.

The sea was churning pretty good for such a nice day.  Lots of wind, too.

Evidently all of the beaches are groomed and manicured on a regular basis.  The tractor kept going in and out of the water, dumping sand in about 5 feet of water.

We stumbled upon a really large graveyard partway along the walk.

Lots and lots and lots of graves.

Bondi Beach!

The famous Bondi Iceberg Winter Swimming Club.

Centennial Park, the walk to Coogee, and elsewhere

Yesterday Wanda and I went for a little walk that ended up at around 15-18 miles.  This is a photo looking back toward the city as we headed out to Coogee.

A typical street outside of the downtown area in Sydney.  Very few people were about.  I think it is because of the holiday weekend.  The Queen’s birthday is celebrated on Monday.

A funky mailbox outside of a church.  The steeple did not look like that on the real church.

A flock of white parrots with a slash of pink across their breasts.

Some famous nun in the middle of Centennial Park.

There wasn’t any sign at the base so we never did figure out who it is supposed to be.

Australia has black swans.  The Dutch must have been very surprised when they found black swans in Australia.  That old saying about black swans went right out the window!

The swans had a family.

Another pond nearby the first one had tons of black swans!

There were a bunch of cyclists enjoying the morning sunshine in the park.

Some of their bikes.  Recognize anything, Chris?

Big pelicans chilling out with a bunch of other birds hanging around.

Proof that I am in Australia!

There are a LOT of funny-looking birds here.

A rookery of birds that make funny baby-crying sounds.

An old Holden Holiday Special.

Approaching the beach.

There are gobs of old VW buses and bus-trucks around Sydney.  A lot of them have brush guards on the front.  Yours would look good with one of those, Emily!

So much for drinking on this street!  Almost to the beach!