Alpine Gardens

Before moving on to other places and other topics I shall give one more story of one of our visits in the Blue Mountains. I had set my heart on returning to the Mount Tomar Botanic Gardens - when Colin and I were last in the Blue Mountains we had called in there and arrived only half an hour before the gates were shut and we were so interested in what we saw there that we planned to return should we ever return to the Mountain. Adam's wedding gave us that chance.

f/7.1  1/100  44mm  ISO320

It is always tempting, when visiting gardens, to take lots of close up pictures of individual plants! Of course I had to allow myself to be tempted! But there were huge displays of colour that required a wider look - like this stand of red hot pokers. I should look up their botanic name because there are some yellow ones too! I like the common name though! It reminds me of my childhood in the UK. These red hot pokers would grow in the home gardens and I am convinced they are responsible for my interest in gardening today!

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So you spotted the white cockatoo! All through the garden were tin sculptures - they are designed as a "look and find" thing for children to do when in the gardens. There are lots of tin "ants" the size of a Shetland pony scattered through the gardens too!
There was a sign to a "Jungle walk" so Colin and I left the manicured lawns and designer garden beds and ventured into this patch of totally unspoiled rain-forest bought and donated to the gardens by Lady Fairfax who was determined not to let it be cleared for agriculture. It was dark so photography was quite a challenge (but not for Colin's point and shoot Olympus as it turned out!) Not having taken a tripod with me I had to either lean against the trunk of an obliging tree or else find some other stable prop to prevent me from shaking!
This photo of the vines was thanks to a tree beside the path.

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A ring of trees could only be seen as a ring by placing Colin in the centre! These are sassafras trees and apparently when the main tree is logged or burned in a bush fire new growth starts from the roots around the original trunk, not replacing the trunk but circling it. To take this picture I leaned on the signboard that gave me that information!

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I did try taking pictures using the flash on the camera but that did not work at all. The nearest trees and leaves would be illuminated and the background would all be totally dark and colourless. The information under the photos tells of a slow shutter speed - which is why it was necessary to use a prop to keep the camera still so that I would not have motion blur.
Back out in the sunshine I gave way to my urge to take a few close ups.

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Some flowers just shout out to have their photo taken!

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Under many of the trees were tall brown stalks with lighter brown flower buds held erect on the tops, they looked so comical and I did take a few pictures of them, but when I found a little group of open flowers they gave me a greater pleasure, the pink of their petals was so striking against the drab brown of the leaf litter.
I hope you have enjoyed my trip to the Blue Mountains. It gave me such pleasure with the camera both in bright sunlight and in the shade - and I have enjoyed showing you a few of the pictures I came home with!
AJ