Geelong was the destination for our winter trip this year on Thursday 16th June, almost the shortest day of the year. It was a cool day as expected, but luckily this year not wet!!!
We arrived in Geelong and had our morning tea at ‘Rippleside Park’ before heading over to the Botanic Gardens where we were met by our two volunteer guides, members of The Friends of Geelong Botanic Gardens.
We began by having a tour of the newest section of the garden, ‘The 21st Century Garden’, which has a fabulous display of dry climate plants.
We then moved on into the original part of the gardens, established in the 1850’s, entering through the lovely old wrought iron gates. Just inside the gates stand 2 of Geelong’s signature ‘bollard people’, commemorating Daniel Bunce, the first curator.
In two groups we continued through the gardens admiring the Heritage Rose garden, Australian Rainforest plants, and exotic shrubs, wandering through the Cool Temperate Rainforest, and walking up the paths flanked by perennial borders surprisingly for this time of year, full of colour.
Through the palm garden we came across a lawn with the most beautiful Ginkgo tree in full autumn glory. Upon reaching the far end of the gardens we discovered Herb Beds, the Sunken Glasshouse and the Pelargonium Conservatory, which boats a huge collection of plants. Making our way back through the Camellia Walk and across the vast lawns, we met up again at the main gates, having spent at least 2 hours exploring these beautiful gardens.
We were all quite hungry, so thanked our informative guides, and boarded the bus for a short trip to the ‘Elephant & Castle’ hotel for a very tasty lunch, before heading back to Camberwell.
Thank you to Karina and Pam for organizing such a great day’s outing.
