Botanic Garden Archives - Destination's Journey

7 October 2024

Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden

Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden

Nestled in the Mogo State Forest adjacent to the Deep Creek Dam, the Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden covers a 42-hectare site. Established in 1988 when Forests NSW provided the site to the local council, it has a visitor centre, display gardens and walking tracks. The display gardens cover 10ha of land cleared to provide material for the dam wall, effectively repurposing a bare landscape. The remaining 32ha has walking tracks that provide access to the local bushland.

Bushfires in 1994 and 2019/20 caused significant damage some of which is still visible as fire damaged trees.

Getting There

Located only 5 minutes’ drive from the NSW coastal town of Batemans Bay and just of the Princes Highway, it’s easy to find with plenty of car parking space. Entry is free which is a great bonus.

The Gardens

The display gardens exhibit plants from the surrounding area, with sea-level to sub-alpine plant species on display. This area is well paved, generally flat and its 2km are wheelchair friendly. The plants were flowering when we visited adding colour to the gardens. There are also several ponds here and if you are lucky you will see some native species. We only saw some purple swamp hens and ducks, but there are others that call the area home.

Kangaroo sculptures Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden — Kangaroo sculptures

Banksia in bloom Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden — Banksia in bloom

Purple Coral-pea (Hardenbergia violacea)

Sculpture using the trunk of a coastal grey box that was killed during the 2019/20 fires

Pond near the eucalypt lawn Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden — Pond near the eucalypt lawn

Eucalyptus trees Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden — Eucalyptus trees

Forest Track

After walking through the display gardens, we headed to the Forest Track which took us through the native bushland of the area. This track is well defined but rough with several steep sections. However, it’s only 2km long with plenty of places to stop and enjoy the local bush. This track passes the dam, where a viewing platform lets you see over the dam wall and over Deep Creek Dam. With no trees on the wall or near the water, it looked very bare and no birdlife was present. This may change in the future, but we found it uninteresting (2024).

What Did We Think

We loved the walk through the display gardens and native bush areas. The visitor centre has a cafe where you can relax after your walk with a coffee and snacks.

To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.

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23 February 202310 February 2023

Australian National Botanic Garden

Covering many of the plant types found in Australia, the Australian National Botanic Garden in Canberra covers 35 hectares. With paths winding through the garden, you are able to experience many of Australia’s habitats in one place.

Getting There

We drove to the Garden and parked in the carpark there. As with most Canberra attractions, this is a paid parking area, so you need to purchase a ticket at one of the machines. From here we walked to the visitor centre where we got a map before starting on our walk.

What to See

We chose to walk the Main Path track because it covers all of the major areas of the Garden. A staff member suggested that we commence at the lower rainforest boardwalk, as the misting effect was about to start. This was a great suggestion and was the highlight of our visit. As we walked through the ferns of the rainforest, a mist drifted through, cooling us off, as it was a hot day, but overall the area was impressive.

After passing through the rainforest we saw banksias in flower before taking a diversion to the Red Centre and rock garden. While walking we passed several water dragons basking in the sun. They must be used to visitors as they did not run off as quickly as others we have seen. We were lucky to get several good photos of them before they decided to hide.

For those interested in birds, a huge viewing platform, the paperbark tree house is available for use.

We found the path to be an easy walk, with no steep grades. The walk took us around 45 minutes with plenty of stops for phots and to look at the plants. A great place to visit, especially the rainforest section.

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30 December 202127 December 2021

Wollongong Botanic Garden

Located at the foot of Mount Kiera, the Wollongong Botanic Garden is a great place to spend time to relax and unwind. Entry is free and the gardens are open every day except Christmas Day. We parked in one of the dedicated car parks, then spent an hour walking through the different themed area.

Our first stop was the beautiful pond and rotunda. Surrounded by flowering plants and palms, it was a nice place to stop and watch the waterbirds. One was even building a nest in the lilies, dragging nesting material across the pond from its edge.

A small stream flows through the gardens, feeding into the pond. By following it upstream, we came across the Japanese themed red bridge. Built as a gift of friendship it symbolises the connection with Wollongong’s sister city in Japan, Kawasaki.

From the bridge, we followed the path through the Australian rain forest section. This is the largest section in the gardens, showcasing a range of rainforest plants as well as those from the Illawarra region.

One of the highlights of the gardens is the succulent section, because of its amazing variety of plants. This garden is positioned on a built-up mound with sandy soil, because the succulents and cacti require good drainage. Large boulders have also been added to form rocky outcrops and slopes.

While walking, look out for interesting sculptures, like the insect hotel and Mercury Fountain.

Overall, a great place to visit and relax.