The Australian Garden is organised around a central Sand Garden, with stylised sand, rock and plant features that reference Aboriginal art. Central Australia is called the 'red centre' -- the sand in the deserts and arid areas is this rich, ochre red. The plants in the third photo below are called kangaroo paws, as the little flowers look like ... well, kangaroo paws.
There are art installations throughout the gardens, such as these 'rain sculptures'. You spin the disk and there is the sound of falling rain.
References to Aboriginal symbology are worked beautifully into the gardens. Here is the rainbow serpent in the form of a path that wends its way through a bed.
These grass trees (left) are hundreds of years old. The flowering spikes were used as spears by Aboriginal people. On the right, and below, are some of the many banksias. I think the pink fluffy flowers are a pink acacia.
The water features are imaginative and fun.
We walked about 500 m outside the garden, through the bush, to a lookout point. This is from the lookout, looking back to the garden -- you can see the red centre ...
... and we were pleased to see fauna of the hopping variety (a wallaby) and not of the slithering variety.
Well, an outing is not complete without a visit to the garden cafe. And what should we find there but two ring-tail possums, curled up in their peculiarly situated nest between window and louvre shutters? They're nocturnal (pests), so while they look jolly uncomfortable, clearly this pair has adapted to this odd home.
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