Description: Sydney's Botanic Gardens form an over sixty acres oasis of peace and greenery in the heart of the urban bustle of Sydney. Right next to the city's Central Business District, near the Circular Quay and a stone's throw from the state Art Gallery and Library of New South Wales.
The Gardens were officially founded in 1816, as an extension of the Governor's Domain which was originally a farm (in fact, the first farm in Australia) and then an area of parkland created in the late 1780's in order to separate the Governor and his mansion from the convicts in the penal colony. The purpose of the Gardens as a scientific research institution dedicated to collecting and study of plants dates to the arrival of Charles Fraser, Colonial Botanist and Superintendent who was appointed to his function in 1817 and in 1819 created a botanic garden area sensu stricte. Public access was effectively allowed in 1831, although for many years afterwards rules regulated who and what conditions could enter the Gardens.
Nowadays the Gardens are still walled and gated but open to everybody during the daylight hours and visitors are not only welcomed but even encouraged to walk on grass and hug trees. For most people the Royal Botanic Gardens are an enchanting park, with a variety of areas devoted to plants of different origins and a number of art works, water features and some fantastic views. The Gardens are, after all, located on one of the truly prime spots in Sydney, overlooking the Harbour at Farm Cove and with a variety of vistas, of which the most famous is probably the one extending from the Mrs Macquarie's Point and Chair, but equally good views can be had from the area near the Main Pond too.
The Royal Botanic Gardens have over ten thousand plant species on display, as well as a number of animals living in the green oasis, from rare butterflies to over twenty thousand of grey-headed Flying Foxes (Fruit Bats) who are actually causing damage to the plants and are apparently going to be resettled.
There are numerous water features, from ponds to fountains, as well as a Gardens Shop, restaurant, cafe, toilets, free guided tours as well as a (charged for) a greenhouse with a Tropical Centre. There is a small road train that runs around the Gardens (as most such things in Australia it seems ridiculously expensive at 10 AUD per adult).
We visited the Gardens one winter afternoon, after spending a morning looking at paintings in the New South Wales Art Gallery nearby across the Domain. Being Sydney, winter was rather sunny and warm by most standards, and we had a pleasant time walking about among the trees and sitting on the lawns. Joggers and other exercise fanatics that seem to infest many public green spaces in Australia were mercifully mostly absent, though I am told they like to use the Mrs Macquarie's road, and we enjoyed the plants, the peace and the views, both towards the harbour and to the CBD which rises in a wall of skyscrapers above the Gardens' wall.
I wouldn't say that the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney are a 100% must-see tourist sight in the city: I would not include them on a two-day plan for example. But the area is a very pleasant one to relax after a morning of pounding the streets or seeing indoor attractions and the combination of beautiful parkland, historical connections and fabulous views make it one of the nicest places in the centre of Sydney, and as many locals agree with this assessment and retire here to eat lunch, rest on the grass or even indulge in the jogging mania, visiting the Royal Botanic Gardens will give you one of the best insights into Sydneysiders' lives now and into how the ideas of past and present connect and influence each other in this vibrant city.
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