Royal Botanic Gardens
The gardens are right beside the Sydney Opera House and they are free. There are only 6 botanical gardens in the US that are free. I am a botanical garden enthusiast, and liberator of people of photosynthetic persuasion. I mean, why should they be stuck in one garden all their lives?
The Banyans were impressive as always. The Bamboo thickets were carved up with graffiti as always.
Follow the Germans
Maureen saw three Germans eat these berries, so she ate them. I said, “If three Germans jumped in a lake would you jump in after them?” She is still alive so I guess the Germans were right. They are actually Balloon Berries from Japan.
Fern Gulley
It was really too bad that it started to rain. There was so much of the gardens that we didn’t get to see. For instance, we wanted to walk out to Mrs. Macquarie’s chair, but it was just too wet.
Elizabeth Henrietta Macquarie of Airds (1778-1835)
She was the governor’s wife and she used to sit in her chair on a point in the harbor every day. The chair was carved from Sidney sandstone by convicts. Maureen said she was depressed and didn’t even know the details. I mean Maureen didn’t know, not Mrs. Macquarie. She had her first child in 1808 who died at 3 months. Between 1809 to 1814, she had at least 7 miscarriages. Think about that. That’s only 5 years.
She finally had a son, born in Sydney, who made it into adulthood. I would also sit in a chair carved by convicts staring out to see in between miscarriages. She was very devoted to her husband who is known as the “Father of Australia”.
Governor Lachlan Macquarie worked to change Australia from a penal colony to a thriving, productive society. I read that he contracted syphilis in Egypt, but apparently a lot of people got syphilis back then. He didn’t die from that, however. He died from a bladder and kidney infection. Elizabeth died at the age of 56 on March 11, 1835 at 2 pm. I don’t know from what. I read she died from “sadness and ill health”. Really ill health will kill you that’s for sure.
The first thing I noticed when we stepped out of the train station was the preponderance of Magnolias and Sycamores.
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