Chris and I took advantage of a few of the free tours in Melbourne, including tours of the Fitzroy and Royal Botanical Gardens. Melbourne proudly declares itself the 'Garden City' of Australia so we couldn't wait to explore some of its famous gardens.
The Fitzroy Gardens border the Central Business District are one of the major landscaped gardens of the Victorian era. We learned that when the settlers first came to Australia, they soon became tired of what they saw as a dry, barren and ugly landscape. To help cure their homesickness and bring a dose of Europe to Oz, the Victorians created gardens just like this one which remain beautiful today.
The gardens come with their problems however. For example, the Europeans insisted on bringing a multitude of trees from home, including Elms among many others. Such trees were home to diseases and beetles that Australian trees had never known before. We also learned why there are plastic bands around certain tree trunks - this is to discourage possums from living in the trees as they destroy them. Every few months they rotate the bands so that different trees get a chance to rest but the possums can still climb the trees.
The Royal Botanic Gardens are world renowned and are regarded
as among the best in the world. Huge, at 87 acres, these gardens
are home to over 10 000 individual species!
Our tour guide, a spritely man in his 80s, gave daily tours
completely voluntarily - such a lovely man and so
passionate about the gardens.
We packed a picnic of cheese (and dorrito!) sandwiches
with a splash of wine especially to enjoy at the Botanic Gardens
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