burning koala

It’s a really cold and dreary day here in Sydney. Rain and wind and the tempurature hovering around 14 (that’s like -85 in Fahrenheit, I think). So a good time to update the blog.

Fortunately, yesterday (Saturday) was wonderful. Bright and sunny, with a cool breeze. We decided to take a hike to Darling harbour and then get some early dinner somewhere. It’s always fun to go walking with Angela. We have great talks and lots of holding of hands. Add to that the never ending supply of people watching fodder, and you have a great day out no matter what. But as we neared the harbour I noticed that we were on the north side of the Chinese Gardens, or Chinese Gardens of Friendship as it’s known in these parts. So we decided to go there first.

The central pond in the Garden. It is filled with fast moving Koi

It’s seems that it is a common destination for wedding parties and we walked in just in front a big one. Unfortunately we walked in the direction that the wedding group was heading and it was tough to keep from getting in the way. They finally stopped at one of the many little buildings next to the central pond.

Wedding party queing up

Luckily, the wedding stopped following us so we could be a little more leisurely in our investigation of the park. It was quite beautiful and it was a great day to be there. But, since it was a great day to be there – so were about 50 other people. There is something incongruous about a Chinese Garden and tons of people. It was such a serene place, but it was impossible to lose yourself in the midst of the natural setting with all of those people milling about. Of course, we were equally guilty of annoying all the other people, so I guess it was a wash.

Here are some pictures (in no particular order) of the Garden:

Wonderful detail on the building architecture

Intricate window details

In the midst of the bamboo garden

Top of the waterfall that feeds the pond

An interesting Red Silk Cotton tree, which is the state tree of Guangdong, China. It has conical points all over the trunk and branches, much like thorns

The Pavilion of Clear View

An intricate mosaic of stones on the walkway to the pond

A wall of stone near the tea house

A group of colorful Koi. They all came running when I bent down to the water’s edge to get a picture of the white one poking his head up

Angela standing near a carved statue

A cute little statue of a reclining Buddha with a mouse on his shoulder and by his feet

The Dragon Wall. A gift from Guangdong which symbolizes freindship between Guangdong and NSW

All the photos of the garden can be viewed here.

That ended our trip to the park. Next up was the hike to Darling Harbour and home…