Adelaide Botanic Gardens - Park Life 2

4th October, 2010 - For those that have been following - and are interested - it would seem that the worst of L-kun's cold is over. His first night not having a 38+ temperature in about a week. Mummy and Daddy are still recording 37+ degrees, so we're not fully over our Spring-time cold either. 

Well, now for the second part of our trip to the Botanic Gardens was a slightly unusual combination of relaxation and running around. There was enough time to sit down and grab a drink... and contemplate all those things that are worth contemplating. Like what's for dinner...

Adelaide has had a strained relationship with water over the last few years. Like many parts of Australia, Adelaide has been in drought... which has lead to many water restrictions (e.g. can only water gardens with a water hose 1 evening per week etc). As a result a lot of plants have died - and especially a lot of the big old trees - but it has also meant a lot of hard times for water-features which were either neglected or stopped altogether... Thankfully the drought has at least temporarily lifted here... and we're almost back to normal rainfall. This fountain was a legacy from an earlier time... but makes for a focus in the herb and vegetable garden section... which is known as the Economic Garden.

But the Adelaide Botanic Gardens have by and large lived through the drought without too many troubles (although I'm sure the staff would disagree).

Moreton Bay Fig

And it remains a small escape into a green verdant microworld in a sometimes dry land.

Speaking of all things drought related...the tree below stores water in its trunk

during the wet season to help it survive the dry season. Bottle Trees (from monsoonal Queensland) are also drought deciduous - a good thing in a Adelaide -  which allows them to lose their leaves as a water saving mechanism... overall not a good move for a tree, but perhaps the difference between life and death when it's really dry. The tree can literally be used as a bottle, by cutting into the tree the water can be squeezed out... and the wood fibre has also been used as cattle fodder in hard times as well. Quite a versatile tree.

The Bottle Tree

I was a bit surprised to see how prevalent the clivia was in the botanic gardens, especially (as I mentioned earlier) they're actually native of South Africa... from the Natal province. They've a strong yet beautiful colour.... very exotic. I might have to see if I can grow some for our yard...

Now... of course it wouldn't be a grand old colonial garden without a suitably colonial building... with a grandiosely colonial name... The Museum of Economic Botany. Where do I buy tickets! It continues to be a working museum of all things agricultural, and has exhibits that are 140 years old. This museum emphasizes the importance plants have played in the development and sustainment of the South Australian State.

There weren't too many things in bloom at this time... but when they were, they were doing it in style.

One of the feature exhibits within the Garden is the Bicentennial Conservatory that was opened in 1989... This  modern take on a glass house is largest single span conservatory in the Southern Hemisphere. We Australians love having the biggest anything... but if you grab a globe you'll realise that there aren't that many countries in the Southern Hemisphere at all (no offence to our brothers and sisters in New Zealand and South Africa).

But no time to look in on the tropical delights... That will have to keep for another trip.

One of the reasons we had come here today was to have a look at the International Rose Garden... Hmmm, I'd say we might have been a tad bit too little early. By about 2 weeks. I'll post about a return visit shortly... because when it's in bloom, it's a quite spectacular

There's a number of sculptures in the botanic garden - this glass and water sculpture is one of the more interesting ones. Hard to photograph though on a sunny day in part shade.

Hello there (blurry) T-chan and L-kun!

Of course most glass isn't colourless, and if you have enough of it, you see the beautifully deep colours comes through. These glass layers are about 1-2 m thick in parts. I love glass as a sculpture material - but I haven't seen it used in this way before.

And whilst Adelaide is not the first place you would think of when you mention "bamboo" there is a strong connection now.... From last year, Adelaide has been the host of two Chinese Giant Panda (Wang Wang and Funi) just down the road at Adelaide Zoo. We'll meet them some time in the near future I am sure. As a result there's been a general call put out for anyone to help by donating their bamboo to feed their insatiable appetites!... I wonder if the Botanic Garden have a nice little spin-off business going here.

So we've pretty well finished the tour ... the sun had been starting to go down and the air was getting cool again. The Park Life concert was just starting to warm up however, and the deep, vibrant beats echoed through the park. It may be Spring, but the October nights in Adelaide can be quite cold.

The Botanic Gardens are free to enter, and right in the heart of the city. It's a great place to unwind during the day,  or take the family for a run around. It may not be #1 on a list of things to do for visitors, but combined with a trip to the Zoo, it makes for a great day out (weather permitting).

Adelaide Botanic Garden - Park Life Part 1

4th October, 2010 - Well, we're still suffering from our "Spring cold" - this is the fourth day L-kun's had a 39+ degC temperature at night. As a result, I thought I'd post something that was bright and colourful.... About 3-4 weeks ago we looking for something to do...  It was a public holiday monday (Labour Day) - and we were originally going to go up for a drive to the Adelaide Hills. As the day passed by we just couldn't get our act together. Looking to salvage the afternoon and still get out and enjoy the good weather, we went to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens in the city instead. We got to the city... hmmm there seemed to be a lot of young people enjoying the gardens. An awful lot of young people.

It was then that we saw the sign advertising the Park Life 2010 dance concert that makes it's way around Australia every Spring. Depending on how you look at it, we either chose a very good day to come (and hear the music for free) or a very bad day (no quiet strolls through the garden today!). All in all it was amazing that we got a car park only 60m from the front gate of the gardens. Sometimes you know that you're just lucky.

North Terrace entrance to the Botanic Gardens

Still L-kun had a few more years to enjoy being part of the youth culture. I wonder what the world will be like when he's 20? I'm sure by that stage spending time with his parents will be far from his thoughts. Even now he was more concerned about checking out the dental hygiene of the garden's guardian dog statues... actually they kind of reminded me of the komainu or Japanese guard dogs that appear in shrines.

Now I have to admit that whilst we've got a reasonable sized modern suburban garden (at least by Adelaide standards), I am by no means a gardener. It's all I can do to not kill things. I succeed sometimes. I say this as a way of prefacing this post with a plea... don't ask me any botanical questions. Onegaishimasu.

I had been expecting the botanic gardens to be replete with beautiful colours... however, most of the gardens plants are not the spring-bloom variety (with the exception of the rose garden... but I'll get to that shortly). The  Adelaide Botanic Garden has been going for about 153 years now (first opened in 1857). When you consider that South Australia was only founded (as a European colony) in 1836... it's not doing too badly.

Clivia... native from South Africa... Not South Australia

One of the signature buildings within the Adelaide Botanic Gardens is the Old Palm House; a giant and elaborate hot house. The building was actually designed Gustav Runge in Bremen, Germany; this particular one was transported to South Australia and assembled in 1876. I can't imagine the scene of Adelaide back then...  They were already establishing the image of their European lives here on the other side of the planet, only 30 years after Europeans first set foot on their new colony.

The Palm House

And why, I hear you ask, is it referred to as the (Old) Palm House? Well, simply put... those colonials were not an imaginative lot. So if they called it a Palm House, then it jolly well better have a palm in it. And true to their word - that's exactly what they did.

Inside the Palm House

The only odd thing about this... is well... you don't need hot houses to grow palms in Adelaide's climate... so the whole thing was kind of redundant. Someone clearly had a good sales-pitch in ol' Bremen Town (where it clearly was too cold to grow palms without a hot house). Still, I'm kinda glad they did bring it over, as it adds a certain oddball charm to the gardens.

One of the newer attractions of the Botanic Gardens is the Amazon Water Lily Pavilion... this glass house was opened in 2007... Over 130 years after the Palm House was erected. 

Unfortunately, we haven't become any more imaginative with our naming in those 130 years. That's right... in the Amazon Water Lily Pavilion, you'll find a giant Amazonian Water Lily. In bloom.

And they are a beautiful plant... but be prepared for some hot and sticky micro-climate in the glass-house. It's a hot old place, and I can't imagine it in the middle of summer.

I always think of icebergs when I see water lilies...and indeed much of the plant lives under the water, unknown to the world of the dry.

The water-lily leaf structures are amazing... and somewhat gruesome close up. Looks not unlike a venus fly-trap, and we half expected it to snap shut as we were watching it.

L-kun was quite into this display, and T-chan steps in for a tantalizing profile shot. Come on T-chan, smile for the camera!

Well - we were all hungry by this time... and we stopped off at the Simpson Kiosk... <please insert the Simpsons theme song into your consciousness here>. There are a few places to grab a bite to eat, or drink in the gardens... and this is definitely the low-key option. As far as food goes, it's ok... but don't expect too much, and don't expect cheap. It's nice however in that you can grab a seat under the shade, or overlooking the small artificial lake.

L-kun can be a little temperamental when it comes to food... and on this day he spotted another child eating an ice-cream. A parent's dilemma... expressed so clearly by the tear-streaked cheeks of your child. Unfortunately, the lesson that you can't always get what you want can be as much a lesson in perseverance for parents. Today we won that battle.

The good thing about children is that once you can start to change their mood, it can change very quickly... and then the clouds part and the sun's rays shine forth. Taking the shoes off and feeling the grass between your toes is one way to improve your mood. Because we live a Japanese-lifestyle at home... we have a strong sense of the inside and the outside worlds. Shoes are definitely an outside thing... so running around barefoot outside is generally not something L-kun does a lot of. But of course, all children love to run around barefoot.

That and playing a quick game of hide-and-seek with Daddy.... although I suspect that he may have been cheating just slightly. Peek-a-boo! (or inai inai baa! in Japanese). The fact that there was only the one large tree to hide behind didn't detract at all from the game (in L-kun's mind). The idea is simple.... hide behind the tree, and I'll pretend not to know that you're there... 

And who was I to deny my son the simple pleasures in life on this fine Spring public-holiday?

Some more simple Japanese lessons:

Dog - inu (犬)

Cold (as in having a cold) - kaze (風邪)... actually this is the same word as wind, though the kanji is slightly different as you only use 風 when talking about the wind.

Please (requesting) - onegaishimasu ( お願いします)

Park  - kouen (公園)

Garden - niwa (庭)

Spring - haru (春)

Peek-a-boo! - inai inai baa! (いないいないばあ)

Halloween Horrors... Getting a Spring Cold

Well - yesterday was Halloween (of course, you most probably knew this... as you it was Halloween where you were). However, Halloween isn't greeted in the same way all over the world. Whilst it's origins are from celtic lore (based on the tradition of Samhain... the day when the veil between this world and the next is thinnest), it has become a largely Northern American thing in the eyes of most Australians.

Now in Australia, Halloween is still seen as something of a new thing... and only in the last 2-5 years has there been a concerted push by the retailers to generate some interest in it. In the previous two Halloweens we've spent at our new home, we have only had two groups come to our door. Before that, in our old place we had never had anyone trick-or-treating.

T-chan's Halloween Puff-Pastry-Custard-Cream delights

Actually - we've all been having colds this last week... and whilst we thought we were getting over it, that doesn't seem to be the case. So whilst we were scheduled to have a day up with my family to celebrate my sister's birthday - we instead stayed home recuperating. We had however bought an easy costume for L-kun to wear to my parents house (alas... that will have to keep).

Despite the colds, L-kun wanted to dress-up in his scary costume. Hi Grandma and Grandpa!... see you soon. You better have some of your Grandma Biccies ready... or else...

Of course - rubber masks can lose their appeal after not very long...

And our sweet little angel appears again...

But what's this... it was all just an illusion to let our defences down... and now the blood-letting can begin in earnest. "I want to drink your blood... and orenji juusu, choudai" (orenji juusu = orange juice...obviously, choudai = please).

As the afternoon turned to night... a knocking could be heard at the door. Who could that be?.... L-kun knew something was afoot. And as the creaked open (we should really oil that thing), we were greeted by four little surprises. "Trick or Treat!"... of course the idea of tricks nowadays is pretty well a redundant thing- but luckily we had prepared some choccies just in case. L-kun loved the surprise, and loved the costumes.

Trick or Treat!

 We spent the next hour waiting for the knock at the door... and yes, there were three other groups (but these guys above won the prize). He still wanted more monsters to come visiting and we played hide-from-the-monsters for the rest of the night.

L-kun wanted more... but... unfortunately, he'll have to wait a couple more years before it becomes popular. By then he'll be out trick-or-treating himself. However - L-kun should have been a little less "excited" last night, because he came down with a strong fever and ended up sleeping with Mummy and Daddy (who didn't get much sleep last night himself). We thought we were all over the colds, but they seem to be coming back with a vengeance!

To be honest, I don't mind the Halloween fun... as long as it doesn't become too commercial. It's also fighting a growing trend for people to remove themselves away  from communities (through high fences and forbidding facades), and the fear of what people do these days... for example I'm not sure I'd be happy to give anything that wasn't individually wrapped. Still, I hope it does beat the trend, and act as one of the few bridges that brings our neighborhoods together. Actually Halloween is becoming very popular in Japan as well... the Japanese love occasions, and don't mind where they come from. Are we really so different?

Well as I write this... I'm coughing, T-chan's got a fever, and L-kun is getting over his 39.5 degC fever. It's a sick day today... but back to do some work from home (L-kun's quietly watching television, so that makes it possible).