Botanical Gardens!

So I finally made it to the Royal Botanical Gardens on July 4th weekend. I was expecting it to be big because it looks big on the map, but this place was HUGE! It had different plant and tree sections including an endangered species section as well as a rain forest section (many more - those are just to name a couple!). I literally spent a few hours walking around and looking at different plants, flowers, and trees......AND flying foxes (aka HUGE fruit bats). It is actually quite amazing to see flowers in bloom since it is quite chilly here, but I guess the plants are either very hardy or just well adapted. Either way, it was nice to see some color among the grey tall city buildings. It also made you feel like you really couldn't be in a huge city.....until you look up and see the tall buildings.
Once I got there I was thinking how great it was going to be to walk around in a peaceful place. Away from all of the people rushing here and there. Away from all of the dirtiness of the area I live in/near. I was there for maybe 2 minutes and I was just about to take some pictures of hibiscus flowers when this weird crazy guy comes from out of no where all agitated. He proceeded to tell me about how he hates the government and how they had him locked up. How he rips up the checks that they send him in the mails and then he sends them to the navy because that's where the money goes anyway. I tried to politely walk away and pretend to be really interested in the info cards next to the plants, but of course he followed. He then explained to me that the US is a trillion dollars in debt because of all the government BS that goes on there. I guess my pretending was good because after that he realized that some other people where also in the gardens and he went over to  tell him his littler rant. After that I quickly pulled out the garden map and found a path to escape to in hopes that he would not even bother looking for me again. He didn't. :-)
Besides coming in contact with the crazy guy my day was great at the gardens. I got some pics of the bats, garden life, and even some pics of the wild cockatoos. This place is definitely a place for locals to go and walk around, kids to play int he grassy areas, and for picnics. If I lived in Sydney that's what I would do here!