2nd December 2010 - Art Gallery of NSW

Today I went with Don and the crew from New Horizons to the Art Gallery of NSW. We weren't there long but we got to see some interesting things.

Auguste Rodin (France) - Second Maquette for the Burghers of Calais

That me, or course standing to the left of this sculpture.

From the collection 'First Emperor: China's entombed Warriors Exibition

From the collection 'First Emperor: China's entombed Warriors Exibition

Cy Twombly - 'Three studies from the Temeraire'

'A closer winter tunnel' by David Hockney

Tom Roberts - 'The Golden Fleece'

Frederick McCubbin - 'On The Wallaby Track'

One of the many halls where valuable collections hang.

A collection of Jingdezhen ware from China

Unknown Japanese china plate

Unknown Artists - 'Tara' and 'Avalokiteshvara' (both 10th century)
& 'Hampatong' (late 19th century)

It was an interesting visit but you need more than an hour to see everything properly!

9th Novermber 2010 - Kuring-gai Wildflower Park

Today we went to the Kuring-gai Wild Flower Park on Monavale Road at St Ives.
There weren't many wild flowers but it was a relaxing and
interesting walk nevertheless.

There are some beautiful parks and places to relax as well as BBQ areas for

families to picnic.

Even though it is on a major road, it feels quite secluded and private.

You can't hear traffic noises at all.

There weren't a lot of wild flowers out but this Bottlebrush was quite stunning!

It was also interesting seeing all the different fungi as well. Don helped me take

photos and showed me how to use the features on my camera

It made it a bit easier to get reasonable shots.

I thought this dried out Bansia flower was very interesting

and this little flower bush gave colour to the surrounding bushland.

There were quite a few fern trees in the park and we could see new growth coming.

Huge Fern Trees looked surreal with their furry stems as the sun shone through.

Stag Ferns are native to Australia and ther were plenty of them in the park.

Smaller creeper and Ferns clung to older trees and wound their way up the trunk.

This white flower with the purple centre looked lonely but accentuated the bush

behind it.

This is a Grevillea, a native of Australia

Every now and again we would see some colour spotted throughout the bush.

We had finished our walk through and followed the path back to the car.
This might certainly be a place to come in the spring with the hope of more wild flowers.

12th October 2010 - Lisgar Gardens, Hornsby

Today I went to Hornsby and visited Lisgar Gardens, a hidden secret of the upper North Shore of Sydney.

This is a beautiful, well kept garden with lawns and flowerbeds

Stone pathways and stone walls

Near the entrance is a waterfall

and inside is a gazebo with a lot of ferns and a very large fish pond.

We weren't allowed to feed the fish but that didn't stop them from coming up

to see what we might have for them.

The pathways stretched throughout the gardens and occasionally we would see an old

fashioned lamp.

The ferns and moss looked stunning

and the garden is left as natural as possible.

Wood and stone is used to fit in with the natural environment and woodchips

are used to cover the pathways.

I could spend hours here wondering through the forest and gardens

and seeing all the interesting plants and new growth such as this fern.