Lyndoch Hill -- and 30,000 roses

Two hours' drive north of Adelaide is one of the great joys of this part of the country, a rose garden opened officially by the Queen in 2002. For rose lovers -- like Dave and myself -- it's a treat that money couldn't actually buy, yet it's free for the strolling through! Imagine 22 hectares of walking paths through garden-like woodland, planted in with 30,000 roses bushes and trees; and at any one time, around twenty percent of them will be in full bloom...

The rose garden is associated with Barossa Chateau Estate, which offers a cellar door, massive gift store, and restaurant. Lyndoch Hill also offers motel-style accommodation. Staying there would be another treat: imagine waking up on the skirts of 22 hectares of roses!

The garden is about three minutes up the road from the town of Lyndoch, which was settled c. 1840 by German immigrants, after having been surveyed and named by Colonel William Light, who pitched camp in the area where Burge Family Estates now stands. The town is still quite small, with under 2,000 residents; but you'll find German-style pubs, bakeries, cafes and stores ... not to mention the surrounding vineyards, most of which offer cellar doors, wine tasting, and some of the best wines in the country ... uh, the world.

But, wines and fine food apart, it really is the roses that one goes to Lyndoch Hill for ... at least if you love them, as we do. If you've ever browsed through a gardening catalog and seen these plants advertised, you'll know some of the exotic names of the blooms. Many are not the kind you could expect to see in suburban gardens, but you'll see them all here --

Dozens of paths twist this way and that, not quite randomly, giving the impression that the gardens are, in fact, much larger than 22 hectares. You could walk for hours -- and will, if you want to see everything. Statuary, benches, pergolas, hide away in unexpected nooks; oriental-style bridges span tiny watercourses which are dry most of the year ... parrots, whistlers, fairy wrens and a myriad native birds thrive in the woodland while vineyards stretch away beyond the periphery of the gardens, like vast green lakes. But it's all about the roses, really. So here we go:

Tropics in the Chill: The Sunderland Winter Gardens

Over many years I travelled from Australia to the UK to attend conferences at the University of Sunderland, and as a passionate photographer I recorded everywhere I went. There are a great many stories to be told from these journeys and I’m delighted to join Meander to the Max to have the chance to tell them, and to present some of the best of my images.

The first place I’d like to touch down is a very impressive attraction in the city of Sunderland. Sunderland, at the mouth of the River Wear on the northeast coast of Britain, is one of the old industrial cities, a major centre of shipbuilding in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, an exporter of coal and other products in the time of empire. I’ve heard it called a “cold, grey sort of city” and that’s true enough at the time of year I was visiting (the conference was always in November, within weeks of snow typically arriving) but I always found it a very friendly and welcoming place.

Stairs invite one into the green heights.

The town centre, characterised by the Wearmouth Bridge, features a number of old civic institutions, among them Sunderland Museum (Burdon Rd, Sunderland SR1 1PP, UK), behind which you find Mowbray Park and the University. But attached to the Museum is the Winter Gardens, an amazing glass domed conservatory in which tropical trees and plants thrive all year round in controlled conditions.

The Museum has occupied this site since 1879, and the original Winter Gardens were built at that time. They were badly damaged during the Second World War and subsequently demolished, with a new structure in the 1960s occupying the site. However, the present structure was built after lottery-based funding came available in 2001, and the tropical house has been recreated in a modern incarnation that is truly remarkable, both for its sheer size and the variety of tropical species contained.

You can forget you're inside a building!

The exterior view at the head of the article shows the life-size bronze walrus that dominates the banks of the ornamental pool that is thronged with birdlife, including the seagulls seen here.

I visited on my UK foray of 2011, taking in the Museum and Mowbray Park on the same day, but those are worth separate posts at some point. I recall the most impressive aspect being the sense of separation from the outside world – the chilly, grey north-eastern weather was abruptly denied by the humid warmth of the forest dome, and one could wander the elevated walkways among palm and vine, look down into a fish pond, and generally appreciate a feeling more like Australia than England.

Stainless steel and aluminium form a sterile touch of the outside world among a veritable jungle.

A very nice café can be found by the entry way, and I recall spending an easy half hour with hot chocolate, contemplating this bubble of the tropics. Not since prehistoric times have such species flourished in this part of the world, and the Victorian skill at glass construction – epitomised by the ill-fated Crystal Palace – brought the life and atmosphere of tropic climes to decidedly temperate latitudes.

For more information, see:

The Museum's Wikipedia entry

See It Do It Sunderland

Things to Do

The Museum's Facebook page

I look forward to further posts, so I hope you’ll meander with me as I explore England and look back on the sights and experiences of getting there and getting back.

Mike Adamson

Kong could appear from among those leaves!

You're a long way up!

It's a memorable view among the steamy airs.

The actual dome and the grey British sky.

Shades of Green: Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens in early summer

Mount Lofty Botanic Garden in early December ... how green it is! 2013 was an anomalous year, so cool and wet.

Starting the easy hike clockwise: the view out over the water catchment dam...

...and to give you a sense of where you are ... the map! Notice the big red "You Are Here" icon.

Halfway along the catchment lake. Look at those water levels, in December!

This was just about the first really warm/hot day of the season...

...step into the shade, and the temperature instantly  fell ten degrees C. Nice!

Down by the "duck pond," with its lily pads and ferns and iris.

Not to mention the alien vegetation that has snuck in here!

Moorhens ... they call this the "duck pond" for a good reason. 

The walk takes you right around the pond, up by the rhododendron gully --

...shady here, cooler, with Seriously Odd Trees. Anyone know what they are??

And though it was hot, a glance at the sky shows that the weather's about to change.

Beyond the pond, at the lowest point in the park is the Bog Garden.

If the rest of the gardens were lush, you know how the Bog Garden was!

Tiny lizards -- baby blue tongues -- were scampering around the rocks -- too fast to photograph!

From the bog garden you climb up steeply, and suddenly you're looking down on the pond.
Catch your breath here before pressing on...

The flowering trees are so beautiful. Ker-choo!

Did we say, shades of green? Don't think we're ever seen Mount Lofty Gardens this green!

Everything was in bloom, in fact, except for --

The roses. Alas, these were almost the only roses blooming. We arrived
about a week after every bush had been hard-pruned. Darn.

Heading back down toward the parking lot ... Dave's sharp eyes spotted this guy:
a wild kangaroo taking a nap in the early afternoon shade.

The hike back takes you to the other side of the catchment dam, and across it...

One black swan seems to live on the dam. This is so odd, because swans always come in pairs ...
they also mate for life. We've seen this swan alone here since 2006. Did he lose his mate? It's a little sad.

Back on the low side of the lake: hang a left for the parking lot --

Hey, the Millennium Possum waited for us! (Either that, or it made it back in the nick of time...)
And we'd worked up an appetite by now. Anyone for lunch?!

Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens is one of those little patches of paradise. It's been open to the public for about 35 years -- something like 250 acres of trees and shrubs from around the world, from the magnolias that bloom in August to the rhododendrons that run amok in October, to the deciduous trees that change color on the Australian fall, say April and May -- and we'll revisit the park soon to share those images.

This trip was one of those "Where haven't we been in eons?" outings ... and in fact, we hadn't been to this particular park in three or four years. Other parks, gardens, national parks -- sure; but this botanic garden is perched almost right at the highest point of the Mount Lofty Ranges.

We were lucky with the weather: it changing that very afternoon, heading back into showers and gray skies, but it held together ... hot, bright, dry ... while we did the whole "easy" hike, clockwise around the park. There's a lot more to the  Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens than what you see here, but unless you're a mountain goat, you might think twice about it!

So, here you have December 11, 2013 ... and for contrast we just have to give you a link. One of the most beautiful travel/photo/adventure blogs on the web is "Jill Outside," which used to be called "Arctic Glass" when Jill Homer lived and worked in Juneau, Alaska. She's not in AK any longer, but all the Alaskan posts are still there in the early part of the blog ... and on December 11, 2009, she posted "There's no way to write it down," a picture essay depicting the Blackberry Ridge area. Contrast? Same day, albeit in different years.

From other years, we have the images of the magnolias (August -- winter), the rhododendrons (October -- spring), and the fall colors (April or May -- autumn), and we'll come back to  Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens in future posts and share them.