Let's Go! Australia Part II

Here's the second half of our trip to Australia. This time let's visit some places around Sydney and then head north to Clifton Beach near Cairns on the Great Barrier Reef. As they say down under, "She'll be apples!"

 First up, a few sights around Sydney.

 Just some gorgeousness in Cooper's Park in the Woollahra neighborhood.

 Near The Rocks, by the water. The Rocks is Sydney's oldest area. 

 Isn't this cool? A whole succulent tree!

 Here's the whole thing.

 Out for a walk we spied this lovely vertical garden.

And this lovely, too. Kind of pricey?

Now let's go to the Chinese Garden in Darling Harbor. It's called the Chinese Garden of Friendship and is really wonderful. Not too many people which, in a big touristy city like Sydney, was a welcome break.

 The Moon Gate.

 These photos speak for themselves.

 Love that beautiful blue Sydney sky on the day after Christmas Day, Boxing Day!

 Now, let's take a look at northern Queensland on the Great Barrier Reef, much more tropical and easy-breezy.  I know very little about tropicals so I shall keep quiet and let you enjoy and dream a little.

 This is Clifton Beach, just across the street from our hotel. The actual Great Barrier Reef is off in the distance. For the record, that is the Coral Sea.

 Plants in the hotel garden.

 Again, Clifton Beach. Probably 80 degrees and hardly a soul in sight. Nice. In the water, though, we had to watch for blue bottle jellyfish. No fun. You get zapped by one of those and you will spend your vacation in hospital.

 No idea what this is, but we loved it. Anyone?

 Hotel gardens again.

 Clifton Beach is really a neighborhood community. Houses up and down the cute little streets embrace foliage and have some wonderful tropicals. Here a row of palms welcomes passers-by. Clifton Beach is north of the city of Cairns, which is the hub of tourist activities for the northern reef area. Plus, access to the Daintree Rain Forest is just north of here. We like Clifton Beach because it feels like our OZ home.

 Here someone made great use of another wheel barrow - it also looks like they just got back from a nursery! (familiar black pots...)

 Lovely Hibiscus. These were everywhere.

 This is a Norfolk Island pine, which is native to Norfolk Island, an island out in the Coral Sea between Australia and New Zealand. It used to be a prison island, which is weird because Australia was first settled as a prison. Anyway, the Norfolk Island pines are lovely and they line one of our favorite beaches, Manly Beach in Sydney.

 The Bush! Haha..well, kind of. There are crocodiles in there, just yards from the beach. We did not see any, which is a good thing. You don't want to mess with the salties.

 How cool! I want this kind of tree house.

Another neighborhood garden.

And thus ends our tour of Australia and a ton of sun. We've been lucky to have traveled as much as we have and we count ourselves blessed to have friends across the sea. We are most happy to share our foliage adventures, and if anyone ever wanted to go to Australia, I say GO GO GO!. The people are warm and personable, the climate can't be beat, the ocean is gorgeous, and so are the plants. Happy travels! G'day and fair dinkum!