come, take a walk with me

We can look at some more of the decorations in Rundle Mall.

There's reindeer hanging in the centre,

and look at this cute little snowman twirling slowly from left to right and back again, smiling at the people.

This Santa biscuit barrel, (cookie jar), is part of a window display in Harris Scarfe.

Here's the reindeer at the entrance to David Jones department store.

Inside the store somewhere is Santa's Magic Cave.

Would you like to visit the Botanic Gardens now?

This big old peppercorn tree is right beside the entrance gate, it's one of my favourite trees.

I love how the trunks and branches get all gnarly and easy to climb.

A lionhead drinking fountain, bright red so it stands out, making it easy to find if you're thirsty.

It guards the entrance to this trellised gazebo, which has windows on all sides with nice views, and seats to rest on too.

Along a path in a different direction, we come to the Palm House.

It's been here as long as I can remember and has recently been cleaned up and tidied.

It's very warm and humid inside, so we won't stay long.

See the bushes along the front edge? Lavender. Absolutely swarming with bees. I never saw so many bees all at once before.

Steps up..

...and steps down.

Come on in.

You can feel the heat as soon as you step off the top step.

Over to the left, down at the end of the path is a man-made grotto with a waterfall constantly splashing. This helps to keep the humidity up to the level required by the plants that live in here.

Over on the other side is another small fountain, again for the humidity.

Smack in the middle, right by the steps we came down is the palm the house is named for.

See all that clear glass at the top? There used to be all kinds of plants hanging and climbing up there years ago.

Way over towards the eastern side of the gardens is one of the water features.

There are long seats directly in front of it where you can sit to rest and gaze along the length of it towards whatever that thing is down there.

Here is a prettier view of it.

Come on over towards the northern end now. The Zoo is over in that direction too, but we can't see or hear it from there.

I'll show you the hollowed out tree. I don't remember how old this is, but again it's one of the plants that I remember being here for a long time.

Little kids love to sit inside here.

Just outside the northern fence are huge moreton bay fig trees, creating lots of shade for the carpark there. Across that field of trees is the Zoo. We'll go there another day.

These big old roots are great to sit on.

Back inside the gardens, walking along a different path, back towards the North Terrace entrance we see these big roots snaking away along the ground. Another Moreton Bay Fig tree of course. We have lots of them here in Adelaide.

I hope you've enjoyed our walk. Shall we meet again another day and see some more of the gardens?

There's lots of other Adelaide sights I'd like to show you.