A rehabilitated sand mine, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Cranbourne now feature over 100,000 native plants from 1900 plant varieties. In a stunning setting featuring a central desert with North South garden bed. Peter, our guide led us around the garden home to rare bandicoots, swamp rats, tiger snakes and all manner of native birds. With an encyclopedic knowledge of the plants on show Peter was able to guide us through the many landscapes representative of this giant continent in just 30 minutes seeing Gymea Lilies, Grevillea, Hibiscus, Bottle Brush, Banksia, Kangaroo Paw, Melaleuca, Wollemi Pines and some of the 900 odd Eucalypt tree species including Snow, Scribbly, Spotted, Red, Box and Ironbark gum trees. Peter's knowledge base (including Latin names) was nothing short of amazing matching the breathtaking landscapes we quietly glided past.
For lunch we headed upstairs to panoramic views of the gardens and a traditional Aussie BBQ with burgers, salad, caramelized onions and Kangaroo sausages on the menu (Poor Skippy!) washed down with a cool refreshing Lemon Myrtle drink. There's a nice gift shop here too. read more