Sydney’s Royal Botanical Gardens will be more familiar to you when I tell you it’s the big park on the bay behind the Opera House. Most visitors to Sydney will take a stroll past the House beside the ancient looking sandstone wall that marks the edge of the harbour and admire the old sprawling Moreton Bay Figs which have roots that grow down from their branches to help them spread outwards, and hear and smell the flying foxes, locals call them fruit bats, who have colonised the park.

The bats cover the trees like odd tear drop fruits by day but in the evenings their chattering fills the air and when they begin to take off for the night it’s like a scene from a horror film, legions of bats flapping their wings and flying in a flock.

A botanical garden in more than name there are interesting collections of species here, displayed in green houses, herbariums and a huge glass pyramid.

Outdoor spaces are better than indoor ones in the Sydney summer and an outdoor cinema, theatre and a performance space are added to the gardens attraction in the summer.

Written by  Kat Mackintosh.

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