Hunter Valley Gardens
Hunter Valley Gardens - this is one of the main tourist attractions in New South Wales, according to attendance, it takes 6th place in Australia and attracts more than 2.5 million people annually.
The garden was opened relatively recently, in 2005, but in such a short time the garden managed to enter the world elite of landscape design works and gain great popularity among tourists.
For more than four years, 50 landscape designers and gardeners have worked to create this flowering and fragrant miracle, where the east flows smoothly into the west, and the fairy tale intertwines with the past.
Hunter Valley Gardens are located on more than 60 hectares (this is an area of about 6 football fields), which can only be bypassed in 3-4 hours.
Walking along the walkways with a total length of about 8 km, visitors can not only enjoy the views of unique plants, but also enjoy the aromas of rare varieties of flowers and birdsong, as well as dine in one of the local restaurants.
These are as many as 10 thematic gardens of completely different styles, nevertheless harmoniously existing together and smoothly transitioning into each other.
The Oriental Garden has created an atmosphere of harmony, balance and tranquility, characteristic of the Japanese style. Here they found a home for azaleas, camellias, magnolias, lotuses and orange jasmines, which are unusually popular in Sydney as a living fence. Having a rest in the hospitable shadow of a two-story pagoda, you can leisurely go to the embodiment of oriental tranquility - a small lake.
On the banks of this picturesque Walking Lake there is a chapel where you can stroll under the canopy of weeping willows, enjoy the birdsong and admire the flowering of seasonal annual plants. It is especially beautiful here in September and October. Such a favorable atmosphere attracts numerous wedding ceremonies here.
The next course is the Italian Grotto, which shelters the statue of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment. On the way to the grotto, visitors pass by 4 horses - figures from shorn shrubs, symbolizing 4 years of difficult work on creating a park of gardens. Near the grotto, rosemary and pink wisteria, cascading geraniums and pelargonium are fragrant; they give grace coolness to laurel trees, olives and citrus fruits.
Nearby, surrounded by ficus Hillie, there is a magnificent flower garden with neat paths between symmetrical parterres, alleys and evenly trimmed bushes, fountains from Indian marble and statues from Italian white polished marble representing the seasons. This is a framed garden, representing a regular style with its geometrically verified forms and elegant layout, which are best appreciated from the observation deck.
The Garden of Fairy Tales with the heroes of children's fairy tales and poems enjoys particular success: Alice in Wonderland, baby Willy Winky, Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, Georgie Porjee and others. Even the toilet is in the form of a gingerbread house.
Further, the path leads to the observation deck of the Sunken Garden, which is a gazebo for relaxing with tables and chairs on top of a ten-meter waterfall. The gazebo offers magnificent views of many evergreen and deciduous plants, shrubs and hundreds of rose bushes blooming year-round.
Visitors can plunge into the oriental flavor in the Chinese Garden. Despite its small size, it shows real miracles for the mass disappearance of people in it. This is facilitated by very dense thickets of bamboo. Around the bend of the gravel path passing by the Lunar Gate, a special world opens up for them with an amazing oriental atmosphere, which gives calm solitude and detachment. It turns out that in this garden there are also camellia shrubs, mulberry and persimmon trees, as well as ginkgo and kumquat.
Passing through the green twisted gate guarded by ancient Indian bronze elephants (an antique relic of 180 years old), visitors find themselves in the Indian mosaic park filled with spicy aromas, where they are welcomed by the Lake Tea House - a wooden arbor of tranquility and silence.
The royal culture of European parks is transmitted by the English Garden with artfully trimmed lawns, along the perimeter of which boxwood trees, Manchu pears and evergreen magnolias are planted.
And the Rose Garden captivates with a variety of 150 varieties of these beautiful flowers, represented by flower beds with more than 8000 bushes, which are best admired from any of the four pergolas located around the perimeter. It is unbearably hot in summer, and gazebo twined with plants with cool shade are very useful for visitors.
In the middle of the garden is located Grandma’s Garden - a sculptural composition of bronze representing the grandmother and her 12 grandchildren frolic in nature.
Hunter Valley is one of Australia's largest river valleys, where nature itself has created ideal conditions for winemaking. The valley has a subtropical climate, but with a very strong marine influence, adding additional moisture to it.
The oldest vineyards, growing under the hot sun on favorable soil, have been giving their unique taste to the dry wines made here for more than 200 years. In February, connoisseurs from around the world gather at the festival of young Australian wine to directly participate in the grape harvest, the process of preparation and tasting.
Several other unusual festivals are held here annually, among which are, for example, the “Rose Festival” or the “Carnival of Christmas bulbs”. By the way, New Year's garlands hang on trees all year round, although they are included only in december.
Especially crowded here in early October, when the Australian spring is in full swing and the amazing flowering of apple trees, plums and wisteria begins.
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