Arboretum

Once a week for the duration of Floriade the new National Arboretum is open to the public. Now arboretums don't grow overnight so the site is probably of limited interest from a tourism perspective at the moment, but I think it's a wonderful idea and it was great having the opportunity to see it up close, especially on such a beautiful spring day. It was the first day I felt warm enough in just a shirt. Canberra has a history of experimental plantings and the most advanced trees in the Arboretum are the cork oaks and Himalayan cedars planted in Canberra's early years. All the other trees were planted from 2005 onwards.

We started with a walk into the cork oak plantation. This part of the site we had visited before, on one of the occasional open days when the cork is harvested by cork strippers from Portugal.

We then drove up one of the hills to the car park near the sculpture which was installed earlier this year. It's quite intriguing.

Viewed from the right angle the jumble of rust coloured steel spells out a phrase. The brown land was too wide so I couldn't quite fit it all in without walking further down the hill, and as I'd already twisted my knee in the cork oak plantation trying to find the source of the birdsong I didn't want to walk too far.

We then drove across to the temporary building which had an information display and free coffee, as well as more panoramic views of the site and the city in the distance.

We then finished the circuit and left the Arboretum....

....making our way home past the lake, where tourist boats and yachts big and small were making the most of the lovely day.