Water Dragon Lizards

Hi all,

It's a beautiful, sunny day!! I spent all morning and afternoon wandering around the enormous National Botanical Gardens. Those who don't like gardens (like Blayne) would find this excruciatingly boring but I found it so relaxing. And as there are poisonous snakes like the brown snake, potentially dangerous. I was a little paranoid about snakes and spiders. There was a sign warning of brown snakes and giving the advice to back away slowly from any sightings but I didn't see any snakes. I did see a lot of eastern water dragons. For such a grand name they are rather small little lizards with long tails. They like to sun themselves on rocks. I learned that they will eat almost anything and can spend 90 minutes under water. Above is a picture from the garden's website of a water dragon. I got lots of pictures of the water dragons but the parrots were too fast. They just swoop from tree to tree screaming at each other. It sounds really awful.

I spent two hours wandering around by myself and then went on a guided tour with two other Canadians, a British garden fanatic and two Aussies. The guide, Peter, pointed out which plants were used by Aboriginal peoples as food. One plant is mildly toxic/sedative to fish. Aboriginals used to throw a branch into water and then wait for the fish to become intoxicated/sedated and then retrieve them. The garden created a rainforest using an existing dry gully. They added thousands of mister sprinklers and planted fast-growing trees to add cover. The result is an enormous rainforest that replicates rainforest plants from Tasmania to Cairns. For those who are interested, there are over 600 varieties of eucalypts (eucalptus) but koalas only eat two varieties! I walked from the botanical gardens along Lake Burley Griffen where there are paths all along the lake.

Canada is definitely not getting the full Cadbury-brand line of chocolates. At a grocery store near the hotel there is an enormous line of chocolates that I've never seen in Canada or the U.S.: Jamaican rum and raisin, Turkish delight, lemon cheesecake, bosenberry shortcake, and creme brulee. Some may know my obsession with a finding good no-fat, no-sugar yoghurts. Australia has some pretty fabulous yoghurt selection: peach cheesecake, mango tiramisu and berry brulee.

I'm off to find somewhere interesting for dinner. I did find a good wine-bar with wine flights.