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Kings Park and Botanic Gardens, Western Australia

Violet
Jun 12, 2016
4 min read

New York has Central Park, Perth has Kings Park. Very cool, right? Kings Park and Botanic gardens knows as one of the largest inner-city parks in the world. It located on top of Mount Eliza, consequently, you can see the overlook of Perth city and Swan river. Kings Park is a humongous place, 400.6 hectares, and features both cultivated gardens and untamed bushland, thus, it is plenty of space to do a picnic or even barbie there sounds fascinating!

Kings Park and Botanic Garden is very easy to reach. The first way you can do is hop on Perth Green CAT bus , get off at No.16, Kings Park Road. If you aren't sure where is No.16, click here to see the Perth CAT map route. Another way is walk from the city center, it will take you around 15 minutes.

Alright, so what is in Kings Park and Botanic Garden? Good question. Botanic Gardens represents over 3,000 species of WA’s unique flora from many regions such as Rottnest and Garden islands, the Kimberley, Stirling Ranges and many more. From this point, I would like to introduce some of those unique plant species. Firstly, silver princess, "silver" on the name come from white powder that cover branches, lower buds

and fruit. This plant appears only at the south of Western Australia. The flowers colour is pinky red as you can see in the photo on the right. Blooming season is fall and winter. As you can see silver princess has very nice blossom. The good news is you can buy this plant and grow it at home! Remember, grow it in their conditions. Click here for more information about how to grow silver princess at home!

Next specie is Gija Jumulu. It is a 50-year-old boab tree, weighs 36 tonnes and stretches 14 metres high and eight metres wide (branch span). It is very massive, isn't it?! Anyhow, there is a big journey story of this boab tree. At the beginning, this tree located at Warmun, Kimberley. On July 2008, due to works on the Great Northern Highway, this tree needed a new place to stay. Fortunately, Kings Park offer a place for the boab tree. That's where the journey begins. Along the way, almost entire towns came out to see Gija Julumu and people applaused the whole way down. The boab arrived at its new home in the heart of Kings Park on Saturday, 19 July and planted on Sunday, 20 July 2008 in the Two Rivers Lookout, at the end of Forrest car park. Here is the photo of that brave boab tree.

Final specie I would like to show you is banksia menziesii or firewood banksia as it gives a useful slow burn. Fun fact about this plant is there are 77 species of banksia but one of the living banksia species are endemic to Australia. Over 90% of all banksia species occur in the Southwest of Western Australia. They are related to the Proteas of southern Africa.

Every fall and winter, the inflorescences of banksia menziesii are two tone of red or pink and yellow, besides, those colour can allure the birds. The photo is available on the left. Apart from all of those fancy plants species, anything else to do at the garden? The answer is big yes! In my opinion, the highlight of the garden is walking on Lotterywest Federation Walkway because this walk is a treetop high, further, the admirable views of the Swan River and Perth City. The State War memorial is the most honored part of the garden. It is dedicated to the 2,500 men who lost their lives in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915. On ANZAC day (the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps), more than 40,000 people visited here. The precinct comprises of the Cenotaph, Court of Contemplation, Flame of Remembrance and Pool of Reflection; with memorials to various battles, military units, prisoners of war and other groups found throughout the parklands.

Let's move on to another part, shall we? At Synergy Parkland Venues is such a perfect place for family. Located on the western side of Kings Park. The main feature here is the playground because it surrounds by water, make it look like the playground is on the island! Well, there is a path to get there, so you don't have to take a boat or anything. However, it is still pretty awesome for children! If you used to American culture like me, you will find the next thing very mind-blowing. There are free electric barbecues there. Fancy that! I couldn't believe myself when I first saw it. Isn't that great to have that in your country? Not enough, every summer, evening outdoor cinema is provided. Nothing better than this, to be honest.

Not just Synergy Parkland Venues is the only place for family. Believe it or not, they have Lotterywest Family Area Venues, where you can watch your children play tennis. Saw Avenue Picnic Area Venues, where the big open grassed areas provided. Still, more area to discover!

Last cool thing I wanna share here is, there is a restaurant called "Fraser's Restaurant" that you can order a cup of coffee and watch the amazing scenery of City of Perth and Swan river.