Adelaide Botanic Garden, Himeji Garden, Mount Lofty Summit, Mount Lofty Botanic Garden
After learning a bit about the history of the area, I headed over to the Adelaide Botanic Garden. The entrance wasn’t particularly impressive, as there wasn’t much variety of plants and trees, but it still looked nice and pretty much immediately I felt myself starting to relax and feel more at ease. Right in the beginning there was a map of the garden, but I decided to not take a look at it. Instead I just strolled around the garden, occasionally following some signs and wondering what I’d see behind the next bend in the road.
After a few minutes of walking around a nice path around the garden I reached a little greenhouse of sorts, which contained some interesting looking plants and was very hot. This was the point where I felt the garden started to display its variety of multicolor plants and became a lot more interesting.
From the little greenhouse I kept walking around, turning here and there with no particular goal in mind, simply taking in the sights. At some point I found myself in an area that was designated as a rose garden. This part of the park was not only full of color, but also full of scents, as some of the roses had quite noticeables fragrances.
And on I went, visiting different sections of the botanic garden and feeling quite pleased with the decision to go and visit it. Every now and then I came across other people, but it seemed mostly empty which suited me just fine, especially after the loud experience in the museum.
After about an hour or so, going through different paths which splitted in multiple directions, I found myself at the starting point. Not looking at the map, I had no idea how much of the garden I actually saw, and after setting off in a different direction I found myself near a little lake. I rested there for a bit before I kept walking, and not too long after that I left the botanic garden.
As it was still early in the day and I had some time left, and partly because I was curious about it, I got on the free connector bus and made my way to the Himeji Garden.
It was a lovely Japanese garden in the middle of the city, and the moment I got there I felt like I was back in Asia. As it was a small place, it didn’t take more than a few minutes to walk all around it, but it was still a beautiful and relaxing place to visit, made it the Japanese style that I have seen quite a few times, and I believe some of my enjoyment of this garden was due to a sense of familiarity.
While the gardens in Adelaide were quite nice, I wanted to see a bit more and explore the nature around the city. As I didn’t have a car, it was recommended to me to take the bus to Mount Lofty Summit and hike down from there. After getting a metro card and charging it with a bit of money (not knowing if it would be too much or too little), I caught the first two buses I needed in order to get to the summit. When it dropped me off I checked with google once more, and it seemed I needed to wait for a whole hour before the second bus would arrive, the same time that it will take me to get to the summit on foot.
There was a map nearby with a few different hiking routes, which I was quite confused by, and that has pretty much set the tone for the entire experience. I started walking toward what I believed to be the start of the trail to Mount Lofty Summit, although I wasn’t sure if I’m going in the right way. When I did get there, very quickly the path was splitting, and the signs provided very limited information. After consulting Google Maps and questioning its accuracy, I started walking with a very confused feeling.
The trail itself wasn’t difficult, without any steep angles or countless stairs, it was mostly a single dirt track, steadily and gradually going up the mountain. Once more, I felt the ambiance of the forest all around me as the birds were calling around me and the buildings were hidden from view.
It wasn’t long before I came across another split in the road, and another one, and another. With every change in the path I was getting more and more confused, wondering if I’m on the right track and why is it not marked more clearly. At some point I wondered if the colors of the small signs were supposed to tell me which way to go, but if that was the case then I completely missed out on it.
Other than that, that road was pretty unnoteworthy, with nothing interesting going on at any point. For the most part I was completely by myself, and only at a few points along the way I came across other hikers. Even after I stopped to ask one of them for directions to the summit and was ensured that I’m on the right path, I still questioned it and felt confused throughout the way.
Then, at last, I made it to the disappointing summit of Mount Lofty. The view from the top of the mountain was limited and didn’t offer much. It was mostly trees, with a bit of the city at the horizon. Since I was already there, I sat down to rest and eat lunch. While it wasn’t the best view, and the weather was a bit windy, it was still a nice place to stop and rest for a little while.
Considering where to go next, I decided to make my way over to Mount Lofty Botanic Garden. Getting down from the summit was just as confusing as getting up, although the variety of trees and different shades of green at least seemed more interesting to me.
Going from one path to the other, this time I saw no other hikers and wondered where I’ll end up. Toward the end of the path it was getting so steep that I made my way down turning sideways, slowly making my way until the ground was more or less leveled, and I had to wonder for a brief few moments if I mistakenly stepped on private property until I saw a sign for the path I needed to go on.
While it took me a while to get down from the summit, the rest of the road was pretty much paved asphalt all the way to the botanic garden, and it was a fairly easy walk.
By the time I got there it was getting a bit late in the day, and even though google said there is plenty of time, the sign on the gates said I had less than an hour to walk around the garden.
Without a map or any clear sense of direction I simply picked the first path I spotted and started walking. While the trees along the path were nice, and pretty much instantly I considered it a better stop than the Summit, it wasn’t all that special. The path had looped around and turned out to be simply the beginning of the garden. Next to it there was a car park, and a bit beyond that there were some colorful flowers that caught my eye. As I headed over there, I noticed a path that goes around a lake.
A few minutes later, that path was splitting, and I just wandered around along a few different paths, checking the time every few minutes to make sure I don’t get locked inside. The different paths had different plants, although the variety of color seemed to be focused more toward the car park near and near the lake.
As the time of closing was approaching quickly, I decided to take my leave and made the long way back to the bus station. While Mount Lofty Botanic Garden was a more enjoyable stop for me than the Summit, it still paled in comparison for the Adelaide Botanic Garden. And on top of that, due to some unfortunate altercations in the city, I started to feel a bit unsafe there, and was quite ready to move on to another place.