Visit Australia

[Cedric]

Tassie is a bit cold and wet right now? A good bet for later in the year...... February maybe? It's a remarkable place its true.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Thanks for your kind words Bob !

Yes January - April is the perfect time to come down - no rain and mild temperatures !

[Tropicgardener]

If Robbins reaction to the cold spell we had at the time of his visit was anything to go by (he was saying it was hot), I don't think that he would find even a Tasmanian winter too unpleasant

[Exotic Life]

Lol... temperatures below 20 degrees are cool for me as well. I really liked the weather/temperatures till brisbane/gold coast to explore australia. However i mostly weared a sweather or jacket during the evening as well. Since brisbane/gold coast no shorts and t shirts anymore... or sometimes a t shirt with a sweat her or jacket on. I am in Sydney now and it is mostly cool/cold to me as well, specially on rainy days.

I am thinking to go back up again for a few weeks before going to Melbourne to enjoy some warmer weather, my hands are too much often cold and I don't really have lots of warm clothes with me. Other option is just go and have the colder weather for a while but take some warmer weather before going home. Need to think about that in the next few days.

[Exotic Life]

So Robbin has made his way from Cairns down to Brisbane and I caught up with him a couple of times this weekend and showed him some local sights.

Yesterday was a quick look around Palms For Brisbane Nursery, today was a trip to Mt Coottha lookout and a walk around the botanic gardens there. Even though these gardens are 15 minutes from my house I have not walked around those gardens for over 10 years, I was very impressed with the palm variety and specimens there!! I will be back there for another look very soon!

After Mt Coottha he came to my garden for a look,a feed and a xxxx (local beer) then I found him some local wild kangaroos that he could get up close to for a photo opportunity. Robbin seemed happy to see live roos rather than the dead ones on the side of the highway.

Pleasure to meet you Robbin, I hope you enjoyed the little tour

Late respons but thanks again and it have been a great pleasure to meet you as well. Good luck with the business and being a dad soon.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Exotic Life

[Exotic Life]

Hi all,

Just a quick update.

I have been travelling for awhile now and really enjoyed every day so far. Few weeks ago I had the pleasure to meet Bruce in Sydney and his jungle garden from Chamaedorea and rhapsis. Afterwards I travelled all the way to Melbourne to meet someone from my old work, watching the pinguïns, driving the great ocean road and of course brought a visit to the botanic gardens. I was really impressed what those guys can grow there, and did not expect to see a Bismarckia happy growing for example.

After Melbourne I returned to Sydney again. Last weekend there was a party called defqon which is dutch from origin. This music scene is very popular in the Netherlands for so many years and dutch people just love it. There were hundreds of Dutch people presenting which was fun because almost everyone was wearing orange.

I stayed another few days in Sydney afterwards and had the pleasure to meet Colin. After a scenic train ride to Wollongong he showed me a new palm part in the botanic gardens over there. Colin pushed so much effort in this, so even now when most of the Palms were still small it looks very promising.

After this garden we went back to the Sydney botanic gardens where Colin arranged a behind the scenes tour for me. If I remember it well I met there the owner and also the head botanical horticulturist. The Palms in the garden itselfses looks great of course but the ones waiting behind the scenes were even more impressive. There were so much species, a very big Chamaedorea collection and they were all in amazing healthy conditions!

I have much more photos from this and of course my whole trip but I will post them in a new treat when I am back home. Right now I made it to Tasmania where I am going to meet and spend some time with Troy this weekend. It looks like that Troy will unfornately the last palmtalk member from Australia which I am going to meet. Going home a few weeks earlier and if I can get everything arranged on time I will spend my last few weeks in Thailand.

However..... I am not finished with australia after this trip and will come back to see some more and meet some more of you people!

[Kennybenjamin]

Good on you Robbin! Colin is "the man" in that part of the world and I'm glad you got to see the effort he puts in for those gardens!

I look forward to seeing all your pics once you get home and sort them all out. Your trip had been a big one!

Say hi to Troy for me!

Ben

[NApalm]

A great read. Cheers Robbin

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Hello Robbin

It was good to meet you and my privilege to show you the 2 botanic gardens palm collections.

Hope you enjoyed the visit, by the time you visit next time hundreds more palms will have been planted with more species germinating. The Wollongong botanic gardens palmetum section will be opened to the public in October 2015.

Always happy to take palmtalk members to behind the scenes tour in both

happy travels, look forward to the rest of your travel palm pictures

regards

Colin

PS the variegated palm is a Ravenea rivularis and was donated by Andy Green to the Royal botanic garden in Sydney

[ariscott]

5-6 months and no Top End?

[Walter John]

Hello Robbin

It was good to meet you and my privilege to show you the 2 botanic gardens palm collections.

Hope you enjoyed the visit, by the time you visit next time hundreds more palms will have been planted with more species germinating. The Wollongong botanic gardens palmetum section will be opened to the public in October 2015.

Always happy to take palmtalk members to behind the scenes tour in both

happy travels, look forward to the rest of your travel palm pictures

regards

Colin

PS the variegated palm is a Ravenea rivularis and was donated by Andy Green to the Royal botanic garden in Sydney

I would love to make the Wollongong opening, will you be there Col ? You got to be there.

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Hi Wal

You are invited to the opening which will be held during an international conference there

along with a few other ratpackers and directors

regards

colin

[Exotic Life]

Thanks. Really enjoyed my quick visit to Troy and his Tasmania. Seen lots of stuff in a very short period, and Troy and his wife have been very generous to me. Next time when I visit Australia I am definitely going back to explore this island better, it is somehow a bit different to what I have seen so far. I think I found a new love as well, Rhopalostylis Chatham island variety is really awesome!

I have been very lucky with the weather as well, mostly sunny and even 28 degrees on sunday. Bit windy sometimes but I am used to windy conditions back home, so not a problem at all, besides that the wind was warm.

5-6 months and no Top End?

It is going to end up close to 5 months. I am in Melbourne now, probably going to have a quick visit to Adelaide next week and going spend my last few weeks in Thailand before going home. Definitely coming back as I would like to see the middle and top end as well. Some while ago I decided to save New Zealand for another time, sooooo I see a new travel plan is coming up

Edited September 30, 2014 by Exotic Life

[J. australis]

Hi Robbin, looks like you've been having a fine time in Oz. I live in Melbourne and you're welcome to visit my garden. Been growing palms for 15 years and have some bigger specimens of palms you rarely see here - Caryota and Parajubea, for example. I also make a decent coffee

I'm only 8km from the city centre - what are you doing Friday, after this crappy wind goes away?

[hopper]

HI Robbin

I'm in Adelaide, so would suggest a look at the Botanical Gardens. They have about five areas in the Gardends where I have found a large collection of palms:

1. North Terrace Entry - as you walk down the path you can see a Jubaea Chilensis that was planted by Queen Mary in 1901. plus several plantings in and around that location, also head left past the other Jubaea Chilensis on the other side of the path, that will take you into a darker and secluded path with more palms mainly Chamaedoreas
2. The Palm House - imported from Bremen, Germany in 1875
3. The Santos Museum of Economic Botany - palm seed collection
4. The Bicentennial Conservatory - Australian rainforest
5. And last is just before the Friends Gate exit (Plain Tree Drive), to the left is another large area of palms kind of hidden away a bit, and not really described on the visitor map.

From the Friends Gate it's a sort walk along Plain Tree Drive around to the Zoo, Palms and Bananas seem to be in almost every garden planting at the Zoo, plus we have the Giant Pandas!

In the CBD I have stumbled upon a few building foyers that have a few palms planted out in various settings. I tend to head out for a walk at lunch time to take a break and have a look. They are at;

• 89 Pirie st
• 97 Pirie st
• 101 Grenfell st
• 91 King William St - buried deep around the back of the Westpac House building (Kentias)

Not sure what else may be of interest to you in Adelaide but that's a start.

I will be on leave from the 6th Oct to the 10th Oct and have family coming over from Melbourne some time in that week, so maybe able to meet up if you are around and time permits?

Pip is also from Adelaide so not sure if he can suggest other places or sites. I know there is a nice nursery near him called the Fern Forest Nursery, with a large palm garden that is over 20 years old. the nursery is about 30-40 mins drive south of the city, so not sure if you have a car.

Hopper

[comic097]

What a great read, awsom thread, sounds like your having a ball Robbin

[Pip]

I highly recommend the Adelaide Botanic Gardens there are palms all over the gardens. You need to explore all the small saw dust pathways that take you through the garden beds if you want to find different Chamaedorea's. The Fern Forest nursery near me is good but it changed owners a few years ago and the display is going through re-organization it is really just queen palms shading everything out. The display garden really looked it's best 10 years ago but there may still be something of interest. If your heading a far out of the city to my area then your more likely to be sampling wine.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Enjoyed having you over Robbin and our journey into the Tasmanian wilderness will be fully documented on here on my next day off !

You have great taste in palms as that one is my favorite as well !

[Pip]

I highly recommend the Adelaide Botanic Gardens there are palms all over the gardens. You need to explore all the small saw dust pathways that take you through the garden beds if you want to find different Chamaedorea's. The Fern Forest nursery near me is good but it changed owners a few years ago and the display is going through re-organization it is really just queen palms shading everything out. The display garden really looked it's best 10 years ago but there may still be something of interest. If your heading a far out of the city to my area then your more likely to be sampling wine.

I forgot the Waite Arboretum which is part of Adelaide University, Urrbrae Campus it is about 3kms from the central business district easy bus ride on the 171 from King William Street. At the arboretum you will find palms and other plants growing on Adelaide's natural rainfall so not all the plants are the best examples but interesting to compare to the same plants growing in higher rainfall areas and irrigated gardens.

One thing to note about the Bicentennial Conservatory in the botanic gardens is that the heating was turned off a few years ago and many of the really tropical plants have died. It was also supposed to be glass for the entire span therefore it has never really been bright enough for all the intended rainforest plants. I believe now the plants that it houses don't actually need to be grown under glass in Adelaide but look better due to the protection from the wind and extra humidity.

[palmtreesforpleasure]

More pictures of Robyn at the 18 month old Palmetum at the Wollongong botanic gardens. The garden was an old nursery site, been an unsealed car park until the garden was commenced, opens to the public 1 year from now. All palms have been acquired including those 14m high. Robyn said after the day at 2 botanic gardens said , "i am seeing palms i have only heard about '' a good day had by the both of us.

enjoy the pics. 1st of WBG

Next post will be Robbin in Royal botanic gardens Sydney

regards

colin

PS see you here in February Troy and looking forward to visiting you in Tassie first.

[J. australis]

Another confirmed sighting on Robbin's Australian Tour.

Here he is wearing the ceremonial Parajubaea head-dress:

And just hanging out with what may be Australia's biggest Parajubaea torallyi v torallyi.

[Pip]

Sorry the pic is sideways.

Anyway.

Here is Robbin holding a young possum at my house. I took Robbin on a mini tour of the Waite Arboretum. Hope he will share a few photos he took. As I was to slack.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Well Robbin what a great time you have had !

Jo those Parajubaeas are amazing cant wait until mine get to that size down here in chilly Hobart !

[Exotic Life]

Thanks for posting the pictures. Nice meeting you both and also Martin (hopper) in adelaide as well.

Defitenely will post some pictures from our arboretum visit when I got home.

[Exotic Life]

Back in The Netherlands since yesterday, and found out that my own garden had gone mad with some epic growth speeds because of the great growing season the had on this side of the world. In matter fact the growing season is still going on, with a forecast from proberly 20 degrees on the first of november. Feels a bit cold for me right now, so would be good for me as well to see some warmer temperatures

Going to sort out my pictures in the next few weeks and will post them on palmtalk as well.

Edited October 29, 2014 by Exotic Life

[NApalm]

Good to see you're home in one piece. I enjoyed following your travels here on pt.

[Kennybenjamin]

Glad you had a safe trip home Robbin and I hope you enjoyed your travels to our country. It was nice to meet you as it is nice to meet any palmtalker from anywhere in the world.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Must be great to be back in the garden again Robbin

Don't forget next time we can do the other National parks in Tasmania !

[Exotic Life]

Thanks people.

Really enjoyed my travels in Australia and two weeks Thailand, but it is good to be home as well. The garden is still in a amazing condition for the time of year, but it is getting colder now. Next week there is some work to do and then i have plenty of time left to think about a new adventure.

Will post some pictures of my travels soon.

[Hillizard]

 

 

[Tyrone]

1 hour ago, Hillizard said:

 

 

You should work for Tourism Australia. 

[Steve Mac]

That was great, it's a pity that it wasn't 60 secs.