We live in Wollongong, NSW, Australia. While we travel a lot as professional travel writers, it also means that we need to really discover our own backyard. Wollongong is 80kms south of Sydney, and is situated between the mountains and the sea. It is a very popular city, with a renowned university and is known as the City of Innovation.
Too often, we take for granted what is right in front of us. Re-discovering what our own hometown has to offer is a good way of putting our travels into perspective. What is similar and what is different to what we see outside of our own front door.
About Outside My Front Door
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This was the basic tenet for establishing our very successful series called Outside my Front Door on our site where we ask travel writers from all over the world, to share what is literally outside of their own front door.
We have seen some amazing stories from Sucre in Bolivia, Lobitos in Mexico, to China, Singapore and Africa and more, so head over and have a look at how these people are discovering what is outside of their front door.
Discovering your own backyard is also a time to re-group, especially if it involves just getting out and having a walk in the fresh air to clear the cobwebs.
We walk every day for two reasons. One is that it is good cheap cialis tablets exercise and the other, quite honestly, is that it is a justification for discovering or re-visiting a coffee shop at the end of the walk. You can see lots of different Wollongong coffee shops on our companion site, Best Little Coffee Shops.
What did we discover in our own backyard?
Wollongong Botanic Garden
While we walk along the beach everyday, this time we headed to the Wollongong Botanic Garden and got a lovely surprise. A beautiful day and a cacti garden in full bloom.
The Wollongong Botanic Garden is found at the foot of Mount Keira, in the leafy suburb of Keiraville and across from the University of Wollongong, also renowned for their beautiful grounds and attracting students and staff from all over the world.
The Wollongong Botanic Garden site was originally inhabited by the Dharawal Aboriginal peoples; they remain the custodians of the land. It is the local botanical gardens of the Illawarra and was opened in September 1970. There are many collections that we discovered including the Australian Open Forest and Grasslands, Azalea Bank, Discovery Kitchen Garden, Drylands Garden, the Rainforest Collection and the Succulent Collection.
The Garden’s Designer, University of NSW Professor Peter Spooner said “The Garden should be educational, recreational, scientific as well as aesthetic”. The Kawasaki Bridge was built as a gift of friendship between Wollongong and the sister city of Kawasaki in Japan.
I hope you have enjoyed our own backyard in Wollongong, Australia
Discovering “our own backyard” as you say is very important. I love that you took the time to do so. I travel a lot but I love going around the area I live and discovering what it has to offer. I always find something new and unexpected each time. Knowing about where you’re from only helps you be a better traveler 🙂
It is funny. Now that we are full time travel writers, when we are home, discovering our own backyard is a holiday that we both need.
I saw the photo on Triberr and said that’s Australia… I clicked on the link and while the page was uploading I tried to guess where it is? ….Broken Hill, uhm…in the outback somewhere…I wouldn’t have imagined a cacti botanic garden in Wollongong. Amazing Australia! Beautiful photos!
I think that it was the colour of the sky that gave it away. Even though we live here, to actually see it all in bloom at the one time was spectacular.