TS Diary | The Diary Game 02-03-2024 | My Day at National Arboretum Canberra and Dinner at Blu Ginger

Last night, my coworker Kush from Melbourne came to Canberra and stayed with us. His father, from India, is here in Australia. He came to visit him after three years and wanted to see the Australian capital, so he decided to show him a few places here. He will be here for two days and then move back to Melbourne.

  
I woke up at my usual 6.30, but till then no one had gotten up, so I finished my daily routine in the bathroom and then cleaned the sitting area.

Then I went for a few minutes to walk in the park opposite my house, but I came back early. My friend's father is a professor of botany, so he had come especially to see the National Bonsai and Penjing Collection Australia at the Arboretum.

I suggested to him that we finish our breakfast and then go to this world-famous Bonsai collection and experience a truly unique and one of the best and finest miniature trees and forests in the world.

By then, my wife had started cooking stuffed paranthas and vegetables, and I sat at the table.

Meanwhile, I fried a few potatoes in the air fryer to take with us a bottle of mango juice, as we had a plan to have a walk in the vastly spread Arboretum area.

Soon, we finished our breakfast and were ready to move. My friend and his father drove in their car while I followed them with my wife.

We reached the National Arboretum in about 12 minutes, which is located just 8 kilometers from our house at the western end of Lake Burley Griffin.

As expected, a weekend attracts a lot of guests who come to witness the beautiful collection of bonsai plants, which, as the placard suggests, are over 100 years old.

This is perhaps the best collection of bonsai plants I have ever seen. And the best thing is that it's in an outdoor venue.

I have been to this place several times, but every time I come here, I love seeing the Bonsai Museum. Beautiful little plants, but all of them are older than me.

Incidentally, the National Arboretum is an attraction for local families, as the local government has a lot on display about the culture of life in this city and this region.

I went off the beaten path quite a few times because I just did not want to walk on the road all the time, but this is really a fantastic area. I even loved seeing some of the kids rolling in the fall, and the colors got to me. It was a treat to see the way some people were enjoying their family.

Then we decided to take a walk and explore this Loop Trail, which is about 4 km long. People who know about Mount Rainier especially come here for walking. At first, my friend's father was a bit hesitant, but later he found it a nice walk.

I felt like a few portions of the trail were closed. At one point, my coworker's father stopped as he found a strech of Mt. Hamilton strenuous. Oh yeah, not all 70+ people find it easy to walk, but once he started walking on the slope, he felt it was an easy route.

We walked for about an hour and completed the entire trail. Let me confess, I felt it was too sunny and hot at 35 degrees C, but this popular trail was full of walkers from different parts of the world busy bird-watching.

I love a beautiful hike like this. Honestly, I have walked a lot on the longer and smaller paths. In fact, I have walked more on such trails rather than on the roads.

But here, I still found myself walking the road more than I expected. I loved the wooded portions as nice and cool, especially when there was cloud cover, but a few trails were blocked because of damage from the recent renovation program going on.

I found every column beautiful, but I still feel the highlight of the trip was the herb and flower garden and, of course, the bonsai gardens.

I loved the way a few people were even running and fully enjoying themselves despite the temperature in the range of 30 to 35.

And I left no occasion, as when I saw a shaded place, I opened Steemit and kept checking if I had any notifications, but as we all know, due to the present glitch in the site, I found nothing much.

We spent about 6 hours in the area, and then my friend left at about 3 with his father to a different tourist attraction, and he had a plan to visit a few more places and stay with another colleague tonight.

I can say it was a beautiful and great Saturday with plants and bonsai. I would highly recommend this place to anyone visiting this area. We came back home to rest, as we had a plan to eat out tonight.

At 7, we tried to book a table at our favorite restaurant, Blu Ginger, but as usual, on Saturdays, one never gets his desired time slot, so we were asked if we would be okay with a 9.30 slot. I wanted to eat there, so I overruled my wife's decision to go and eat at another restaurant.

We left our home at 9 and reached the restaurant at 9.25 and ordered food. We ordered Indian Naan. Dal Makhani and Kadahi Paneer are beside mango lassi for starters.

We were free at 10 and 15 and reached back home at around 11 as we were stuck in car parking as the barrier of the parking had a problem. Finally, the staff made it free and removed the barrier.

Finally, that was the end of the day as we came out of the restaurant and to the car park.

I wanted to post this diary, so I started writing about our day's activities as soon as I reached home. That was the end of the day.

Canberra 1.10 AM 03-03-2024

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