Over the Christmas holiday, we were fortunate to have the use of a vehicle for a couple weeks.  One of Andrea’s mates from the acupuncture clinic was off to Bali and graciously allowed us the use of her 1994 Holden Commodore wagon.  Freedom of the road!  I’ll admit, the first hour or so of driving on the opposite side of the tracks was a little unnerving, but eventually my brain adjusted, and it was smooth sailing from there on.

Our first jaunt was to the Mount Annan Botanic Garden, out on the western fringe of the Sydney region.  It is associated with the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, and is the largest botanic garden in Oz.  It is interwoven with bike paths, so we loaded up our wheels for a ride.  One thing that struck us about the place was how much it reminded us of western Maryland around the Frederick area.  Sure, the trees were completely different, but the feeling was the same.  Amazingly, the area is actually called the Cumberland Plain… both sharing British Royalty as their namesakes.

Bonus: Andrea spotted her first wild wallaby/wallaroo/hopping marsupial.

Photos taken 28 Dec 2011