Botanic Gardens - Tree Art Installation

I love all the little hidden gems to be found in any big city when you have the time or opportunity to simply wander off the regular path.

Last week I was meeting a friend in the Botanic Gardens, but the bus driver forgot he still had one passenger left on board! So instead of being dropped off at the eastern entrance to the Gardens, I got the longer, scenic drive around the tip of Mrs Macquarie's Chair before being dropped off.

To meet my friend, I had to walk back up the centre island between the two roads.

And to my delight I found this gorgeous, discreet public art/poetry installation underneath a stand of towering gum trees.
Several glass columns inscribed with tree poems and literary quotes adorned the area. Depending on the light and dappled shade, the columns reflected back various tree-ish images and patterns.

An island of beauty and serenity and reflection that made the unexpected detour seem serendiptious.

I've spent some time on google trying to find out the who, why and when of this lovely installation, but I struck out. If anyone knows more about this work, please leave a comment.

To finish off this lovely walk through the Gardens, I'll show off a couple of 'Sydney in Autumn' pics, just because I can & just because Sydney looks glorious in any season!

It was pretty cool on the ferry trip home, so instead of braving the front of the boat, the sunset pics are filtered through the scratchy glass windows!

This post is part of Saturday Snapshot

Pirrama Park, Pyrmont

Pirrama Park, Pyrmont (formerly known as Pyrmont Point Park) won the 2010 Walter Burley Griffin Award for Urban Design. Formerly the site of the water police, the old wharf pylons have been incorporated into the new design. 

Pirrama means 'rocking stone' in the Gadigal language.

The headland is surrounded by Johnstons and Jones Bays.

Below are photos I took in May 2007.

The park has now been thoroughly landscaped and is regularly used for food and wine festivals and other local events. One of the main ones is the Mudgee Food and Wine Festival held in May every year.

Unbelievably, I've had something else planned for this weekend for the past 6 years!

I hope to finally attend the festival next year & to see the new work done on this lovely inner city park.

The "whale bone" walkway.

The harbour promenade featured a sculpture created by Jennifer Turpin & Michaelie Crawford. 

Tied to Tide (below) is an "aquatic instrument" with eight arms of recycled hardwood beams and red ladders that play "the winds, tides and waves to independently rise, fall, pivot and rotate."

According to my Top 10 Sydney, Tied to Tide is no. 10 in our Top 10 Public Art list.

The other 9 are:

1. Edge of the Trees (Museum of Sydney)

2. Almost Once (AGNSW)

3. Federation Pavilion (Centennial Park)

4. Veil of Trees (Botanic Gardens)

5. Magnolia and Palm (Botanic Gardens)

6. Dual Nature (Woolloomooloo Bay)

7. Wuganmagulya (Botanic Gardens)

8. Memory is Creation Without End (South Domain)

9. Tankstream (Pitt St Mall)

When I first moved to Sydney I used to get very confused about which headland ended up in which bay and how to get from one to the other. 

Pirrama Park is the green patch at the top of this map.

Off to the left is Johnston's Bay, which is spanned by the glorious ANZAC Bridge.

The Sydney Fish Markets take up the big grey patch of land in Blackwattle Bay circled by the Western Distributor (route 40) which is the official name of the road using the ANZAC Bridge.

Directly opposite the Fish Markets is Blackwattle Senior Secondary College where my eldest stepson goes to school.

Jones Bay is the little bay off to the right of Pirrama Park - Jones Bay Wharf juts out in the middle of it.

Keep heading around to the right and you end up in Darling Harbour.

This next map might give you an idea of just how many bays and coves line Sydney Harbour.

Pyrmont is found in the bottom left hand corner of this map.

We live in Balmain just across from Johnston's Bay. Our front verandah has a great view of Cockatoo Island & Woolwich.

Goat Island is the green spot under the words Port Jackson (near Balmain East).

Clark Island is further to the east off Darling Point (a much smaller dot of green).

And Shark Island is off Point Piper in the middle of the entrance to Rose Bay.

The entrance headlands into Port Jackson are imaginatively called North Head and South Head. The big one in the middle where Mosman and Taronga Zoo are is called...you guessed it...Middle Head!

North Harbour takes you into Manly & Middle Harbour takes you under the Spit Bridge (route 10).

Sydney Harbour takes you under the Sydney Harbour Bridge (between Dawes Point & Kirribilli)!

Saturday Snapshot - Wild Rhino's

I love February.

It's my favourite month of the year.

School's back in and routines rule our lives again. But we still have daylight savings, long, warm, summer's days & evenings that cool down (perfect for BBQ's). Our weekends are still fairly lazy and relaxed (prior to the soccer mania that takes over our family in April).

And February is also my birthday month :-)

This year, February is also Wildrhino time!

Taronga Zoo is hosting a 3 month long event to highlight the plight of rhino's in the wild due to poaching and loss of habitat.

125 rhino sculptures have been created by various Australian artists. These rhino's have been sent out into the wild to be displayed in parks, squares & public spaces around Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Central West NSW (esp Dubbo, where the Western Plains Zoo is located).

64 rhino calves have also been designed by local school children and displayed in Federation Centres across Sydney.

This week, on my day off work, I went rhino hunting!

I downloaded the app and headed into the city.

Many of the city rhino's were sitting in the same spot used by the Snailovation people last year.

In 3 hours I managed to find 15 rhino's.

Many of the Central NSW rhino's will remain unfound by me (due to time & distance constraints), but Louise at A Strong Belief in Wicker, your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to find some of these Western rhino's for us!!

In front of the Town Hall (opposite the QVB) is

Sasha Heath - Hellotomato : The Urban Jungle

2 Rhinos stand guard at the Market St end of the Pitt St Mall. This one is

Cam Wall : Home and Away

Sponsored by Channel 7, it features signatures of the Home & Away cast on his front foot.

Near the Archibald Fountain in Hyde Park I found

Lynley Kirkness : All Patched Up

Hyde Park Barracks plays host to

Rain Hart : Chupa Chup

Martin Place had 3 rhino's scattered across it's open plains.

This very confused rhino is outside the old CommBank buildings.

Hans Hulsbosch : Camouflage

While the rhino below is ensconced in front of the Channel 7 building (where they film their breakfast program - Sunrise).

Channel Seven Sunrise Crew : Sunrise: Wake up with friends

I have never been to Chifley Square before, so finding this rhino was a real adventure!

Rachel Chu : Porcelain Rhino

I posted this pic on Instagram with all the appropriate tags. 

I was delighted when Rachel Chu left a lovely comment and a like :-)

I couldn't find the rhino that was meant to be in the forecourt of the State Library (anyone?)

But the 2 in the Botanic Gardens were easy to spot.

ART-C : Target Practice 

and...

Jane Gillings : Put A Lid On It

This is the rhino with prime position!

Kevin Connor and Paul Connor : People takeover the Wild Rhino

It wasn't until later on when I viewed my photos at home that I saw the shadow on the base.

I was starting to get a little tired by the time I found this rhino in front of Customs House.

 Joel Gregory Cameron : R-BOT 4000

Thankfully my last rhino for the day was at the ferry terminal on Circular Quay (below).

The rest will have to wait until another day...

Starting (top left in a clockwise direction) the last 4 rhino's are

Numskull : Keratin Collectibles (Circular Quay)

Marty Routledge : Heavy Weight (Farrer Place)

Samantha Chin : My Rhino's Keeper (Martin Place)

Richard Allen : Rhinoceros Orchardos (Pitt St Mall)

I hope you've enjoyed Wildrhino hunting with me.

Stay tuned for more rhino's in the following months!

This post is a part of Saturday Snapshot with West Metro Mommy.

Saturday Snapshot - Snails Invade Sydney!

As part of Art & About Sydney I have spent some time exploring the city over the past few weeks.

The Field was placed in a corner of Hyde Park.

It consisted of 324 mirror faces that reflected the city, the park and yourself in surprising and incredibly artful ways. I took oodles of photos and managed to whittle it down to just 4 to share today!

Snailovation, meanwhile, encouraged you to walk the CBD to find the coloured snails.

Sadly these exhibitions finish this weekend.

I'll miss the quietly cheerful presence of the snails in particular.

 Australian Museum Snail

 Hyde Park (south) Snail

 Hyde Park (north) Snails

 Hyde Park Barracks Snail

 Martin Place (east) Snails

 Martin Place (west) Snails 

 NSW State Library Snail

 Museum of Sydney Snail

 Customs House Snail

 Star City Snail

Pitt St Mall Snail

Sadly, I didn't get to visit all the snails - I think I missed three.

It was a great way to see the city and it was lovely watching locals and visitors, young and old engage with the snails, take photos, cuddle & sit astride them. 

I've included this post in Saturday Snapshot.