The Sydney Alps: Mount Annan

It's time to head to the outer lands of Southwest Sydney for a bit of mountaineering. 

Mount Annan

Mount Annan is a suburb not too far from the Southwest Sydney hub of Campbelltown. It's most notable as the host of the Australian Botanic Gardens, and that's where most of this post will focus on. 

The gardens are huge, taking up more or less half of this suburb's footprint, and I kicked things off at this point nearby the entrance of the park. 

Here, I found a quaint lake under an incredibly blue sky (a rare sight these days),

and some classic Aussie scenery, 

complete with picnic area,

and obligatory botanic gardens signs about flowers (that nobody really cares about, do they.)

There are also some trails into the bush for those so inclined. 

The first distinct point of interest for me today was a memorial to the Stolen Generations. Leaving the road for a walk through some bushland, 

by some very peaceful scenery, 

is a walk with some quotes from victims of the stolen generations, as well as information on this shameful chapter of Australian history. 

Upon arriving to the memorial itself, 

I was shocked to see it closed due to vandalism. What kind of actual Nazi vandalises something like this? On a different note, the flowers at the monument's fence are because my visit was not too long after National Sorry Day (something I just realised is completely independent to and older than Kevin Rudd's Stolen Generations apology.)  

If you're curious what the monument looks like behind the fence, there's some pictures on this article from the gardens' website: https://www.australianbotanicgarden.com.au/stories/2020/community-comes-together-at-the-site-of-the-stolen 

Anyway, on a lighter note, after the monument, I carried on past this fetching drawing of myself, 

where the path continues along, 

leading to this Canberran looking building. 

The place turned out to be a plant bank, where they keep samples of a huge amount of seeds and plants. Upon poking around the place, an amazing staff member noticed me and let me in, giving a completely impromptu tour of the place with a couple of other strangers who were there at the same time.  

Here's a giant seed, 

and some of their exhibits. 

Quite a cool place, all in all. 

I carried on deeper into the gardens, 

soon reaching the "mountainy" bit of the park. 

Naturally, this means views. 

It also means more walks. 

This one with a bench obscured by the trees, 

one of these things, 

and panoramic views of the surrounds. 

One interesting thing they have up here is a sundial. No, not this one, 

but one you use your whole body for. 

For instance, by standing on roughly the correct line, 

you can find out that I was here some time between 2 and 3pm. 

Also up here, to continue the trend of disappointing benches, is the world's most highly secured park bench. If you sit on it, you will die. 

I headed back down past another drawing of myself (this time in pink!), 

as well as this fuzzy lad also doing the walk, who I thankfully didn't accidentally squish,

to continue onto more parts of the park. 

Truth be told, the rest of the gardens that I found were just more (still very nice) bushy picnic areas. 

Lovely, but not unique enough to list individually. 

Here's some Mount Annan ducks instead. 

Satisfied I'd given the gardens a fair coverage, it was time to head off for a fast food lunch. This being Southwest Sydney, there was a corner in the suburb's bounds with all of the major chains.

Now, so as not to have this as a post with just the botanic gardens, I figured I'd poke my head into a bit of Mount Annanian suburbia, chosen completely randomly, just to sample the local residential flavour. I chose this very pleasant and bushy street,

fronting onto its very own lake. 

Definitely not a bad front yard for these chaps. 

Just next door I found this street named after a shop that sells fancy bedsheets, 

with a pleasant and wiggly brick street, 

important birds, 

and the most triangle mailbox I've ever seen. 

Honestly, I was surprised with this place, but considering how close it is to the Mount Annan bushland I suppose I shouldn't have been. 

And with that, I was ready to head back along the lake, 

to the street I'd left the car at so that I could call it a day. 

Mount Annan: The only Sydney mountain left is the great Druitt.