Tiptoe through the tulips

After living in Canberra for three years and intending for every one of those to visit Tulip Top Gardens, this year I finally did!

I've driven past Tulip Top Gardens more times than I care to remember. With both sets of Grandparents living in the greater Sydney area and now also having to make trips to various paediatric specialists for Miss Poppet, we frequently make the trip up and down the Federal and Hume Highways. I love it; we get to see the seasonal changes to the countryside and the Misses Flibbertigibbet are great little travellers - thank goodness!

So last week I took Miss Diva and Little Poppet along for a visit to Tulip Top. Miss Diva was not feeling 100% and as a result was, well, a bit of a diva. She spent most of the time whinging and/or sitting in Little Poppet's stroller. However, Little Poppet was in her element and had to be watched closely or she'd wander off for a bit of tree worshipping. I think she was a dryad in a previous life.

As you know I am a big fan of Floriade, and it is on such a grand scale that I was expecting to be underwhelmed by Tulip Top. I was wrong.

Pretty much the first thing we did was walk up to the viewing area on the hill above the gardens, as I knew Miss Diva was fast running out of energy. My photos failed to capture just how spectacular the view really was, but you can see just how close to the highway this hidden paradise is and also tell how much rain we've had lately - how green are those hills?

Then we made the journey back down the hill to explore the rest of the garden

Here's Miss Diva making a brief inspection before she retired
to the stroller for the duration

Little Poppet taking a closer look

Oops! I'm sorry Tulip Top people, I promise this was the only one!

There's a Little Poppet under the blossoms

The blossom trees are the perfect complement to the bulb plantings



Little tease! No, she didn't pick this one

It was such a lovely day that on the way home, I made a spur of the moment decision to turn right out of the Tulip Top driveway and head north along the Old Federal Highway until it met up with the 'new' Federal Highway. This stretch of road has always intrigued me and I would like to explore it some more one day. We had only gone about a kilometre when I spotted some Australian fauna walking beside the road.

Can you see him (or her!)?

Yes, an echidna. We didn't want to disturb it too much, so I
took this photo on zoom and then we left it in peace and
continued our journey home.

I'm definitely going to go to Tulip Top again next year, but around the end of September instead to see all the displays in their full glory.