Hello everybody and Happy New Year!
I thought I’d start out this year by getting to know Sydney, Australia.
I’ve never been here before and it feels like the perfect way to get this year started.
The Sydney Opera House was opened in 1973
and is comprised of several different performance venues.
It hosts well over 1500 performances each year.
I must say, I really like the architecture of this place.
The cool shapes. They’re kind of like shark fins. It really adds character to this place.
And the water is just glistening here. It makes for an absolutely fabulous setting.
If you come to Sydney, you must visit this place, obviously.
I mean, come on. You can’t come all the way here and not see this.
Right next to the Opera House is the Botanic Garden.
This is the Royal Botanic Garden.
It’s got loads of trees and different plants from all over the world.
There are some nice looking plants here.
Big trees. It’s cool to see a collection of trees like this from all the world in one place.
Well, that’s an interesting looking tree.
The common name for this tree is “dragon blood” and this particular one is 100 years old!
There are so many different branches. I’ve never seen anything like it before.
Look! We just saw a really cool lizard here. I think we scared it. It’s gone into the bushes.
We lost it. Anyway, it was cool to see it for a brief moment.
Nice tree!
And for example, that bird over there looks really interesting.
It’s quite massive.
We don’t have those types of birds at home,
so it’s cool to see them here in a semi-urban environment as well.
The part we’re in now is known as the fernery because there are lots of ferns.
Makes sense, right? Come in here. It kind of feels like a jungle.
It’s a nice contrast to the urban environment just outside here.
Going gaga for ferns.
Australia is full of lots of dangerous and venomous spiders.
I’m not sure what this one is, but I’m definitely not going to take any chances.
I’m just going to leave it be for now.
I don’t know. From afar, they all look kind of similar,
but actually, when you look closer at the leaves, you notice that they’re quite different.
This one is smoother, whereas those ones over there that we passed have several
different kinds of spikes sticking out.
This is quite interesting.
As you know, plants are obviously good because they give us oxygen and clean the air.
But, you know, ferns actually purify the water by absorbing toxic heavy metals
and storing them in their leaves.
Very interesting. Way to go, ferns! Nature is so awesome, man!
This is cool. This is a wishing tree.
In earlier times, people believed that these trees contained spirits
and you could make a wish by touching them
- this is where the saying “touch wood” comes from –
or by walking around the tree three times forwards and three times backwards.
So, that’s what I’m going to do now.
I’m going to make a wish.
I’ll probably wish for world peace and a new bike because mine is broken.
Alright. Let’s go.
Let’s see what type of tree this is. Sandpaper fig.
Rub the leaves of the sandpaper fig between your fingers
and you’ll see where it gets its common name from. Let’s try it out.
It’s quite rough like sandpaper.
Yeah. My fingers are really smooth now.
This is nice. Who needs hand cream? Let me just file my hand.
Very nice. I look like a cat.
Look at this one. It says here it’s almost as rare as a dinosaur.
It’s native to Australia. Wollemi pines - that’s what they’re called -
were only known as fossils and thought of being extinct for millions of years
until they were discovered in 1994. That was quite recent!
It must feel like you’ve stumbled upon a dinosaur or something.
We’re about to enter the succulent garden. Everything is so sharp here!
I guess the reason why they have these spikes is because
they have so much water and nutrients on the inside that
many animals would like to eat them.
I guess this protects them from that because you wouldn’t want to touch this …
… he said while he was touching it.
Guys, it was a great idea to start off my year here in Sydney.
I’ve had a great time looking at the Opera House and walking around here in the Botanic Garden,
seeing lots of beautiful trees and flowers. What’s your favorite flower?
Leave a comment below and the best answer can win this.
Make sure you watch next week’s episode when I’m at the beach.
See you then. Take care. Bye bye.
Next week: Liam takes a swim at Bondi Beach