At 400 hectares (4 square kilometres), Kings Park in Perth is one of the world’s largest inner city parks. It would take several days to see it all, and you would probably wish to revisit in different seasons and subsequent years. The main car park delivers you to the Kings Park Gallery Shop, the Visitor Information Centre, and restaurants. From there the escarpment offers stunning views of the Swan and Canning Rivers, the city skyline and the Darling Ranges to the east. Heading along this escarpment takes you to the Western Australian Botanic Garden, dramatically situated on the slope.
Once I realised I was there, I set about exploring it, using the well-made paths that zigzag back and forth, including a raised walkway that gives you an even higher view. The Garden had some lovely flowers, shrubs and trees, but with a somewhat neglected feel and a shortage of identification labels. On the side furthest from the escarpment, near the main road through the park there were temporary police signs asking you to report suspicious behaviour, but no indication of what you might see.
I followed another road for a while until I realised it was taking me down to the river. Two thirds of the park is protected as native bushland. I cut across a bushland trail that took me back to the main road which I then followed westward until I found a side path shortcut back to our accommodation. What I saw of the bushland was fairly dense and uniform paperbarks in mainly grassland, strangely with white freesias along the roadside, perhaps Freesia laxa, originally from southern Africa, but naturalized in Australia.
Click on any image below to see a slideshow, then use the ⓘ symbol on the right for the description. (My husband, the trained nurseryman, couldn’t identify many of the plants, unfortunately, and most weren’t labelled, he says.)
Wow. Gorgeous flowers and some stunning views over the city too. Looks like a fantastic place.