Monté Tropical Palace Gardens

Having seen the damage that was done in Monté, I will admit to being slightly apprehensive about what I would see in the gardens. So, Mum and I decided to go and visit the gardens and the museums.

As we entered the gardens, and walked across to the massive 1,000 year old olive trees, there didn’t seem to be any visible signs of damage, and the trees looked as robust as ever:

1000 year old Olive trees.



Then it was down to the museums. As normal, Mum and I went our separate ways, as she’s not a fan of the African sculptures. I am, and am quite content to take photos of these extraordinary figures.

After I’d been in the African gallery (and changed the batteries in the camera), I walked down the path to Mum and head into the other museum – the one that holds all the beautiful geodes. Admittedly, most of them are Amethysts of varying quality, but the way that they have been displayed is quite spectacular.

After we’d taken the photos, it was then time to head down into the gardens themselves. Again, we were wondering if there would be any damage visible, as we’d both seem the damage that had been done in Monte. But at first, the only thing that I was really interested in was the tree fern:

But just after I took this photo, I was stopped in my tracks by damage that had obviously occurred in the February storms:

This then lead me to move lower down, to where Monte’s version of the terracotta warriors had been…

At first glance, aside from the red and white tape, there didn’t seem too much damage done.  But a little further down, past the tape, the damage was quite obvious:

But what really made me smile was the damage hadn’t affected the Buddha statue.  Divine protection perhaps?

But this seemed to be the only area that was damaged, and as per normal. Mum and I separated, as there were bits that I wanted to see – including more cycads.  But what I didn’t expect to see was a robin perched in the cycad.

It stayed long enough for me to take the picture, and when I tried for a close up, it flew off. Ok – no worries, as it made me stop long enough to have a look around…I spotted a sort of hidden walkthrough…

I entered, and got the fright of my life when the lights came on, and something growled at me! When I had recovered my scattered wits, I saw what had scared me so badly. There was a motion sensor hidden in a sculpture:

There were three sculptures in all, but unfortunately, I couldn’t get them all in one shot, so I had to make do with individual photos:

As I went to re-join Mum, I stopped on the top of the waterfall that overlooked the main lake:

Once I had joined Mum by the lake, there was something that really made me giggle.  It was a seagull perched on the top of a statue in the lake.

The other thing that always stands out in my mind about the lake is the largest pot in the world.  No, I’m not joking, this is listed in the Guinness Book of Records:

It was then time to head to the coffee shop for a drink, as both Mum and I were in need of a sit down and a drink.

As we walked along, there was more evidence of the damage that had been done to the garden:

Once at the coffee shop, we chose a seat in the shade, and I started looking through the photos on my camera (deleting the ones that were obviously no good) when this sparrow hopped onto the railing beside me:

Then it hopped onto the table, with a determined glint in its eyes, as the previous people who had sta at the table had left crumbs from their cake…

Ah well, guess I should call this quits - I've got bits and pieces to sort out. Back later is I get the chance.

Karen

Now some things you hold on to - and some you just let go
Seems like the ones that you can't have
Are the ones that you want most