Flecker Botanical Gardens

Dubbed as the "Sunshine State" of Australia, Queensland boasts of a tropical environment that provides a perfect habitat for lush and exotic vegetation and wildlife. Located at the center of its northern capital, Cairns city, is the Flecker Botanical Gardens.  A favorite among plant lovers and horticulturists, this tropical garden was considered a recreational site in 1886.  Overlooked by the majestic Mount Whitfield, it covers 28 hectares of land and is bound by the Saltwater Creek.

Under the care of botanist Eugene Fitzalan and naturalist Dr. Hugo Flecker, the Flecker Botanical Gardens flourished into a tropical paradise, boasting of an extensive collection of rare and endemic species of plants and flowers.  When travelers enter the garden through its big gates, the first thing that greets them is the exotic, lush, tropical forest with big, leafy palm trees and large, green ferns.  Colorful species of flowers such as orchids and hibiscus also create an ambiance of a wet, tropical garden. At the same time, walkways and bridges provide pathways from one section of the botanical garden to another, making the whole place accessible to all visitors. Moreover, entrance is free, while there's also a restaurant within the premises that provides scrumptious meals for hungry travelers. 

The entire garden can be divided into four significant aeas: the Gondwanan Inheritance Garden, the Fitzalan Gardens, the Flecker Gardens South and the Flecker Gardens North. Located beside the main botanical garden, the Gondwanan Inheritance Garden features a panorama focusing on the evolutionary progress of plants through an array of herbage, which includes flowering plants such as ferns and cycads.

Meanwhile, distributed along the location of the Fitzalan Garden are familiar woody plants such as mango trees, other plants like bamboo, Damson plum, big ferns and Blue quandong, while cashew and Tar trees also thrive in the garden. On the other hand, Flecker Gardens South serves as a portal to the swamp forest. The vegetation in this oasis includes rain trees and the famous Leichhardt tree, while the Crowley Creek flows through this garden, thus providing a source of irrigation for the plants. Lastly, rare trees like the Bauhinias, Tars, Tabebuias, Cassias, Parkas and Caesalpinas provide a cool stop-over for travelers within the Flecker Gardens North. The garden also has its own collection of rare ferns or a "fernery", which has a small waterfall cascading onto a pond full of lilies and aquatic animals. This "fernery" is cradled at the center of a walkway, which depicts a figure resembling the number eight, making it a favorite tourist spot within the area. All in all, the entire Flecker Botanical Gardens create an aura of a paradisiacal Cairns.