travelling allrite

When they think of Auburn the average Sydneysider is likely to think of a suburb full of immigrants from the Middle East, Africa and China. In particular they are probably thinking about a certain Deputy Mayor of Auburn and his overly ostentatious wedding. So it was a bit of a surprise to learn that there was a Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival held in the Auburn Botanic Gardens , a place I'd never heard of before. Along with my Mum down from Queensland, we drove out to the gardens on the final week of the festival, the recent cold weather meaning that the blossoms were well past their prime. That didn't stop a huge queue of visitors lining up for admittance. The queue moved quite fast and we were soon inside the Japanese Garden section of the grounds after paying the $5 entry fee for each adult. The gardens were quite large with torii gates, gravel gardens, a large pond, bridges, waterfalls and a tea house style hut. The maples were bare of leaves, but the azalea