This walk follows the Main Path, commencing at the far end of the Café building. It wanders among magnificent trees, through the Sydney Basin close to the new Red Centre Garden, then to the Rock Garden and the Rainforest Gully.

1. Melaleuca fulgens ‘Hot Pink’ [Section 10] has clusters of cheery pink flower clusters on the rather leggy shrub.
2. In a pot is Eremaea beaufortioides var. microphylla [Section 10], a small shrub clad with small orange flower balls.
3. Melaleuca diosmifolia [Section 9] has many lime-coloured bottlebrush-like flowers among the small leaves of the dense shrub.
4. The Grass Tree, Xanthorrhoea glauca [Section 8], has tall spikes clad with tiny flowers and surrounded by a skirt of long flowing leaves. This garden is scattered with self-seeded Bulbine glauca, with yellow star-shaped flowers on long succulent stems.
5. A Waratah, Telopea ‘Canberry Gem’ [Section 30], is a large dense shrub clad with many heads of red flowers.
6. Close by is Alyogyne huegelii [Section 30], a large shrub laden with white hibiscus flowers.
7. Across the path, Homoranthus flavescens [Section 30] is an interesting shrub with layered branches clad with yellow nectar-laden perfumed flowers.
8. Banksia blechnifolia [Section 25] is a prostrate plant with upright indented leaves and small deep red immature flower heads.
9. At the intersection, Grevillea ‘Coconut Ice’ [Section 25] is a low spreading shrub bearing many large terminal reddish flower spikes.
10. Across the road Isopogon anemonifolius [Section 26] has yellow drumstick-like flower heads among its divided leaves.
11. A groundcover, Persoonia chamaepitys [Section 24], has short green pine-like leaves and yellow flowers of similar size.
12. Grevillea ‘Bonfire’ [Section 24] is a tall hedge-like shrub with fresh green foliage and with many terminal waxy curvaceous flowers. (Many grevilleas can be seen in this area).
13. Crossing the next road Eriostemon australasius [Section 112] is clad with five-petalled soft pink flowers.
14. Beside it and of similar size is Boronia muelleri [Section 112], clad with tiny pink buds opening to four-petalled flowers.
15. Across the road in the Sydney Region Gully are Flannel Flowers, Actinotus helianthi [Section 191h, 191s], with their soft daisy-like white flowers and silvery-grey foliage.
16. At the turn-off to the Glasshouses is Blackeyed Susan, Tetratheca thymifolia [Section 191j], a low spreading shrub covered with down-turned pink flowers.
17. After passing by many flowers, at the exit is Grevillea aspleniifolia [Section 191l]. It is a fairly low shrub with extra-long branches clad with pink toothbrush-like flowers. (The Red Centre Garden is a short distance to the right from here).
18. Stroll through the Eucalyptus Lawn to an area of wattles and Helichrysum elatum ‘Helping Hand’ [Section 18], a low spreading shrub with large white daisy flowers among the soft greyish leaves.
19. Across the road Hakea archaeoides [Section 20] is a tall shrub with many bottlebrush-like rust red/yellow dangling flower spikes.
20. The Rock Garden is another area to explore. Edging the path Kunzea pulchella [Section 15r] is a large shrub bright with red fluffy flower balls.
21. The enclosure is pretty with pink and white daisies, Rhodanthe chlorocephala subsp. rosea [Section 4].
22. Passing the waterfall and through the cool Rainforest, continue to the Visitor Information Centre where white Rock Orchids, Thelychiton speciosus, are still flowering.

Barbara Daly