Sunday 18th February 2018 - Tomato Festival Sydney Mrs Macquaries Road & Pollination The Calyx @ The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney

You've probably wondered why I haven't been blogging as much as I usually do. I have been busy with work as well as watching the Winter Olympics as well as a few other things see below as example. It has also been far too hot for me to even go out - I'm a Winter girl and since I have returned back to Sydney have not been coping very well with the extreme heat which should have died down by now.

An update on my postal situation - I haven't checked my mail box again yet so until I receive that reinbursement cheque for my postage - "it ain't over until the fat lady sings". As for the letter sent in a replied paid envelope posted in early December also lost this is the email Australia Post sent to me in response to my complaint - in short No compensation to be paid.

Help & Support

Reference 16501370

Update for General Enquiry - 16501370 Hi Dulcinea Thank you for contacting us about the letter that you have sent to Citibank, my name is Caoimhe and I will be happy to assist you with some more information today.  The regular mail service is an economical way of getting envelopes from point A to B. These envelopes do not have a barcode or tracking number for scanning. It is because of this, we are unable to track their movements through the postal system and investigate what has happened to the particular letter. Any mail that cannot be delivered to the intended address will be returned to you as the sender, assuming that sender details are present. If there are no sender details or we are unable to deliver it back to you, your letter will be taken to our Returned Mail Centre where we attempt to reunite them with their owner. I have checked this database for you and unfortunately there are no matches at this stage.  Although I cannot investigate further for the particular letter you mentioned, I have recorded this occurrence for statistical purposes. This will help us identify trends in our mail network and take corrective action where necessary. The reference number for this record is 16501370. As this item was sent via regular mail, with no tracking, signature or extra cover I am unable to offer any compensation for this item. I apologise that this piece of mail has not yet been received and for the inconvenience this has caused, I hope this information has been of some assistance and you enjoy the rest of your day!  Need help or have an enquiry?

I also have to lodge a major complaint in regards to my private health insurance which I will not go into.


Before I start blogging about my visit to the annual Tomato Festival weekend and floral display Pollination at The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, I would like to dedicate the following blog to one of our long time regular customers who passed away over the weekend. She had pulled through the worst and was about to be transferred into rehab to recover before finding we found out of her recent passing. I hope she has gone to a better place and reunited with her one and only love of her life - her husband. May she rest in peace.

The annual Tomato Festival is held over a weekend at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. This year it is on the 17th and 18th February 2018. Again this is a first time event I am attending.

The event starts at 10 am on both days. I arrive early on Sunday as it seems to be cooler this morning but it soon becomes stinking hot as it was on Saturday.

First stop to find a toliet (not easy to find even with scattered signage) then onto my first activity for the day - a hour long walking tour of the garden starting from the festival village at 10.30 am. I recommend this if you are a new visitor to the Royal Botanic Gardens.

What did I learn from the walking tour around the gardens ? Here are some facts I learnt, plants and animals spotted and textures and smells sensed.

1. Eucalyptus Robusta - touch the tree trunk and it is spongy. Oils produced toxic due to the formaldahydes. Tree not so robust. Yes koalas will consume the leaves off this tree but have to sleep off the toxins from the leaves they consume for hours. Tree was in front of a wall bult to protect Mrs Macquarie from dangerous convicts.

2. Finger limes - yep on one bush I spotted quite a few hanging down - they look like green pea pods identified by their intense lime fragrance when split in half and full of small caviar like pearls. A single finger lime was spotted and tasted last time I was at the gardens last year.

3. Magnificent magnolias - these were huge white flowers amongst large leaves high in trees above - their scent is a vanilla although we were not close enough to smell them

4. Gingko - everyone knows about this ancient tree from China. It is used to help memory however standing in front of one you can't  help smelling what I thought was manure or fertilizer of some sort (poo) - I was completely  wrong in fact it was the stench of the smelly gingko tree hence it's  nickname "gingko stinko" - pity it is an attractive tree. My old Chinese physics teacher "Bill" - told me about this tree back in the 1980's and so I took a leaf off this tree and preserved it with sticky tape in my diary - I still have it.

5. The Wishing Tree - walk 3 times around it in a clockwise direction and 3 times around it in an anticlockwise direction to make your wish come true - what happens if you walk backwards ? This tree was uprooted and replanted to its current position in the gardens.

So many other smelly plants around the gardens - above are just some examples of plants and trees we explored on our tour which was a shortened version of a general walking tour emphasis is always on the Gadigal people and Aboriginal native plants many of which are edible or practical with some toxic.

After the hour or so walking tour it was off to the Diggers Heirloom Tomato Taste Test Tent  which is open between 11.30 am and 1 pm - by now the queue for this free tasting was quite long so I join the end of the queue. It didn't take long to work my way though the dozen or so varieties of tomatos before giving your verdict of your favourite tomato variety sampled. I could not decide which was my favourite so just said the last one - oh dear a sneak peep at the tally sheet indicated it was the least favourite tomato!

Next was off to the Harris Farm tent to purchase a kg box of mixed tomatos including ox heart, kumato, truss, grape kumato, grape, yellow snacking, cherry truss, baby roma just to name a few , a few more mixed tomato varieties I just sampled from the Digger tent, some Pepe Sayer cultured butter (I hope it survives the trip home in the sweltering heat!) and a cup of cold batch brewed kombucha - but not before the hose disconnected from the tap and sprayed froth over the cup being filling up with kombucha. After a quick reconnect I asked for a mixed half half cup of finger lime and ginger/nettle and rosehip kombucha.

Next off to the Cooking and Learning Hub tent (where I was able to sit down and where it was a lite cooler) for a bush tucker cooking demonstration with a chance to sample some of the bush tucker prepared - lemon myrtle prawns served with finger lime and quinoa kangaroo salad - I didn't  sample either as I am allergic to shellfish but tasted the lemon myrtle sauce - it was yummy and I don't  believe in eating our native animals.

BushFood creations cooking demonstartion talk and tasting @ Cooking & Learning Hub

I am still sitting (now fully inside the tent catching up with my blogging) as it is still sweltering hot outside although I just felt a cool breeze.

One more look at the stalls and another toliet stop before heading off to The Calyx to see Pollination. Then I think I will call it a day.

Must find out how and where I can purchase a ticket for the little red train that goes around the gardens next time I visit.

Photos attached - I took far too many to attach!

Signage to what's on within The Royal Botanic Gardens

One of the main entrances to The Royal Botanic Gardens and Tomato Festival Village

Map and Program from one of the information booths inside The Royal Botanic Gardens

The Guess How Many Tomatos There Are in the Harris Farm Markets Tomato Mandala display

Some of the many stalls at the Tomato Festival  in the Festival Village

The queues and tomato varieties @ the Diggers Heirloom Tomato Tast Test Tent

Pollination floral display from outside of The Calyx

Pollination floral display from inside The Calyx

White ibis -  "bin chickens" or "trash turkeys" roam freely aound The Royal Botanic Gardens along with other native animals such as the water dragon or monitor which I have spotted on more then one occasion around the gardens. Note: the top white ibis is special he or she is tagged with a bright yellow green tag on both wings with a #017 (I hope he or she can still fly! those tags through each wing look pretty uncomfortable) whilst all the others freely roaming around the gardens weren't - this may indicate that he or she is a long way from home maybe as far as the Shire down South or outer Western Sydney.

Rating: 8/10 I enjoyed both events very much. I didn't book a spot to one of the Long Lunches which is an outdoor function under a long tent with a continuous table set up as well as amazing views of harbour and garden surrounds with accompanying live music at the Tomato Festival - maybe next year. Nor did I book to have High Tea at the Calyx which is I believe all year round and indoors. Great if you have time to do either.