We are spending a couple of days at the RACV Country Club at Healesville. Just a couple of days for a break and a chance to spend some time in the Upper Yarra Vallley.

Yesterday, we spent a few hours at the Blue Lotus Water Garden in Yarra Junction. This extensive garden is only open over the summer months and includes a very large area of water lilly ponds.. There are plenty of picnic and BBQ areas if you come with a group. I might have thought that there would be just a few ponds with some nice flowering plants for sale. I didn’t expect such a large scenic area of beautiful and exotic plants.

The owner had originally used this swampy area of land as a farm on which to grow vegetables. Then he had the idea of starting a fly fishing resort which meant constructing a series of dams with some lilies and water plants around the edge for shelter for the fish. Unfortunately, the birds ate all the fish and he was left with just the water plants. Not to be deterred, these plants took over his interest and he turned his property into quite a spectacular commercial enterprise.

The garden has now grown to cover 14 acres. You can walk across a number of bridges to islands in the two main lakes, see hothouses of very rare and exotic plants, or just potter along the pathways in a very pleasant atmosphere. You’ll see dozens of varieties of Lotus plants and water lillies.

Make sure that you bring your camera and stay long enough to have a coffee in the cafe.