Famous Australian people and landmarks on Burke’s Backyard
While Don was driving along a street in Matamata, he spotted one of the best examples of a deciduous flowering magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana) that he has ever seen. This magnificent tree was around 25m (80′) high, with an even greater spread. The owner of the...
The Kea (Nestor notabilis) is an alpine parrot that lives in the high country of the South Island of New Zealand. It is a drab, olive green colour, with bright orangey red underneath the wings. Keas are opportunistic feeders accused of scavenging off sheep carcasses,...
Ted Smyth is regarded as one of the finest garden designers in the world. He lives and builds his gardens in Auckland, and has created many outstanding gardens in his long career. Don visited the home of architect, Ron Sang, to meet Ted and see a fine example of his...
Don and the Burke’s Backyard team travelled to Matamata, a rural town in the Waikato region of the North Island. Matamata is well known for its racehorses and dairy farms, but also as one of the principal filming areas for the movie ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Film site...
Hell’s Gate in Rotorua is New Zealand’s most active thermal reserve. It features pools of boiling mud, geysers, sulphur fumeroles, steam vents and hot geothermal waters. The Maori name for the area is Tikitere, but it became widely known as Hell’s...
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand. It was first settled by Europeans in about 1815 and was established as a city nearly 150 years ago. It is internationally regarded as one of the great garden cities of the world, in fact it was voted...
Don met with Tara Atkinson-Renton, Head of the New Zealand Native Section at Orana Wildlife Park in Christchurch. Tara showed Don around the Kiwi Breeding Unit (KBU), which houses three kiwis, a breeding pair and a young male named
Just 10 minutes from Canberra city centre, Cockington Green is a fabulous display of miniature buildings and landscaped gardens. The small buildings are meticulously crafted on the premises. They are scale models of their full-size counterparts in Great Britain and...
The Alhambra, meaning red fortress, stands majestically on red clay hills to the east of Granada, in the south of Spain. It is considered to be the finest surviving medieval palace anywhere in the world and its gardens, patios and fountains have inspired gardening...
The gardens of the Palace of Versailles are immense, covering about 1200 hectares (the botanic gardens in Sydney and Melbourne by way of comparison only occupy around 30 hectares). The central axis of the garden, which focuses on the palace, is 8km (five miles) long....