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emma_in_dreamRuby was very keen on visiting Tropical Fruit World which turned out to be an excellent choice and one of my favourite places we visited.
Tropical Fruit World lies in a valley once owned by the NSW Department of Agriculture. In the 1930s they ran experiments there in growing mangos, bananas, macadamias and avocados, to see if they would grow and if people would eat them. Of course I think of these as basic foods but they were once foreign and exotic.
In the early 1970s the property was sold off to a guy who has dedicated his life to finding and planting different sorts of tropical trees in this beautiful valley. There are 525 varieties of fruit growing, with tens of thousands of trees. It’s the perfect place for it because the whole area lies on the remains of a volcanic explosion 20 million years ago which has left behind some rich soil and rocky outcrops like Mt Danger and Mt Warning.
We paid $40 each for a tour, which seemed expensive but you do get a lot out of it:
A tractor tour of the orchards.
Feeding domestic animals, including a very greedy sheep.
River boat tour along the bottom of the property.
A park with a miniature train that we all enjoyed.
Tasting of different fruits, the most interesting of which was definitely the strawberry flavoured bananas.
The whole thing made me feel sorry for West Australian gardeners because of course you can grow anything if you have actual top soil and rainfall, the two things we lack.
Oh, plus there was a Big Avocado so my life is now satisfactorily Australian.
Tropical Fruit World lies in a valley once owned by the NSW Department of Agriculture. In the 1930s they ran experiments there in growing mangos, bananas, macadamias and avocados, to see if they would grow and if people would eat them. Of course I think of these as basic foods but they were once foreign and exotic.
In the early 1970s the property was sold off to a guy who has dedicated his life to finding and planting different sorts of tropical trees in this beautiful valley. There are 525 varieties of fruit growing, with tens of thousands of trees. It’s the perfect place for it because the whole area lies on the remains of a volcanic explosion 20 million years ago which has left behind some rich soil and rocky outcrops like Mt Danger and Mt Warning.
We paid $40 each for a tour, which seemed expensive but you do get a lot out of it:
A tractor tour of the orchards.
Feeding domestic animals, including a very greedy sheep.
River boat tour along the bottom of the property.
A park with a miniature train that we all enjoyed.
Tasting of different fruits, the most interesting of which was definitely the strawberry flavoured bananas.
The whole thing made me feel sorry for West Australian gardeners because of course you can grow anything if you have actual top soil and rainfall, the two things we lack.
Oh, plus there was a Big Avocado so my life is now satisfactorily Australian.
