17. Sunshine Spotted near Eden

 Saturday morning had no rain. We followed through on our decision to go to The Eden Project. This is an ecological project near us that has magnificent gardens and biomes to explore. It’s on the site of an old china clay quarry. The biomes included a Rainforest Biome and a Mediterranean Biome as well as a Core building which features arts and science merging into the future. It’s all very educational and signposts scattered throughout the different sections posed questions that make us think about our actions and how we leave our footprint on this world. Within each biome, there are sections representing different parts of the world. I’ll let the photos tell the story. Because it has been so cold there weren’t that many flowers in bloom yet in their outdoor gardens. I suspect that may be a few more weeks. 

The Eden Project also has a zip line that people can choose to take from one side of the park to the other. There were several brave souls who zipped by us with their lungs getting lots of exercise too as they yelled and screamed as they went by.  

The afternoon brought gloriously warm sunshine which we so welcomed. We walked down to the harbour, really just a stone’s throw from where we are staying. Locals tell us that the town of Charlestown has really changed in the last twenty years. There is a lot of tourist development happening and when the old coal plant closed down not that long ago, developers used the land to build some beautiful new housing developments. And a lot of the older establishments have been renovated and converted into accommodation preferred by tourists. Nice art galleries and shops and restaurants have also sprung up to meet the demand. 

I’m not sure if you can tell but The Eden Project’s restaurant has suspended animated mechanical bugs that presumably move when operational. 

This little robin befriended me while I waited for David to come down from the Rainforest Canopy climb. 

This was my favourite sign post. What plants would you take with you if you were exploring a new territory? In this case it was what the explorers brought with them to Hawaii that established many of the plants in their eco network. 

Yes even I walked across the swinging bridge.
Kids were almost running across it. 

This is what the biomes look like from the outside. 

David loves his waterfalls. 

David coming down from the Canopy Walk. It gets so hot and humid at the top (which is a long way up) that staff have to change their stations every 60 minutes. In fact, the whole time we were in the Rainforest we had to keep cleaning our camera lens because it fogged up from the humidity. 

These  look like petunias to me but I’ve never seen them before on large bushes or trees. 

Jon, this one’s for you. A well-established Japanese maple. 

For Susan and Lloyd. If you zoom in close it looks like a meeting of Westies in the Charlestown Harbour. Cornwall people love their dogs. 

Ships docked in the harbour at Charlestown. 

For mes petits enfants. We waited quite awhile to get this shot of the zip liners. They were already sold out for the day. Otherwise Grampy says he would have tried it, too.  

We have never seen holly growing wild before.
It grew wild like this down a whole street.
The leaves are almost emerald green they are so shiny.