We love to show our children the best parts of Australia and on our recent trip to the Blue Mountains, we found an absolute GEM!  The Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens is so much more than gardens, it is a conservation area, a rainforest, a school room and a wonderful place to share the day with your family, soaking up the incredible signature Blue Mountains views.

Unfortunately on the day we planned to visit the Mount Tomah Botanic Gardens, it was drizzling.  Never letting a little dampness stop us we rugged up Teddy in the backpack, donned our rain coats and Akubras and we were set.  Rain is an amazing sight from a place like the Blue Mountains and there is no better place to appreciate it from than the Gardens.  Excitedly we headed off, about 30kms from Lithgow.

Wow, was it worth the trip.  Not only were the massive garden areas beautiful but the views are so spectacular you can never get enough of them!  The gardens are built on a sloping mountain side with paths that zigzag down gently making walking with a family easy (or should I say running after them easy). 

Make sure you take the rainforest walk through the acres of rainforest that hides plenty of special finds for the kids, especially the fairy ring and tables.

We were lucky enough to be taken around the wonderful gardens by Rusty our tour guide, and the head of the Educational section of the Gardens.  This place is built to be family friendly and there is no shortage of activities to keep the kids occupied, searching on a treasure hunt and learning (without realising it sometimes) while you can stroll and enjoy your time there.  The time and effort that the Gardens staff have put into encouraging families truly pays off and this is a wonderful place to that all ages can enjoy. 

The restaurant is no exception to the family rule either.  No sooner had we sat, soaking in the breathtaking views, but the girls were given a pencil case and told to draw a lovely pattern on the table cloth (paper covered cloth of course).  Sipping their babycino’s with marshmallows, creating a wonderful fairy playground and all of us enjoying the beautiful food, this is one restaurant that we thoroughly enjoyed our time in. 

After our time exploring, the girls wanted a souvenir each so we visited the gift shop.  It was full of lovely books, posters, cards and more and the girls had a really hard time choosing.  Finally Jasmine chose a book of insects to help her identify the bugs she had been seeing (so very Jasmine!), while Jemma chose a beautiful fairy book that was full of gorgeous paintings of flowers with fairy's hiding behind the petals.  Both fitting souvenirs for the lovely location. 

Armed with their books the girls were very quiet on the way home.  When we asked them what they enjoyed most these were their answers:

Jasmine - "Seeing the Wollemi Pine... and ... seeing your grandfather's plant."  My grandparents discovered a Boronia they named Telopea Valley Star, something I spotted while we were walking around the gardens.  This was the first time Jasmine has seen the plant.

Jemma - "The Fairy Ring!" Jemma loved the ring of trees in the rainforest walk that we told them was a fairy ring. "And, the fly eating plants."  She had been looking forward to seeing those all day and she wasn't disappointed it seems.

The Mount Tomah is well worth putting aside a full day to visit as it has a tremendous amount of property the stroll and enjoy.  Before you go, check out what the current treasure hunt is as this changes regularly.  Also, don't miss the video in the display centre (downstairs from the restaurant and gift shop), make sure you stay till the end to see the screen open up to the best view in the gardens.

It is a great day to spend as a family, and the best part - they sleep really well at the end of it!

The Facts

Location
Bells Line of Road, Mount Tomah.  About 30kms from Lithgow towards Sydney.
Phone:     (02) 4567 2154
Website:  www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au

Cost
Family entry to the gardens is $11 and the Garden Tour is an additional $5.50 per person and well worth the cost.

If you have time, the gardens also provide a tour of their Conservation Area, unfortunately we were unable to take this walk due to weather so make sure you check on the day if it is running. Cost is $45 per person (minimum numbers may apply) and is a 4 hour walk through the Blue Mountains plant communities with lunch.

Make sure you book in the restaurant for lunch too if you are visiting, just to make sure you have a table ready for you.