Geelong Botanic Gardens

On the crest of Eastern Park overlooking Corio Bay, Geelong's botanic gardens combine a heritage nineteenth-century core with a celebrated modern dry garden. The 21st Century Garden at the entrance shows what thrives without irrigation - succulents, grasses and Mediterranean and Australian species massed for year-round effect - while the older beds keep their Victorian avenues, a fernery and rare mature trees, among them one of the oldest in any Australian botanic garden. Sculpture and a tea house sit among the paths. Free and open daily, it is a compact, quietly influential garden a short walk from the waterfront.