Chinese Garden Of Friendship

I was feeling awful when I went in, stressed and disagreeable, but sitting by the water was amazing. The atmosphere is so calming and magical, all of your stress drains away!

Tucked away amongst the business of Darling Harbour is this peaceful retreat. Yes, I think it is worth visiting and the entry fee is still $6 per adult. I’ve been going to visit it for years! I wish I had gone sooner.

Sit a while quite close to the waterfall or cascading brook and lose yourself a while. It is very relaxing watching the water and the carp swimming by.

I wasn’t aware before coming that there was a $6 fee for admission. I guess they have to cover their bills, so this was ok. Since it was a gift for Australia’s bi-centennial and it’s called a ‘garden of friendship’, I figured, wrongly, that it would be free.

The garden was nice and there were many interesting things to see and read about, but I was expecting it to be better maintained. It’s coming up to be twenty years old, and certain parts are showing some wear. I had been expecting to see a perfectly maintained garden, which is a large part of what I expect in an eastern world garden.

The Chinese Garden is probably the most special place in Sydney, to me. This is one of the first places I’d taken my partner when we first met. On March 21st, 1998 we were married in the Chinese Garden by the Dragon Wall (see picture). It was the most lovely ceremony. I think we were one of the first couples to wed there. It was very lovely and we were given a round of applause at the end of our ceremony by a crowd of Japanese tourists. Very surreal.

It seems wherever I’ve been to a chinese garden in a city it was always a great escape from the day-to-day insanity, and this is no exception.

In a great location between darling harbour and china town, this is a nice place to get away without going away.