And so it begins ...

 Despite Trump's best attempts to disrupt my departure, the flight through the Middle East was smooth and efficient. It did feel a little strange watching the flight tracker as we flew up the Strait of Hormuz though!

It was a very quick change over in Abu Dhabi, and we joined those who had flown from Sydney, including my other seat companions. The luggage arrived safely and the next challenge was finding the bus terminal. It took much longer than I expected, and several back and forths to find the terminal 'hiding' around a corner. After boarding it, though, I could relax through to Reading, then I had a wait for the train to take me to St Austell. That train was quite full, but I manage seats for both my backpack and myself.

The train journey provided a variety of views, with lots of countryside, a short stretch where we were right on the edge of the ocean, and lots of villages with the rows and rows of 2 up, 2 down terrace houses. By the time we crossed from Devon into Cornwall, across the Tamar Bridge, I was chatting to 2 lovely ladies, one of whom was also getting of in St Austell. She offered to drive me down to my accomodation - a delightful gift!

The Royal Albert Bridge over the Tamar River, opened in 1859.

Having had virtually no sleep for several days, I was hoping for a solid night's sleep, but that didn't eventuate. I still felt sufficiently rested though, and today was spent ticking off the first on my bucket list: The Eden Project which was just a short bur ride away.

I have taken way too many photos, so it was hard to choose! If you don't know anything about the Eden Project, check out its website - it is genuinely unique. The special attractions are the 2 biomes: a Mediterranean one, which included some WA plants as well, and the Rainforest one, which was amazing, including a very high platform above the canopy, which, despite my fear of high open places, I absolutely loved. Here's a very small sample of my photos

 Australian plants in the Mediterranean biome

The Woolemi Pine was doing well outside, but the Buxton gum (yes!) had been heavily pruned. 

   The Roul Roul, partridge from places like Burma, Thailand, Malaysia were introduced to eat the bugs. The sparrows, robins and blackbirds just found their own way in!

The Cloud bridge  - the Biome is heated through thermal energy - a pipe going 3 miles down has cold water fed into it, then the steam comes though pipes in the Biome casing.

At the top!

And one of the views looking down

Apparently this hibiscus is very rare - about 450 plants exist in the world! I did a short guided tour with one of the educational group which was fascinating. Her focus was on making small differences in our lives to help prevent rainforest destruction etc. So focusing on Fair-trade products and avoiding products like Palm Oil. 

Their 'Madagascan' Vanilla plant (Vanilla planifolia) was also flowering (sorry - no photo). The Vanilla flowers have to be hand pollinated and they only open for a day, once a year!

I'll do a separate post on artworks - there were so many amazing sculptures throughout the gardens!