Rick's Next Adventure: Secret Garden in Sydney

I read about Wendy's Secret Garden several years ago. I finally made it to the spot...it seems that Wendy was married for many years to a famous Australian painter. He died unexpectedly and she was of course grief-stricken. The land across from her on the downslope of the hill was vacant and unused, except that people had been throwing junk and trash down the hill for years.

Wendy threw herself into the project to reclaim the hillside and turn it into a small garden. Keep in mind she didn't even own the property! She worked tirelessly for several years and then tragedy struck again when her 39 year old daughter also died suddenly. This only made Wendy redouble her efforts.

The garden grew and grew, and Wendy even hired private gardeners to help her maintain the growing park. Today it is an urban paradise and has finally been granted status to remain unchanged. Wendy still pays the gardeners, and doesn't charge its visitors; she worries though about what will happen to her garden when she is gone.

After my garden visit I continued down the hill to the Milsons Point wharf, past Luna Park and up to the train station, where I took the train to Circular Quay. I stopped in at the Contemporary Art museum, which had some nice aboriginal art, but also a lot of "art" not worth seeing. Most museums are free in Sydney so no big deal!