Royal Botanic Gardens vs Vigil (WYD08)

Typically, a sleep out vigil happens at World Youth Days. Since some of us already suffered colds, it was in our best interest not to subject ourselves to a cold night out under the stars. Instead we visited the Royal Botanic Gardens.

The garden was vast and when we arrived that evening at 5.30pm, families with strollers, joggers, couples were taking walks. And we simply enjoyed the slow walk, marveling at the century old trees, the bent-over ‘Dragon Blood’ tree.


Just then a ranger car drove past with a loud hailer announcement: “The park will be closing in 5 minutes, please make your way to the nearest exit.” It was 6pm.

*Gulp* Where IS the nearest exit? The more we walked the darker it got. Then I noticed there are not a single lamp post in sight. If we don’t get out, we’ll be in a pitch dark garden, with no sleeping bag, no warm clothing. We’d be forced to ‘camp out’. Wouldn’t this be a real irony that we ‘escaped’ the vigil to be ‘stuck’ in an involuntary camp out?

Soon enough we found the exit, following out instincts.

Days later, I read it in a magazine that
“The Royal Botanic Gardens reluctantly hosts 11,000 grey-headed flying foxes, numbers have tripled in the past decade and they’re overwhelming and killing off historic Palm Grove, a world-renowned tree collection dating to 1828. Gardens authorities are determined to uproot them, so marvel at Sydney’s largest concentration of wild native mammals while you still can. www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au”

Too bad we couldn’t stay to ‘marvel’ at 11,000 flying foxes. Thanks but no thanks 