Irony in the Garden

One day while my mother was here in Australia with me we went to the botanical gardens. Let the first point be that they are stunning. Absolutely beautiful. Both the ones in Brisbane city as well as the one a little outside the city on Mt. Coot-tha. Well first we found ourselves among the vegetation in the city, looking at beautiful warped trees: pines of all shapes and sizes, what I now know to be relatives of monkey puzzle trees, and many many others. I was in love. There were even epiphytes. Could any nerdy biology student ask for more?

Well yes, apparently they can. After exploring the city garden we headed up the hill (mountain according to the people of Brisbane) to the botanical garden and planetarium. These gardens not only had the same diversity of trees, but also a herb garden containing a cinnamon tree! I had never seen one before! Talk about something to set the nerves on fire. There was also a fern house, that had ferns of all shapes and sizes, a few of which I had seen in a previous botany class. Realizing that these plants actually lived somewhere outside of lab was just... mind boggling. We then went through a rainforest or tropical house that had cocoa trees, as well as the arabica coffee plant, and some vanilla for good measure. Basically, the garden was one giant mocha of perfection. 

We then wandered through the other bits of forest looking at spiders and lizards on our way until we reached the Japanese garden. There was a nice little introduction telling us how Japan had donated the garden and how all visitors should take a moment to appreciate the silence, and listen to the trickle of water. Well, we had every intention of following such directions. Until of course we were sitting on the nice little bench and began to hear music. Not trickling water. Music. And not just any music, but the theme song to Pirates of the Caribbean. 

Oh yes, here we are sitting in a lovely peaceful Japanese garden on a mountain in the middle of Australia, and we hear the Pirates theme song over the loud speaker. Quickly followed by the Mission Impossible theme song no less. It was irony at it's finest.