Sunday the 5th of March, The Art Path

After a 6am wake up, I drove from Broadford back to Shepparton as I had to attend an engagement party. Today was the day I was planning to see a lot of events around the festival.

After a quick stop at the Writers in Action home base (and a nap at home), it was off to do some activities.
My first stop on Sunday was the Royal Botanic Gardens for "The Art Path" nature walk. "Royal Botanic Gardens?" was my first thought. I'd lived in Shepp for 18 full years and had never heard of such a place. In my mind, I pictured lush greenery, beautiful flowers and loads of color. So, you can imagine my slight disappointment upon turning onto a rough dirty road and driving down to what appeared to be some standard Australian bush-land.
I started on the path and saw some people involved in a Live Action Role Playing (LARP) battle. This made me laugh a bit and it was great to see them fully involved whilst families spectated. Even more so was that they were fully dressed up in capes and cloaks despite the heat.

I turned onto the art path, admittedly going the wrong way, and first stumbled across a beautiful sculpture made of tree bark and feathers. I unfortunately did not see or couldn't find its name or creator and so cannot credit the artist.

Following along the art path, I then saw other sculptures scattered around me. Many of them were very impressive in detail and beauty.

Eventually I found myself amongst a mix of photo frames hanging from trees. I was approached by a volunteer who told me about the "Selfies in the Bush" exhibit where they wanted visitors to take selfies of themselves or the scenery within the frames. This was a great idea and everyone involved looke like they were enjoying themselves. The only suggestion I would make to improve this display would be to add more or bigger frames so more people can participate and join in the fun at the same time.

After this section, I walked past a few stalls, and at each I saw both parents and kids getting involved in different activities. One appeared to be making bird's nests. This looked really fun and it was a great way to get both parents and kids involved in the activities and the festival itself.

Overall the activity was fun, it got lots people involved from kids to adults and there was plenty to do. I definitely hope they run the art path again next year.