Brisbane Botanic Gardens <br />Mt. Coot-Tha Rd., Mt. Coot-Tha, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. <p>The Brisbane Botanic Gardens, founded in 1976, is 52 hectares of over 20 000 plants representing approximately 5000 species from around the world. The gardens actually originated in 1828 next to the river in central Brisbane. Due to flooding problems, the gardens were officially shifted to Mt Coot-Tha but the original location still exists as a botanical garden. This new location now contains a Tropical Dome with a central pond, a Japanese Garden that was moved here from outside the Japan Pavilion at World Expo 88 in Brisbane and the Bonsai House opened in 1999 that contains over 300 miniaturised trees. Other attractions include the Arid Zone containing many strange but hardy plants, an Australian Rainforest and Exotic Rainforest, the peaceful Lagoon and Bamboo Grove, Temperate and Herb Garden. The Botanical Gardens is also the home of The Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium where you can sit down and watch a unique cosmic show displayed onto the dome roof via some specialsed projection equipment. There's even a Library, Herbarium, many beautiful flowers, spectacular lookouts giving you a view of Brisbane from above and many Walkways to explore this diverse place. If you get hungry, there is a Restaurant that can also cater for functions such as weddings.</p> <br />Mt. Coot-tha was named after a stingless bee by local aborigines. Coot-tha is the English spelling of the aboriginal word 'kuta' which means place of honey or bee.