The Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens is in the middle of the Gold Coast, tucked away from the road from Ashmore Road through to the back of the Royal Pines Resort Golf Course and down to the Nerang River.
The main part of the Botanic Gardens is featured around a lake area, called Feature Lake. On entering the gardens, the road winds down to the lake and along it, passing a couple of small BBQ and picnic areas, before reaching larger parking areas and more facilities.
A walk surrounds the lake, crossing over the edges of it and linking a small island in the middle of the lake to each side. Boardwalks beside the lake are great spots to look across the scenic water feature and the wildlife within it, including water birds and aquatic animals.
There were lizards sunning themselves on rocks near the water, especially on the island in the middle of the lake.
The sensory garden explores all of the sensors within a display area. The taste section excited the boys, however, tasting is discouraged without a guide.
Further along the lake are display gardens and a larger area with picnic tables, seating, and BBQs. There are nice shady spots here and the grass leads to the edge of the lake. On a hot day the lake looks very inviting, however, swimming is not allowed.
Instead of a swim, head around the corner to the Friends Centre and grab a gourmet ice-cream to cool down, or get a cool drink or fresh coffee. A part of the sales from the cafe goes to improving the gardens. The cafe is open between
The Friends Centre is where you can join a volunteer guided walk for an orientation walk of the botanic gardens and interpretation of the plant collection. The guided walks are at 10am on the first Sunday and the thirst Wednesday of the month.
Behind the Friends Centre (north of it) is an Indigenous Plant Use Trail. The trail has signs describing the use of the plants. The walk continues on to the back part of the Botanic Gardens. The back part is spread out more with lots of open space, ample for many years of expansion.
There is a strong focus on Australian plants, something good for attracting Australian wildlife. If you want to see a broader range of plants including non-native plants, then these gardens are not going to provide a lot for you. The Gold Coast Regional Botanic Gardens provides an outing destination in addition to the botanic garden values it has, something that some botanical gardens don’t provide.
To the west of the lake is a children’s playground. The playground has lots of activities from see-saw, swings, slippery dips, balancing logs, and various climbing equipment. The playground is well shaded with a covered over most of it.
There is more parking near the playground, water fountains, and toilet block. There are picnic tables but there are no BBQs.
Dogs are not allowed around the Feature Lake area but they can be walked on-leash once you are away from the lake. Of course, this means if you want to use the BBQs you will need to leave the dogs at home, or bring your own BBQ.
Continue further out from the playground leads to the dogs off-leash area. The off-leash area has signs to instruct where the area starts/ends, but they is no fence or clean boundary so it is good to be familiar with were the off-leash area is.
The off-leash area follows along Lake Rosser and down to Nerang River. An alternate entrance heads directly into the off-leash area from the of Cabana Boulevard. The name of Lake Rosser comes from the botanical gardens were once called Rosser Park Regional Botanic Gardens and before that, simply Rosser Park.