Botanical

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Dress: Anthea Crawford jersey

Booties: Corelli @ Williams

Bag: Novo patent

Cuff: Wallace Bishop silver

L.O.V.E bangle: Adorne

Black beaded bracelets with charms: Thomas Sabo

Hat: Morgan & Taylor straw

Cat's Eye Sunglasses: Sportsgirl

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Once again spent the day exploring with my friend from overseas - this time in & around Mount Coot-tha. After a morning looking at the stars at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium, we stopped to smell the flowers (Ferdinand would be proud! See my earlier post Slugs & Snails & Puppy Dog's Tails if you want to find out what I mean...) at the verdant Botanical Gardens, enjoying the peace & serenity of the Japanese Garden, Bonsai House, National Freedom Walk, Exotic Rainforest & Tropical Dome, replete with colourful butterflies fluttering around our heads...

From there, we put on our sturdy hiking boots & took a guided tour of the Toowong Cemetery - a "city" of more than 120,000 dead - established in 1866 & reputed to be one of the most haunted burial sites in the country. Notable people interred include outback explorer Augustus Gregory, suffragette Emma Miller, first Mayor of Brisbane John Petrie & philanthropic siblings James & Mary Emelia Mayne, principal benefactors of the University of Queensland & subjects of the 1997 book, The Mayne Inheritance by local historian Rosamund Siemon. 

A "gothic tale of murder, madness & scandal across the generations," the book details the family's involvement in an infamous 1848 Kangaroo Point murder & the intense public scrutiny that lingered for generations regarding the family's subsequent acquisition of wealth, culminating in the unjust social persecution of the last of the family's line, reserved doctor James & his mentally unstable older sister, Mary Emelia, whose burial site is pictured below. In fact, it is widely believed that publication of the tome changed the prevailing view of the siblings in the eyes of the university they so graciously helped to establish, resulting in the pride-of-place reinstatement of their portraits in the UQ Art Museum. 

For a day spent traversing the great outdoors, this Anthea Crawford jersey dress was ideal, providing me with enough stretch to move about unencumbered while still looking stylish enough for the city. The vibrant pansy print was a little touch of spring in the fluctuating temperature; the look anchored by the black tights & booties still necessary when touched by the cool breeze in the shadow of the trees. A vivid cobalt patent handbag picked up on the blue colour of some of the pansies in the print & accessories such as my L.O.V.E bangle & beaded bracelets with a myriad of cute charms added an element of whimsy. For a detailed close-up, see below:

Protection from the Queensland sun was also an important concern, so a vintage-style straw cloche & cat's eye sunglasses completed the outfit. Scroll down for pictures of me feeling very "Joe Cool" about the whole thing...