Struggling to find something to do on a weekend in Canberra that doesn't involve standing around wet sportsgrounds watching the kids play sport? Try a visit to the Botanic Gardens ... a very pleasant way to spend the best part of the day.

After organising this family picnic at the gardens a fortnight ago, we were kind of hoping for fine weather given in the lead up to today it had been raining fairly constantly.

My beautiful sister's mother is on her first overseas trip and we wanted somewhere special to take her that also gave plenty of room for my delightful niece to run around and play. Hence our trip to the Botanic Gardens.

The cafe here is now under new management (part of the Hellenic Club) and we started with morning tea sitting out on the deck area. We didn't have a reservation but staff were happy to reserve a table for us for lunch on the spot even with the large number of people already occuping tables.

A leasurely stroll through various parts of the gardens followed and despite it being autumn there were several plant species out in flower including the banksias, grevilleas, blackboys and everlasting daisies. Gardens now boast a new section themed around Australia's red centre (only opened in October 2013). While my niece was not keen on getting up close and personal with the Thorny Devil sculpture, she was quite happy following the kangaroo footprints while riding on her cousin's shoulders.

Lunch was back at the cafe. The food is a bit expensive ($13-18 for a burger with chips), however, it did taste really good.

Finished the afternoon with a stroll along the rainforest boardwalk, thankfully no leaches in sight.