Flower Power
Spring is a time for renewal, change and growth. A time that gardeners delight in, and nature obliges with riotous colours, warmer temperatures and a general vibe of excitement and energy.
But if the thought of donning garden gloves, unfashionably utilitarian clothing and channeling your inner Costa Georgiadis is not for you, hang on tight to your antihistamines and be inspired, delighted and energised by this annual springtime tour, a floral pilgrimage to see the best of NSW’s spring gardens: Hunter Valley Gardens, Bowral’s Tulip Time and Canberra’s month long rockstar springfest, Floriade. These incredible paeons to spring are at their glorious height. Explore them all in comfort and great company, hosted by the horticulturally fabulous and fun Jason Hodges of Better Homes & Garden fame, without raising so much as a trowel.
Introductions, great coffee from Bureau and a super-comfortable coach are an awesome start to any road-trip, and Chris Watson and his team have this dialed as we head off bright and early from Tamworth NSW, and I get a glimpse of the town’s main claim to fame, the fabulous Golden Guitar. We also pass the less spectacular but arguably more useful, state-of-the-art Australian Equine and Livestock Event Centre, the largest of its kind in the Southern hemisphere.
Happiness in the Hunter Valley Gardens
Spread over a massive fourteen hectares, this magical fantasy has been conjured from horse paddocks and vineyards to include ten sublime and individually themed gardens set amid lakes and water features, all joined by 8 km of walking trails. A true gardener’s inspiration, or nature’s theme park for families, the Gardens will mesmerise in any season. They include light displays at night, an amusement ride and food stall area in school holidays and other seasonal events but springtime is when they are at their peak.
The Rose Garden showcases sixty rose varieties and 6,000 bushes including the Hunter’s exclusive ‘Imelda Rose’. The Oriental Garden is based on Japanese and Korean traditional garden design and features bonsais, water features and a lovely Japanese pagoda. Families will love the Storybook Garden complete with Mad Hatter’s Tea Party characters, Humpty Dumpty and other garden faves for the kiddies.
You’ll be dazzled by the more than 500,000 annuals planted each year and immediately re-inspired to do better in your own garden when you get home (but you may get over this!).
Domaine de Binet in the Hunter Valley. Images Caroline Smith
And to help you along with that spring surge of energy and enthusiasm, Daniel Binet, the maverick young wine-maker behind the boutique Domain de Binet Winery, will give you his tasting notes delivered with funny anecdotes as he serves some of his (many) favourite wines from whites to reds, including Le Grand Coq (better ask Daniel!) and the signature shiraz, Alexander the Great.
You Got Mail!
The iconic Riverboat Postman leaves from Brooklyn every weekday. Images Caroline Smith
For a change of pace and to discover another hidden charm and piece of history on the waterways north of Sydney, we headed to Brooklyn to join the iconic Riverboat Postman on its weekday rounds, delivering mail on behalf of Australia Post to the isolated residents along about 40km of the lower reaches of the Hawkesbury River.
Top deck views and Teddy waiting for his daily mail (and treat) from the Riverboat Postman. Images Caroline Smith
Not just another boat tour, this absolute treasure is skippered by local captains who grew up around the Hawkesbury and know its secrets - and all the stories, some of them true! It’s a gentle cruise narrated by the skipper with part historical background, part gossip and part tall tales, accompanied by morning tea with homemade Anzac bikkies and a hearty and delicious ploughman’s-style lunch with freshly baked Turkish rolls. And, as they say onboard, “if the boat’s a-floatin,’ the bar is open” serving your drink of choice. Hang out on the open top deck or relax inside the cabin and watch as the mail (and perhaps the odd bottle of whiskey) is delivered to grateful residents, and their dogs, like Teddy, who are the first to greet the boat in return for a very much anticipated treat!
Spend a night in the big smoke, Sydney, again on the water with a Journey Beyond Sydney Starlight Dinner Cruise, departing from vibrant and busy King St Wharf and featuring an excellent menu and wine list, gorgeous night views of Sydney Harbour and culminating, if you’re lucky, as we were, with fireworks off Rose Bay.
But more gardens await!
Tiptoe Through the Tulips
Bowral’s stunning Tulip Time at Corbett Gardens. Images Caroline Smith
A 2-hour drive south to the Southern Highlands’ Corbett Gardens delivers us to charming downtown Bowral’s annual Tulip Time festival which is in full and multi-coloured bloom (fun fact; tulips come in every colour but blue!). Once the most coveted and expensive flower bulb in the world, tulips herald the arrival of spring, when the cooler climate trees and flowers burst into life.
After Tulip Time, its “Tasting Time” (again)! Wine tasting, that is, at Centennial Vineyards in Bowral, followed by a lunch feast. What could be more festive to celebrate the bacchanalian rites of spring!
Fortified with flowers and wine (and maybe song if you can persuade Jason to oblige with a tune) we cruised on to Canberra, home of the main event, Floriade.
The city with a plan (literally), has spring sewn up. In preparation for attending this month-long Festival where the blooms are the rockstars, we build excitement and take the long way there, with a tour of the highlights of Canberra. With its wattle and eucalyptus-lined avenues, the gorgeous man-made (read: shallow) Lake Burley Griffin, a view of the city from Mt Ainslie and a drive-by of Duntroon, The Australian War Memorial (where I played in the grounds as a child), the Arboretum, National Gallery, and a quick squiz at the pollies and the new Parliament House, Canberra appears an artwork still in production; a sculpture of a city.
Say It With Flowers: Floriade!
More a festival than a flower show, Floriade has become a favourite fixture on the ACT calendar each year, after the original, held as a celebration of Australia’s Bicentenary. Now a month-long event and the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere, on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin and extending further into some of Canberra’s suburbs, it is way more than a wildly popular and successful flower display.
The art, the flowers, the vibe - Floriade has it all. Images Caroline Smith
Featuring music stages, live performances of varying kinds, a large variety of food trucks and vendors, plenty of seating and even a Gin Garden, this delightful outdoor spectacular is truly appealing to everyone (over 430,00 of them in 2023). There is plentiful shade, seating and facilities and the setting is lakeside with a huge variety and design of the more than one million flower bulbs in dazzling massed displays and explosions of colour. How do you follow Floriade?
Heritage, history and Harpers Mansion Maze
After a morning experiencing a taste of life on a sheep station at Gold Creek Station (and I don’t mean drought, hardship and backbreaking labour, but there’s that too) with a demonstration of a working kelpie dog, Davo’s, skill at bringing in a mob of sheep, watching a shearer at work to remove a fleece and indulging in a meat-fest BBQ of steak and sausages (albeit with a few delicious salads and a very non-traditional but thirst-quenching pear cider) followed by a good ol’ lamington and a cuppa, it’s time to hit the trail home.
A real taste of farm life and food at Gold Creek Station. Images Caroline Smith
But there’s one more garden (on a more realistic scale) complete with maze to visit in the gentle countryside of manicured villages and vineyards of the Southern Highlands. Berrima, with its original stone gaol that has hosted both criminals and German internees during WWII, cute craft shops, art galleries and restaurants, is also home to the restored, heritage-listed, Georgian Harpers Mansion with its manicured gardens and maze to explore.
If this Floriade Explorer tour doesn’t get your spring juices flowing with a hankering to foster your very own floriade-at-home, nothing will! But no need to get down and dirty if actual gardening is not your thing; simply fertilise your mind, get a spring in your step, find your inner hippie, and step aboard your stairway to spring heaven again next year.
Too much Floriade is never enough. Images Caroline Smith
Stays
Hunter Valley
- Wine Country Motor Inn, Cessnock: well-located in the heart of the Hunter, this 4-star property is modern and comfortable with friendly helpful service. A great base for exploring the Hunter Valley Gardens, local vineyards, wineries and attractions.
Sydney
- Rydges Sydney Central: great central Sydney location in trendy Surry Hills, minutes from the CBD and central railway station, this 4-star property has spacious rooms and modern facilities for business or leisure. Offers good breakfast, onsite microbrewery and restaurant and indoor heated pool.
Canberra
- A By Adina Canberra: Just meters from Floriade, this modern 4.5-star hotel is situated in an ideal location at the doorstep of the Parliamentary Triangle and Lake Burley Griffin and near the must-see experiences and landmarks of Canberra. Offering two gyms, 24hr room service, a restaurant and bar and secure parking, rooms have every convenience, stunning views and a modern design aesthetic.
Getting there
Chris Watson’s Rediscover Travel hosts the Floriade Explorer Tour each September, 6 days/5 nights departing Tamworth NSW. (And similar garden tours in Western Australia and Tasmania.) To book call
1300 552 032.