Brisbane, QLD


Friday, October 19, 2012

FABULOUS FLORIADE

After lunch in the Botanic gardens with my student teacher colleagues of 50 years ago, we adjourned to Floriade to feast our eyes on even more flowers. The brochure states:
"Floriade is Australia's biggest celebration of spring. This iconic Canberra event runs for 30 days over the months of September and October. It showcases one million flowers in bloom, set in Canberra's Commonwealth Park and entry is free. We welcome over 400,000 local, interstate and international visitors each year to Canberra's spring festival."
This festival of flowers has been operating for 25 years and I have always wanted to visit one day. So I was thrilled to find it was an option on our reunion itinerary.

Come and tiptoe through the tulips with me.
 Flowers for as far as you could see. We were advised to go up in the ferris wheel to get the big picture but it was too cold to be sitting in the wind and we preferred to keep walking.


 The light shining through the petals highlighted the varigated colours.


 The different shades of pink and purple were just awesome.


 There were smaller flowers growing underneath the tulips.

 Pansies growing underneath the tulips.

 There were other kinds of flowers besides tulips, in this case poppies. 


Three tired little flowers.(Peter, Bill (TOH*), Colin)
*TOH= The Other Half.




33 comments:

  1. at first i thought you came to Florida when I saw the word Floriade and that you had misspelled it. HA HA. now this is a festival! wow. and i really really like those wheel barrows

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  2. OMG that is a photographer dream come true! I still can't get over adjusting to the fact that it is fall here and spring there! Fun fun fun.

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  3. You lucky, lucky thing. I've long wanted to see this spectacle for myself, but that just hasn't happened yet. I certainly enjoyed all your great shots though.

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  4. Oh Man! Tulips. Nothing beats their beauty in fields. You've heard this little ditty haven't you:

    Tulips in the garden
    Tulips in the park
    But the tulips I like best
    Are the tulips in the dark.


    Bwahahahahaha!

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  5. What a beautiful Spring thing. The pictures are just perfection. I bet it would be neat to see the whole thing from the top of the ferris wheel, but that doesn't sound like fun in wind and cold to me either.

    Thanks for sharing (I never get to see tulips 'in real' any more, because they don't bloom in Florida.)

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  6. Tulips from Canberra, not Amsterdam. I have the Amsterdam equivalent on my want-to-see list. They look amazing all massed together.

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  7. Diane!!!!!
    I will have your readers know that the photo of the three "charmers" was NOT of tired "little flowers", we were carefully analysing the blooms and in great discourse on the outlay of the spectacle.
    There is ALWAYS room for improvement and who knows our report may be appreciated by the organisers and we will be called on in 2013 to supervise.
    Cheers (from very sunny Young)!!!
    Colin
    PS: You would be amazed at my gardening exploits at Mother's. A horticulturalist's dream!!

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  8. enjoyed re-visiting Floriade. It is has been so many years now since I did get there. It is a photographer's paradise isn't it? I would love to just wander and take photos all day.

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  9. Oh wow, Diane! Gorgeous tulips and I love the poppies too. Your photos are just stunning. Looks like a great visit, have a wonderful weekend.

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  10. A very enjoyable post. Thank you, and my best regards to the Last of the summer wine!

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  11. This is such a beautiful place, it's so nice to see all of the colorful flowers as there's none left here. I so want to come back to Australia for our winter and your summer.

    You have some magnificent photos here Diane, great memories for the future. How long was or is your reunion?

    Have a fantastic weekend!

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  12. darlin,
    Our reunion was for 3 days.

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  13. Beautiful tulips and poppies! You guys timed your reunion perfectly for prime bloom display.

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  14. So much colour every where, what a lovely day out I would be Ooing and Ahhing at everything.
    Now I will be on the look out for wheelbarrows.

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  15. Wheelbarrows in gardens are often tired looking critters - these ones painted in such a strong primary colour look great.
    Excellent photos, as usual.

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  16. Great shots Diane. I remember the first Floriade and have seen quite a few since. There is nothing quite so exciting as the first time.

    Thanks for the Royals. I am a bit flat out at the moment but will get to them.

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  17. omg diane- what a spectacular!
    so many tulips...gorgeous and the poppies! it looks like i could step into the compute and be there!


    looks like a great visit!

    happy weekend dearest!

    xx

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  18. Nice pictures of the tulips. We have a Floriade too here, once in ten years. It has the same name. In 2022 it will be in our hometown Almere. Then I will be 75!, hope I can still walk then to watch ha,ha.

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  19. Your reunion must have been very special and how lovely to see so many lovely flowers. I wonder what thinggs might have looked like from the ferris wheel? Lovely photos Dianne!

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  20. Fantastic, we also have a Floriade like that in Holland in a park called Keukenhof.

    Greetings,
    Filip

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  21. I love this!!!! Can I share my grandpa 's joke, he doesn't fear dying. he told us, tell your relatives a nice place you adore. When you die, place your body there, you will rise up again.

    So give me the exact address of this glorious place, I will write it in my will. When i rise up, i will become an aussie.

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  22. Ann it is only there for one month a year. So you better plan to die in September/October. It is in Commonwealth Park Canberra.

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  23. Looks very lovely.
    We used to have Floriade on our calenders once....but they don't make those anymore.

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  24. Gorgeous photos! It's fun to see tulips again from your Springtime in Australia!

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  25. Oh wow, what an amazing collection of pretty flowers you've got here today Diane, and of course those three pretty flowers in the last shot are very cute too :)

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  26. Oh.My.Gosh!
    LOVELY shots!
    I would be curious how all that looked atop the ferris wheel however. :)
    The wheelbarrows filled with flowers is a wonderful idea.

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  27. Looks like a copy of the famous Keukenhof in Holland ! Beautiful colors !

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  28. The tulips are simply beautiful. It's nice to see these colorful blossoms at a time when we're busy raking fallen leaves in the yard.

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  29. Wonderful photos of all the gorgeous tulips! You are full on into spring and we are well into fall. (Really raw and damp on my walk this morning.) It lifted my mood to see the colors and the blue sky in your photos.

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  30. Beautiful photos Diane - I can feel your joy at revelling in these gorgeous flowers. It is a gorgeous spot to visit isn't it :D)

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  31. AWESOME colours! Flowers like this aren't often associated with OZ which makes the display even more amazing!

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  32. Wow, Diane, these flowers are breathtaking! I can imagine how beautiful they would be in person.

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