Carnival of Flowers

A couple of friends and I loaded up the little blue car and headed out of town and up the range, down the other side and through very dry and brown countryside to Toowoomba, where the Carnival of Flowers is held every year.

Their slogan was Eat, Stay, Laugh, Play and we certainly did all those things.  There are a couple of Council gardens that had amazing displays of flowers, and we wondered as we wandered...how did they get them all to bloom at the same time ......a bus driver told us they snip off the buds in the weeks leading up to Carnival, then let them bloom in time for the big week.  May be true, may be not, but a lot of work certainly went into producing all the vibrant colour, amazing displays and delicious scents.

The clever garden displays celebrating the 2018 Commonwealth Games 

Garden displays in Laurel Bank Park

The bees worked overtime

As well as being known as the Garden City, Toowoomba is also surrounded by great national parks, and has plenty of well-preserved heritage buildings, such as these.    

There was such a lot to see and do, either as part of the structured events of the Carnival, or just exploring a new city, and we only managed a very small part of it. We did a lot of walking, and enjoyed wandering and finding an impressive collection of street art murals by highly talented local and international artists. I love the creativity and life this kind of art brings to a city, and I think exploring the laneways, not knowing what we might find round each corner, was one of my favourite parts of the trip. 

My little camera had trouble capturing the full scope of these huge murals 

We splurged and bought tickets for an all day tour of the private open gardens, and which also gave us a lunch at the University and ringside seats for the Grand Parade.  While I loved the spectacle of the formal parks and gardens, I think I became a little blase after a while, seeing so many stunning gardens full of tulips, stocks and snapdragons, and the rest of the spring annuals, it was a little overwhelming. So it was quite a pleasure to visit a couple of award-winning native and bush-themed open gardens that were very much my favourites. 

I enjoyed the quirky and clever use of old tools and tin to make all sorts of garden ornaments and displays 

There's much that we did I've not told you about, but it can get boring after a while, so here's some last glimpses........of the street parade, views over the escarpment to the east and the Japanese Gardens, to finish off.

We arrived home right before hail, thunderstorms and heavy rain, so I'm glad to have the little blue car safely under cover. It's lovely to have the rain though, when so much of the country is suffering crippling drought, but I'm glad to be safe and sound and off the road, and I can hear my garden thirstily slurping up. all that moisture.

Till next time.............