Floriade Canberra

Now in its thirtieth year, Floriade is an annual spring event here in Canberra. The first one was held to mark Canberra’s 75th birthday and Australia’s bicentenary in 1988. Lasting a month, it is not just a flower display, but has a fun fair, food, music and stalls selling everything from garden strimmers to honey.

It was a hot (got up to 30C!) and sunny day, so as you can imagine, the place was busy. The event is held down by the lake in Commonwealth Park. It isn’t that far from the city centre, but for fun we took the free open top double decker bus there. The event itself is also free, so a great way to spend an afternoon.

I confess to being slightly disappointed, as I was expecting more floral displays and more types of flowers. It is more of a celebration of spring than a flower festival, and the large number of stalls peddling lollies and cheap souvenirs was a bit off putting. Still, it was fun, and something different to do.

We walked back to town, took a nap, the went out for an excellent dinner at Briscola (can highly recommend the pumpkin ravioli). A lovely day, with a lovely ending.

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