Carnival of Flowers — ColourfulLittleMoments

Location: Toowoomba, Queensland

Accommodation: “Glen East”, North Toowoomba, Airbnb

Price Point: Average. On the lower end of average for the entire house. This is a 3 bedroom house, so if you were to travel with a group and split costs for all rooms this would be really affordable.

Favourite Thing: The flowers, of course! And having a girls weekend away with one of my oldest (time not age!) friends, Nicki.

Least Favourite Thing: Unable to use the fireplace in the Airbnb house

Day 1

This trip away was all about the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers (TCOF) which we had both wanted to see and with the COVID-19 travel restrictions across the country it seemed like a good year to go. We had never been in previous years so wouldn’t miss the activities that had to be cancelled this year, such as the parade, private open gardens, etc.

We arrived a little before the 2pm check in time but everything was available so unloaded the luggage and had a quick look through the house. The house was an early 20th century cottage that had been written up as close to the city centre, Queens Park Botanical Gardens, cafes, etc. It had some lovely features but being surrounded by trees was a little dark inside. We later discovered that the fireplace / combustion heater shown in one of the Airbnb photos wasn’t in working order / allowed to be used due to its age and issues with insurance. Whaaaah! I had been looking forward to cooler nights and sitting by fire with some wine and cheese so was pretty disappointed. But otherwise, the house was lovely and comfortable, although we thought it was strange that the beds didn’t have a top sheet. I’d come across this in Europe but never in Queensland where nights can be warm and too hot for just a doona. Finally, on the 3rd night, I worked out to take the doona out of its cover and use the cover as a sheet. I wish I had have thought about that very easy solution on the 1st night and before I started having weird-arse dreams as a result of being over-heated….. Anyway, moving on.

We ducked out for some lunch at a cafe, Burrow, less than 2 blocks away that had been listed in the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers #trEATS (particpating cafes, restaurants, around the Toowoomba region) and then went for a wander to familiarise ourselves with the area. After a stroll and some shopping we found Queens Park and took a few photos promising to return the next day for a longer look. On doing the loop back to the accommodation we realised just how close we were to Queens Park - perfect!!!

We decided to have a quiet night in to plan the next few days so popped in to Wendland Fine Foods (recommended by a friend and also only a short distance from the house) to purchase cheese, crackers, pate, and dinner for the night. It was all delicious! (The wine, bought from home, had been already in the fridge chilling. 😜)

Day 2

We started the day with breakfast, again at Burrow, it was so close and on the way to Queens Park. Today was a big walking day within Toowoomba and we managed to rack up over 20,000 steps.

Queens Park is spread across 25 hectares and includes formal floral displays (for the Carnival), play grounds, lawns, and on off-leash dog park. The floral displays, and the night garden, were kept to one area of the park, the closest corner to our accommodation. I was in heaven with the variety of flowers, all bright and beautiful and pretty, and took so many photos! It was great to see the bees enjoying the flowers too! If we didn’t have so much to cover over the next few days it would have been a perfect place to take a picnic, relax and take in the flowers. I think my favourites were the ranunculus but I loved them all.

The next garden was Laurel Bank Park but we took a round-about way to see if we could find some laneway street art. The TCOF offered a discovery walking tour, scheduled for late afternoon, where you would learn about the art , artists and architecture, but with limited time we decided to see what we could find on our own. I’m not sure that we saw the best of it, and certainly not all of it, but we managed to find quite a few.

While I preferred Queens Park (I think I just loved the varieties of flowers there), Nicki preferred Laurel Bank Park as the gardens were a little less formal. As well as the flower beds, Laurel Bank Park included a herb garden section, water displays with water lilies (nymphaea), themed gardens and some fun topiaries. I must admit I loved the old ‘county garden’ gate and wished I had the property to be able to have my own little country garden. Both gardens were fantastic and I’d go again another year.

Lunch was at Urban Grounds. Another #trEATS and located right across the road from Laurel Bank Park.

After a big day of walking we booked dinner at Toowoomba Thai (just down the street from the house and lucky we did as it was very popular!), freshened up and walked back down to Queens Park for the Night Garden. The ferris wheel had its light display going, there were light art pieces and lanterns hanging from trees. Lovely. But then we spotted the flower crowns complete with lights on some young girls wandering the park. Yes, we might be 40-something, but we wanted one! And we got one!

With our flower crowns lighting the way, we walked to the Thai restaurant for dinner. On seeing the full restaurant and being away from the fairytale gardens and atmosphere, we took our crowns off before entering. But not before being spotted and provoking a funny comment from a patron within. Oh well, it’s good to be young at heart right?

(I have included a couple of photos below, but the flowers were so beautiful I also post a load on the FB page.)

Day 3

After breakfast at Wendland Find Foods, we drove to the University of Southern Queensland’s Japanese Garden - Ju Raku En. The site is 3 hectares and is a traditionally designed Japanese stroll garden. The stroll takes you through maze like stone paths with head-high hedges, over traditional red, arched Japanese bridges (moon bridges) where you can watch the ducks glide and spot turtles stretching their head and necks from the water, stone hopping through streams and past waterfalls. Did you know the colour red in Japanese culture represents wisdom, transformation and all that is sacred? And Ju Raku En is roughly translated to mean ‘to enjoy peace and longevity in a public place’. Although the garden had a lot of visitors that day Nicki did say she felt the garden to be very peaceful.

Having taken my fair share of flower and duck photos, we took a drive a little drive through Highfields and on to Cabarlah to the Farmers Arms pub for lunch. I found this pub on a ‘to do’ list of the 8 best country pubs near Brisbane. I’m pretty sure I could spend my retirement making my way through lists of things to do and see, so why not cross one off the list while we were in the vicinity. The Farmers Arms pub is one of the oldest pubs in Queensland having been established in 1863. The bar had 2 service areas, 1 taking orders from the inside and restaurant area and the other from the semi enclosed outdoor area, complete with pool table and barrel tables. I could just imagine a Friday night at the pub with the locals, fruit pickers and tourists outside having a laugh and getting rowdy! The food was pretty good too - hello veggie burger and chips.

When planning out the day, Nicki had spotted Peacehaven Park which was also on the way to our last destination for the day. Peacehaven Park botanical garden is mostly made up of natives and provides picnic and BBQ facilities, kids playgrounds and has a lot of mosaic art. The park land (4.7 hectares) was donated by a local dairy farmer, Stan Kuhl, and the garden designed from his wish to promote global peace. How beautiful is that!

The last stop of the day was Rosalie House Vineyard and Cellar Door Restaurant in the Lilyvale Valley, Meringandan. I usually like to spend some time wandering around the vines and herb gardens but the wind had picked up considerably by this time so I only ducked out for a quick wander after we ordered some drinks and a cheese platter (it was huge!!!!). Rosalie House had some outdoor tables and umbrellas situated on the lawn in front of the vines which would be delightful on a warm, spring breeze day.

A sweet Australian native and bee at Peacehaven Park

Cheese platter at Rosalie House Vineyard and Cellar Door Reataurant

Day 4

The last morning before we head back home was a simple visit to the Toowoomba Farmers market. Also conveniently located very close to the Airbnb. I think I did a pretty good job of picking the accommodation, even if I do say so myself. 😂

We woke to find the wind was just as gusty as the afternoon before and it was a chilly day (10.4 degrees, feels like 1.6! ❄️) so we layered up and headed out complaining (that would be me) about the wind. Coffee on arrival and wandering the market stalls started. Not far in Nicki spotted a jerky stall so I waited and looked around at the adjacent stalls while she bought some for her husband. You know when you see someone, and you think “I know that person”. And I know that I should know who that person is because I feel like I’ve seen them so many times. Could it be someone I’ve met at the Darling Downs ambulance office? Nope, can’t be. That beard is way too long and beards are no good for the PPE masks. Staring, staring, staring. I know him and it’s driving me crazy. I must have been staring at this poor bloke for 10 minutes until finally a young boy comes up (bless him) and says “Are you Tarzan from Survivor?”. Of course it is! I didn’t even need to hear the answer to know that it exactly who it was. How funny to think that I knew him when all I’d done is watch him on TV.

Now that I was out of my misery and Nicki had made her purchase we completed the rounds and bought some avo on sourdough at one of the stalls before we bought the heavy stuff. All of the fruit, herbs and vegetables looked so fresh and healthy! I really need to get off my butt on weekends and find my own local farmers markets.

Shopping done, it was time to head home and back to reality. I loved the gardens and driving through the countryside (or chauffeured - thanks Nicki) and spotted so many shacks and sheds I’d love to photograph. There’s definitely more run down shacks to see, country pubs to visit and quaint towns to explore out this way.