Road trip worthy events
Big Red Bash
Every July, Birdsville’s iconic Big Red Bash kicks off under the open skies of Australia’s Simpson Desert. Thousands of people from around Australia, and the world, head into the desert for the most remote music festival on the planet.
Stanthorpe Apple & Grape Harvest Festival
3hrs drive South West from Brisbane
The Stanthorpe Apple & Grape Harvest Festival is one of Queensland’s longest running and most successful Festivals! The biennial festival is a celebration of the Granite Belt region’s produce and booming wine industry. An average of 60,000 people attend the festival and this is arguably Australia’s leading harvest festival having a successful track record spanning five decades.
A FEAST FOR ALL THE SENSES! The Stanthorpe Apple & Grape Festival is a true feast for all the senses. We've got 10 days packed with family fun, from street parades to foodies markets, buskers and live entertainment.
Grafton's Jacaranda Festival 2023
6.5hrs drive north from Sydney, 3.5hrs drive south from Brisbane
Celebrating the town's hundreds of lilac-blossomed trees with art exhibitions, live music, markets and parades. Immerse yourself in 10 glorious days of celebration. Raise a glass of something good, to the all-too-brief natural wonder of the blossoming Jacarandas. Here’s to everything that’s great about the regional life. Beautiful, welcoming, fun, creative and a little bit crazy. From Jacaranda Queens to Drag Queens, and everyone in between.
Scenic Rim Winter Harvest Festival
1.5hrs drive South West from Brisbane
Scenic Rim Winter Harvest Festival is a 1 day festival - all ages that is part of Scenic Rim’s Eat Like A Local Month that runs throughout the month of June.
Eat Local Month’s signature event is an authentic food and farming festival which showcases the delicious array of food and wine that’s produced in the Scenic Rim. The Winter Harvest Festival features farmers, producers, suppliers, retailers and chefs from across the region and offers visitors the opportunity to literally eat their way around the Scenic Rim.
For more information go to https://www.eatlocalmonth.com.au/
Scenic Rim Eat Like A Local Month
1.5hrs drive South West from Brisbane
Eat Like A Local Month
Prepare to eat the rainbow, meet the growers, walk the fields and take deep, deep, flavour-filled breaths of Scenic Rim goodness. Starring more than 125 events from Canungra to The Lost World, Beaudesert to Boonah and Tamborine Mountain to Kalbar, Scenic Rim Eat Local Week is the ultimate backstage pass to the farms, wineries and food stories of the region. It’s the opportunity to meet the people behind the produce and the flavours in a celebration that features festivals, farm-gate events and culinary experiences for foodies of all ages.
Winter Whale Fest
Winter Whale Fest
Victor Harbor, South Australia
1.5hrs drive south from Adelaide
Winter Whale Fest offers visitors a unique opportunity to witness the spectacular Southern Right Whales as they make their annual migration to South Australian waters.
This month-long festival has been curated to engage and educate travellers and whale enthusiasts about whale conservation, the marine environment, and the local culture and community. With more than 25 events on offer, it's a rare opportunity hear and learn from marine conservation thought leaders like underwater explorer Valerie Taylor, immerse yourself in the magic of the marine world firsthand as you snorkel around Granite Island, and participate in a range of educational and cultural experiences with Ngarrindjeri leaders.
Narooma’s Oyster Festival 2023
5hrs drive south from Sydney
Celebrate in the heart of Rock Oyster Country! Join growers, chefs and producers to celebrate the oyster on the shores of Wagonga Inlet, Narooma – land of clear, blue water. Discover tasty sustainable produce like fish and shellfish, abalone, urchins, kelp, dairy, olives and more.
Canowindra International Balloon Challenge
3.5hrs drive west from Sydney
This festival has something for everyone. There is the competition that sees all kinds of spectacular balloon competitions (trust me worth the Googling), plus a night time glow event - and lots in between. The Cabonne Community Glow is the signature event of the Canowindra International Balloon Challenge. The Cabonne community glow will be an amazing family friendly spectacle.
This one is a real visual treat.
Orange F.O.O.D Week
3.5hrs drive west from Sydney
Orange F.O.O.D Week is Australia’s longest running regional food festival and has been acclaimed as one of Australia’s top ten food festivals.
F.O.O.D Week is a celebration of the Orange region’s best, and an opportunity for festival goers to join this annual event and feast with friends over plentiful plates of NSW Central West’s finest produce, prepared by the regions top foodies and expertly paired with top notch, cool-climate wines – local, of course!
The ten-day festival includes the program of signature events as well as a variety of events throughout the week at local bars, cafes, cellar doors and restaurants. This year, F.O.O.D Week focuses on bringing to the fore the collaboration between our locals chefs and producers to showcase this unique food and wine region – a dining destination and an agricultural food basket.
Kalbar Sunflower Festival
1hr drive west from Brisbane
A festival of flowers, fine food and photography.
Tickets to the 2023 event are now SOLD OUT - wonderful news for Kalbar Sunflowers!
Though a celebration of beauty and abundance, the idea for the inaugural festival was born out of tough times. It’s seeds were sown when Russell and Jenny Jenner saw Darling Downs farmers “getting cranky” about selfie-crazed tourists traipsing uninvited through sunflower crops.
But where others saw a problem, the Kalbar couple saw an opportunity. The Kalbar Sunflower Festival was born.
Chinchilla Melon Festival
3.5hrs drive west from Brisbane
Welcome to the bi-annual Chinchilla MelonFest! There is something for everyone with a Street Parade, Markets, Beach Party, Free Family Activities, Farm Tours, an arena full of melon related activities such as Melon Skiing and Melon Bungee, and so much more.
Words aren’t really doing this justice… Google for a wild ride.