Of Tulips At Tesselaar and the Canberra Floriade, Ozieland

A short holiday Down Under was very invigorating. The two main highlights were the Tulip Festival at Tesselaar   just outside Melbourne and the Floriade in Canberra.

 The Tesselaar Tulip Festival showcased different varieties and colors of Tulips grown in rows.

 They are quite different from the traditional Tulips that I saw in Holland during my college days.  Pretty hybrids and amazing colors took my breath away and I could not help but take pictures of these lovely blooms to drool over them when back home in the sunny tropics where such blooms cannot be cultivated.

Apart from the lovely flowers, there were booths that sold refreshments and light lunches.  Handicraft and local produce were also on sale.

The Floriade in Canberra was different.  There were Tulips on show too but these were arranged in thematic patterns and Tulips of different colors brought out the designs.  They were spread over a large area and at night the whole place was lit up.

At night there was a special program called Night Fest where a a special area was dedicated to artificial flowers of various designs.  They were gigantic and white during the day but at night, when the music played and songs belted out, the artificial flowers changed colors rapidly as if they were dancing to the strains of the song and music.

People were caught up in this amazing display of sound, light and movement in this floral display and could be seen snapping pictures and videos to record the excitement of the moment.

This was a holiday I will not forget.