 Autumn is one of the best times to visit Canberra and the capital region. Not only is the sky clear and blue nearly every day, but you can marvel as nature turns millions of Canberra’s leaves brilliant reds and golds.
Add to this a mix of fresh and vibrant festivals and events highlighting food, sport and culture, and an array of new exhibitions at the national attractions, and you’ll have an autumn holiday experience to remember.
Autumn 2004 will be ‘launched’ with the annual Canberra Balloon Fiesta. Over 40 hot air balloons will launch daily from in front of Old Parliament House, as part of the Celebrate Canberra events running March 6 – 15. Novelty balloons in all shapes and colours always add to this spectacle. Balloon rides are also available for visitors.
At Easter, the National Folk Festival will once again be held in Canberra’s Exhibition Park. The premier festival is a celebration of instrumental music, song, dance and spoken word. More than 900 performers give their best in concerts, workshops and displays from 8 – 12 April. There’s something for everyone with music, singing and dancing sessions; an Indigenous Festival; a daily Poet’s breakfast; storytelling; craft; the Children’s Festival and circus training as well as street theatre and parades.
Over the same weekend, roll up your sleeves, don your hat and join us at the Canberra District Wine Harvest Festival. Sip vintage wine, feast on gourmet produce and relax to the sound of live music as you bask in the sunshine during the Easter long weekend. You can spend your weekend wandering through the district’s vineyards and improve your knowledge by talking with enthusiastic wine makers. Or you can sit back, drink, eat and simply soak up the atmosphere.
For motor sport enthusiasts, don’t miss the Subaru Rally of Canberra on May 8 and 9. Visitors are set to witness some spectacular motorsport action as this first round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship roars through the forests around Canberra. The event is expected to attract a field of top-class international competitors from around the world, and their finely tuned machines are set to make this year’s rally a weekend of dirt, spills and thrills.
In autumn some fantastic new exhibitions will be on show at the national attractions, such as Sublime: 25 Years of the Wesfarmers Collection at the National Library of Australia.
At the National Gallery of Australia see exquisite artworks from The Edwardians, Secrets and Desires on display from March 12. The Edwardians will showcase the art of the Edwardian period 1900 – 1914. The exhibition will show how many artists dramatized their subjects to portray the glamour of aristocratic life.
Children will love the new exhibition at Questacon – the National Science and Technology Centre. Eaten Alive is on show from March 10 and explores the world of predators. Highlights include a larger than life robotic funnelweb, and a salt water croc lunging out from the murky depths.
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