Lockyer Valley Region

Uh, Daffodils at Rydal, uh, it's open, uh, or Rydal, as some say, uh, it's open of course, and there is an XPT that has return trips from Sydney, uh, for those not wanting to drive.

And the Laidley Spring Gardening Fair is on today only in, uh, that's Laidley in the Lockyer Valley in Queensland.

Lots of things happening and of course Floriade in Canberra and Tulip Time Festival in Bowral is on now.

Uh, and, uh, Floriade is till the, o- 11th of October, and, uh, Tulip Time in Bowral till the 5th of October.

Hangs around

... seem to hang around in the Lockyer Valley.

Depends if it, depends if it gets fucking, uh ...

It's hot too.

And, of course, the fire jumped the highway.

But the broader implications of what happened yesterday afternoon stretch way beyond the Lockyer Valley.

I mean, these fires yesterday were not just a localised traffic disruption.

I think they're a glaring prophetic warning of Queensland's systemic failure to plan for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Firefighters yesterday afternoon told residents at Plainland west of Ipswich to prepare to leave in response to a dangerous and fast-moving bushfire near the Warragoh Highway.

An unseasonably hot start to spring saw Queensland fire authorities issue local fire bans for Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley on Sunday, Brisbane reaching a high of 34.4 degrees, making it the hottest September day in the city since 2019.

Southeast Queensland's fire bans came a day after a similar ban was issued for the Greater Sydney region as early spring temperatures hit 33 degrees.

Strong winds in the hot conditions on the east coast also saw two jumping castles picked up in two separate incidents in New South Wales and Victoria on Saturday.

It also has a lot to do with some of the yesteryear archivals of early pioneering spirit of Australia and the water system.

For those going further south, if you're travelling on the Lockyer Valley to the Darling Downs, Lately's Spring Festival will be on on the 11th and 12th of this month, non-stop music and twilight music.

feasting, roving performers.

They have the Bee Happy Day at Forest Hill in the Lockyer Valley.

And going a little further north than that, Dak, on the 12th, we can celebrate everything avocado, and that's in Black Butt, lovely picturesque part two of the South Burnett.

Talks on grafting and growing and tasting and some of the great dips and all the different varieties of things you can use avocado for in food, homemade products.

A lot of the climates are the same.

You know, I go to Gatton and to Wumba and Lockyer Valley.

Quite often, that's where all the big veggie growers are and quite a similar climate.

Obviously, it gets very hot there as well.

... and like, um, we're coming down to the bit more of the vegetables and the heartier vegetables and that.

So I've got a really good vegetable locally grown from down the Lockyer Valley.

Mm-hmm.

And it is the beautiful wombok cabbage or the Chinese cabbage and that.

They'll just be blown away, you know? And, um, and to me, I've been around it my whole life, so it's not really anything different.

But- We come from horticulture, like we moved from the Lockyer Valley, so it was in our blood essentially.

And, um, and it is.

It, it's not something that you can just, you know, get into.