Floriade Dog’s Day Out 2018
I have been wanting to head to Canberra for Floriade Dog’s Day Out since they started it but timing has never been right. That was until this year! Once I knew the date, I locked it in my calendar and made sure that no matter what, I was taking Ref & Serina to it.
I was a bit worried about heading to Canberra for Floriade Dog’s Day Out purely because the weather had been terrible all week with rain and the forecast for home was nothing but rain. Thankfully Canberra is 2.5 hours from where we live in Sydney so the forecast was somewhat better. All I could do is be prepared for rain. For 2 out of the 2.5 hour trip to Canberra, it did nothing but rain. But by the time we got there, there was no rain. Overcast and a little cooler making it perfect pug day out weather but no rain. So relieved.
So what is Floriade exactly? It is Australia’s biggest celebration of spring. It features thousands of tulips and other flowers in amazing displays. It really is spring at its best in one spot. It runs for an entire month and what makes Floriade even better is the last day of the show, dogs are allowed to come along. Seriously the best idea ever!
So when we got to Floriade, we grabbed the map to work out where the breed group photos were cause the pugs were up at 10:15am. We found our way to the area to find this stunning tulip display that makes the perfect backdrop for breed group photos. There were a few pugs there but not as many as I thought there would be. Perhaps it was too early in the day for Canberran pugs.
With so many different flower displays, there were so many amazing photo opportunities. I lost track of how many photos I took of flowers and then of course of Ref & Serina with the flowers. There was just so much to explore. Ref & Serina both loved the experience of being able to walk around sniffing everything, not to mention peeing on everything too.
It wasn’t all just about the flowers either. There were stalls where you could buy lots of different dog stuff, food stalls including barkeries for the doggos. And there was the demonstrations from yoga with dogs to flyball and dancing with dogs. There was something for everyone to check out.
I think we spent about 2.5 hours walking around checking everything out. By then, Ref & Serina were tired. We left to go grab some lunch at the dog friendly Ivy & The Fox which was just a short drive from Commonwealth Park. With Floriade being a free event, we could have easily popped back for some exploring later in the day if we wanted to. Instead, we did a couple of touristy photos at Lake Burley Griffin and Parliament House.
If you ever get the chance to visit Canberra in Spring when Floriade is on, especially on the last day for Dog’s Day Out, you have to do it. It was the best day out we have had in quite some time. It will 100% be on our to do list again in the years to come but I think we’ll make it a long weekend stay and head to the Mercure Hotel so it isn’t an exhausting day trip for all of us.

Kristy Beck

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You do a great job!
Thank you so much!