A canola crop in flower in the Weddin Mountains region, where two self-drive routes are helping visitors follow the colour through the season. Photo: Weddin Mountains Region/Facebook.
If the winter chill is starting to get to you, maybe it’s time to pack the picnic basket, point the car west and head for canola country.
Across the South West Slopes and Riverina, the landscape is already awash with broad sweeps of yellow, from Yass to Young and Grenfell and down through to Temora, Coolamon and Junee.
A warmer-than-average winter may have helped bring some crops into flower two to four weeks ahead of normal, but there’s no need to rush.
Canola doesn’t all flower at once and, with different sowing times and varieties maturing at different rates, the colour should keep rolling across the countryside through August and into September.
So there’s still plenty of time to pick a route, take the back roads and follow the yellow.
And there’s no shortage of ways to do it.
Few crops attract quite the same roadside attention as canola in full flower, and councils and tourism groups have become increasingly clever at turning that fascination into mapped drives, events and plenty of reasons to make a day (or a weekend) of it.
Around Grenfell, Weddin Shire has made those different flowering times part of the journey, suggesting two self-drive canola routes through the surrounding farming country.
Its 93-kilometre Early Flowering Loop takes visitors through the first wave of colour, while the 78 km Later Flowering Loop follows crops expected to reach their best later in the season.
That means less pressure to pick the perfect weekend and more opportunity to watch the landscape change as different paddocks reach their peak.
Further south, the Canola Trail has become a seasonal drawcard in its own right, winding through the Riverina between Temora, Coolamon and Junee and drawing visitors onto the country lanes linking the three towns and surrounding villages.
It’s known as the “golden triangle”, where almost a third of the state’s canola is grown and, come August and September, the countryside absolutely lives up to the name.
Out there, you can take almost any road and find something worth seeing.
The Canola Trail recommends checking locally for the best roads and viewing spots because crop rotations mean the display changes from year to year.
Or, if you want to see it all at once, take to the air.
Goldrush Ballooning begins its annual canola flights from Temora this Saturday (15 August), lifting off at sunrise for sweeping views over the patchwork of yellow fields below.
The official canola season launch follows on 28 August, with all three of the Canola Trail’s main towns joining the celebrations.
In Coolamon, the Yield Festival will open at the historic Up-to-Date Store with art, photography, music, food and drinks.
Temora will welcome the season with the opening of the Hello Yellow Exhibition at the Bundawarrah Centre, showcasing the region through the work of local photographers.
Also at Temora, Yellow Bloom Road beside Lake Centenary will give visitors a chance to get among the flowers without wandering into a working paddock.
The purpose-planted public canola field, a partnership between Temora Shire Council and FarmLink, creates a dedicated spot for photographs and a closer look at the crop. In a wholly immersive experience, visitors can make a big stop of it, taking advantage of Lake Centenary’s walking and cycling track, wetlands and nearby picnic facilities.
In Junee, the Canola Gateway Festival is set to get underway inside the historic Athenium Theatre with an opening night of entertainment, creativity and community celebrations.
And for anyone who needs an extra incentive to turn the drive into a few days away, the Canola Trail is offering a $2150 long-weekend luxury adventure for two.
The prize packs plenty into Temora, Coolamon and Junee, including accommodation at The Silos and a private Meet the Farmer tour, flight simulator experiences and lunch at Temora Aviation Museum, and a night at the restored Harberton House.
There is also a hands-on chocolate-making experience at Junee Licorice & Chocolate Factory, a private tasting at Coolamon Cheese, a meal at the historic Coolamon Hotel and a night at Drovers Run, with its outdoor heated bath, fire pit and farm animals.
The idea is to encourage visitors to do more than admire the crop through the windscreen, with food, accommodation, heritage and country experiences now forming part of the Canola Trail journey.
Even the region’s car enthusiasts are finding their own way to make the most of the yellow.
Can Assist Canola Way is promoting a photo competition encouraging people to capture their car against a canola backdrop, in conjunction with a Canola Way Car Show at Marrar in October.
Behind all that colour, of course, is a working crop.
Canola is sown at different times and different varieties flower at different rates, which is why one paddock can be glowing while another is still weeks away.
Once flowering is finished, pods develop containing the tiny dark seeds that are later harvested and crushed for canola oil.
The meal left after the oil is extracted is widely used as livestock feed.
There’s just one thing to remember when you find the perfect patch of yellow.
Most canola paddocks are working farms and private property, so visitors should stay outside fences unless they have permission, avoid blocking gateways, park safely and observe farm biosecurity requirements.
The golden season may have got a head start this year, but there is still plenty of yellow road ahead.
Original Article published by Edwina Mason on About Regional.
