Tourists travel to Darling Downs for sunflower selfies
Posted
Tourists are flocking to Queensland's southern Darling Downs where vast, golden fields of sunflowers are proving the perfect subject for amateur and professional photographers.
The crops have been in full bloom for several weeks, luring hundreds of visitors — many keen to get selfies with the flowers — to the region near the small town of Allora.
Patinya, a tourist from Thailand, said she had never seen fields like them before.
"I thought Thailand had the most beautiful sunflowers I have ever seen, but this is so beautiful," she said.
The fields are most popular with tourists in the morning and late afternoon, when dozens of cars line the side of the road.
Phil and Lisa Crothers have been growing sunflowers in the area for decades.
They are happy for tourists to come by, as long as they remain respectful of the crops.
"[There are] heaps and heaps of tourists, which is lovely, because Allora is known as the sunflower town," Mrs Crothers said.
"They pop in and ask can we have a look around, or they sometimes just help themselves.
"That's okay, they're all friendly and nice."
Visitors a welcome boost for local businesses
Information centres in the area have been receiving up to 100 calls a day from visitors wanting to know where they can find the famous fields.
The strong interest has been a welcome boost for small businesses in Allora.
Local cafe owner Jackie Robertson said some days there were more than 20 customers in her store at the same time, all who had been looking at the sunflowers.
"It's been amazing, it's been a really good season actually," she said.
But the tourist boom is likely to be over soon.
Many of the sunflowers are now starting to mature and wilt, and soon there will be few fields still in bloom.
Topics: people, human-interest, travel-and-tourism, photography, visual-art, allora-4362, toowoomba-4350, qld
