Ginger Flowers are not only vibrant colours, their forms are diverse and incredibly interesting. On display last weekend for the annual Ginger Flower + Food Festival, you really could not help but be drawn to what are considered among the most beautiful flowers in the world.

With names like beehive, torch, dancing ladies, spiral, red, shell and moth, these beautiful flowers are quite spellbinding.

The festival is held at the Ginger Factory, located in Yandina in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. A short one hour drive from Brisbane’s Northside, the area makes for a lovely destination day trip.

Entry is free to the complex, with a number of activities on site. Last weekend was busy, with many people around so we didn’t venture too far past the cafe, mainly focusing on the market place which was set up, to showcase ginger products.The products on display, were available for tasting accompanied by informative stall holders who were more than happy to provide the history behind their particular products as well as answer any questions.

Included in the marketplace were Pomodoras Dressings on Obi, with some interesting combinations of balsamic and flavoured dressings. Not only were we given tastings of the products but also treated to some informative narration on how they came to be. the recommendation at this table, was to visit Pomodoras on Obi restaurant. Certainly looks and sounds intriguing! Looking forward to visiting at some stage.

Skin care, honey, tonics, bone broth products, relishes and drinks made up the stalls in the market place. A fantastic idea to showcase products which include the local Buderim Ginger.For us it was pure chance we decided to enjoy a Sunday drive and visit the factory on a day which just happened to coincide with the festival.

We enjoyed our visit to the festival, and now look forward to returning to better explore the activities on offer at this venue. If you are in the Sunshine Coast area during mid-late January, I highly recommend you keep this festival in mind. It really is an interesting, colourful event. Plus you never know who you will run into amongst the flowers….