Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden

Best time to visit: August to September

Distance from Sydney: 21km

St Ives’ Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden is part-natural bushland, part-garden. Visitors exploring the free, 123-hectare area can spot wildflowers in their natural habitat on bush trails or in the gardens closer to the visitor centre. Although August’s boronia and wax flower blooms make it the most spectacular month to visit, there is almost always something flowering. Visit in winter to see bottlebrushes at their best, and in October to November to see the garden’s orchids and acacia. To check the bloom schedule, call two weeks before your visit and the garden staff can tell you where to find specific flowers. If you want to take the colour of the bush home, stop by the Wildflower Nursery, which sells locally occurring, flowering plants.

Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden, St. Ives - Credit: Ku-ring-gai Council

Royal National Park

Best time to visit: August to October

Distance from Sydney: 34km

As one of the world’s oldest national parks, the heritage-listed Royal National Park is home to an abundance of wildlife, waterfalls and wildflowers. Lace up your walking shoes and get back to nature on the Coast Track which stretches 27km and offers ample opportunities to see spring flowers in bloom. Keep your eyes peeled for flannel flowers, pink boronias, native orchids and heath flowers. Take the scenic Curra Moors loop track for a shorter (though still challenging) walk. The pathway is dotted with wildflowers, especially the aromatic hakeas.

Coastal heath flowers, Royal National Park - Credit: Peter Sherratt | DCCEEW

Muogamarra Nature Reserve

Best time to visit: August to September

Distance from Sydney: 51.6km

Muogamarra Nature Reserve is one of Sydney’s best-kept secrets, mostly because it’s only accessible for a short time each year. The reserve, just to the north of Cowan and sandwiched between the Hawkesbury River and Berowra Creek, is open for just six weeks, typically in August and September, when the land is decorated with over 900 plant species and wildflowers. Journey through the bush spotting old-man banksias, native orchids, angophoras and pink boronias, with dreamy views of the river in between. Ensure you book early as the reserve is only open to travellers on guided or self-guided tours and it can sell out quickly.

Muogamarra Nature Reserve, Cowan - Credit: Elinor Sheargold/DCCEEW

Bouddi National Park

Best time to visit: September to December

Distance from Sydney: 101km

The coastal tracks and towering forests of the Bouddi Peninsula are some of the only trails in Australia that will lead you to snow-white patches of the stunning flannel flower, a delicate daisy-like Australian native. Take in this rare beauty as you trek along the Flannel Flower walking track, or book a spot on Elixir Journeys' Bouddi Wildflower Walk in spring which explores lesser-known parts of Bouddi National Park on the Central Coast.

Bouddi National Park, Gosford - Credit: Michael Van Ewijk/DPE

Illawarra Escarpment State Conservation Area

Best time to visit: September to November

Distance from Sydney: 116km

Head to the South Coast for the Illawarra Escarpment State Conservation Area, where you’ll find one of the state’s best wildflower walks. Serious trekkers can thread through a cliff-top rainforest and upland swamps along the five- to six-hour Forest Walk to Sublime Point track, and roam through fields of white native orchids, fuchsia heath, paper daisies and bush peas.

Wildflowers, Illawarra Escarpment State Conservation Area - Credit: John Spencer | DCCEEW

Barren Grounds Nature Reserve

Best time to visit: July to November

Distance from Sydney: 123km

When spring rolls around, leave the city behind for a day and venture out to Barren Grounds Nature Reserve in the Southern Highlands, as it becomes ablaze with vibrant wildflower species. At just under two hours’ drive from the CBD, the kids can tag along – there are even shorter trails (from 2km to 20km) suitable for slower walkers. The Griffiths walking track offers the best chance of seeing heath wildflowers in spring, or yellow swamp banksias in winter.

Native wildflowers, Barren Grounds Nature Reserve - Credit: John Spencer | DCCEEW

Blue Mountains National Park

Best time to visit: September to January

Distance from Sydney: 146km

With World Heritage-listed rainforests and some of the most famous views in the country, the Blue Mountains is known for its natural beauty. A hike in spring will also have you walking through a sea of colourful wildflowers. On the Lockleys Pylon walking track near Leura, past the eucalypt forests and sandstone cliffs, you’ll encounter lambertia shrubs that spike up with the red flower known as the ‘mountain devil’. If the conditions are right, you can also see pink flannel flowers. From Blackheath, the easy Fairfax Heritage walking track opens up to forests of peppermint and scribbly gums, and in early summer, vibrant red waratahs.

Six Foot Track, Blue Mountains

Booderee National Park

Best time to visit: September to April

Distance from Sydney: 193km

Setting foot in Booderee National Park is like stepping into paradise, with more than 460 different native plants growing within this protected patch of Jervis Bay. Home to Australia’s only Aboriginal-owned botanic gardens, you will find many Australian plants and animals here. Watch birds flock to the fiery orange heath banksia, common around Hole in the Wall Beach, and see the pretty pink pinnate boronia stud the path along the Booderee National Park: Telegraph Creek Nature Trail. Don’t forget to look out for NSW’s state flower, the crimson waratah, which blooms from September to November and visit in spring to see the spectacular round-leaf tea tree flowers in bloom.

Booderee National Park and Botanic Gardens, Jervis Bay - Credit: Dee Kramer | OEH

Morton National Park (Fitzroy Falls)

Best time to visit: September to November

Distance from Sydney: 227km

Morton National Park is home to Fitzroy Falls, one of the most impressive (and accessible) waterfalls in the state. If you’re going to make a visit, do it in wildflower season when the walking routes are peppered with a multicoloured dusting of flowers. The East Rim walking track is your best bet for spotting boronias, banksias and hakea in bloom. Starting at the Fitzroy Falls Visitor Centre, the first quarter of this 6.7km walk is an easy stroll that promises ample wildflowers but if you continue the route, you’ll also pass eight lookout points and three smaller waterfalls.

Three Views Walking Track, Morton National Park - Credit: Michael Van Ewijk | DCCEEW

Myall Lakes National Park

Best time to visit: September to November

Distance from Sydney: 255km

On the north coast, near Newcastle, wildflowers bloom across the heathlands of Myall Lakes National Park every spring. Displays of Christmas bells and flannel flowers put on a show around the lush Myall Lakes. Base yourself at Mungo Brush if camping, canoeing and fishing are also on the agenda.

Broughton Island, Myall Lakes National Park - Credit: John Spencer | DCCEEW

Barrington Tops National Park

Best time to visit: September to December

Distance from Sydney: 266km

A wildflower lover’s paradise, Barrington Tops National Park has got it all – open forest, rainforests, sub-alpine grasslands, swamps, and spectacular wildflowers each spring. For a relaxed wander take Polblue Swamp track or opt for the more challenging Careys Peak walking track to see the rainbow of wildflowers that extends across the Hunter Valley to the coast.

Barrington Tops National Park, Barrington Tops - Credit: John Spencer/DCCEEW

Crowdy Bay National Park

Best time to visit: September to November

Distance from Sydney: 347km

There’s no better picnic spot than one that’s surrounded by forest and flowers, and that’s exactly what you’ll come across at Kylies Hut in Crowdy Bay National Park – just an hour south of Port Macquarie. Rebuilt using traditional woodworking techniques after the 2019-2020 bushfires, Kylies Hut was the rustic home of novelist and journalist Kylie Tennant in the late 1960s. Settle down in a shady glen beside paperbarks and sheoaks, and after lunch, wander the Metcalfes walking track. Not only will you likely spot the local koalas and glossy black-cockatoos that call this area home, but you’ll stroll past a rainbow of wildflowers, attracting flocks of nectar-loving birds.

Metcalfes walking track, Forster and Taree - Credit: Debby McGerty/DPE

Kosciuszko National Park

Best time to visit: November to April

Distance from Sydney: 480km

Once the last of the powdery white snow melts in the Snowy Mountains, the high-altitude Kosciuszko National Park comes to life with purple eyebrights, yellow billy buttons and everlasting daisies. Wildflower walks are everywhere: adventure up high to the Main Range track or Dead Horse Gap walking track where alpine trees give way to open fields blooming with magnificent patches of snowy white gentians, anemone buttercups, alpine sunrays and more; walk along the Thredbo River Track to see sub-alpine wildflowers growing along the banks; or set out on the Illawong Walk from Guthega, where you can set up a picnic among bushels of alpine mint, billy buttons and native yam daisies, and even go for an exhilarating dip in the cool waters of Snowy River.

Wildflowers, Kosciuszko National Park - Credit: Thredbo

Redlands Hill Reserve

Best time to visit: September to November

Distance from Sydney: 623km

This little patch of woodlands near Corowa on the Murray River is an ecological wonder. Protected since 1999, Redlands Hill Reserve boasts a handful of easy walking trails that will lead you to a number of serene forest scenes. A place where Aboriginal communities have gathered for thousands of years, this grassy hill offers a diversity of plants and berries. You’ll see golden wattle in bloom, along with bush peas, native lilies, wedge-leaf hop-bush and plenty of everlasting daisies.

Redlands Hill Reserve, Redlands - Credit: Jessica Stokes

Toorale National Park and State Conservation Area

Best time to visit: March to October after summer rainfall

Distance from Sydney: 839km

Located at the junction of Warrego and Darling rivers, Toorale National Park is just an hour’s drive from Bourke, and offers dramatic naturescapes straight out of a watercolour painting. An easy amble along the Warrego Floodplain walking track can take you past golden sunray daisies, bluebells, billy buttons and pigweed. Roll out a picnic rug under a shady coolibah tree at Many Big Rock picnic area, and make a pit stop at Mount Talowla lookout to take in views of seasonal wildflowers growing on the floodplains towards Mount Gunderbooka.

Toorale National Park, Bourke - Credit: Nicola Brookhouse/DPE