Sunflowers are one of my favourite flowers and so I decided I wanted to see the sunflower fields in the Liverpool Plains, which is four hours’ drive northwest from Sydney. The sunflowers bloom from November to early February and it attracts many visitors to the region during this time.

We went to two fields on Saturday – the first a small plot of land with giant sunflowers and the second was a commercial operation. Both were unattended and the owners had simply placed a notice at the entrance asking for a small donation which would go to the Lion’s Club charity. We left several gold coins (A$2) that we had in the boxes.

Regrettably, many people had defaced the sunflowers by carving out words or silly smiley/sad faces on the face of the sunflowers, obviously for their Instagram moment. It’s sad and so incredibly inconsiderate that people choose to destroy as opposed to preserve the beauty for others to see. It is especially bad behaviour considering that this is private property and the owners have very generously allowed the public to enter to admire their sunflowers.

Sunflowers are grown commercially in this region for their seeds. We were lucky to catch the tail end of the season and definitely want to return again another time.

Taking these small weekend trips to explore regional NSW within about five hours’ drive from Sydney is a good way of seeing the state and supporting the regional economy!