Cultivate Tours

At Activate Events we are passionate about showcasing the abundant and extensive locally grown food, how various foods are produced and wonderful gardens. Our full day tours visit a range of local producers, farms, gardens and interesting places that are located in the south east Queensland region. The partnership between Activate Events and Wattletree Horticulture commenced in 2015 and the tours run every couple of months.

Country Garden Tours – Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers

Activate Events and Wattletree Horticulture first partnered to offered a specialist garden tour visiting the gardens in the rural areas surrounding Toowoomba during the 2016 Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers. The tours have been in high demand every since and book out prior to the Carnival of Flowers.

The tours showcase the award-winning country gardens, including the Grand Champion and Reserve Grand Champion country gardens and travel through the beautiful Darling Downs countryside. The full day tour gives you information about the area along with a home-made morning tea and sit-down meal at a local restaurant.

Hampton Festival

Hampton is a quaint village north of Toowoomba and fosters a thriving farming and arts culture in the ‘high country’. Activate Event’s Wendy Allen was the event coordinator of the Hampton Festival from 2016-2022, expanding the event to cover lead up events and workshops prior to the main Festival attracting some 5000 people who enjoy the high country atmosphere, local food and produce, live music, cooking demonstrations, art exhibition and much more.

Agricultural Tours

Specialist agricultural focused tours have been run for a number of farm groups and companies. All are tailored specifically around the groups focus.

Winter Harvest and Summer Long Lunches

Activate Events coordinated three ultimate paddock-to-plate experiences showcasing local produce and farmers in the Hampton area giving guests an amazing dining experience sampling the regions bountiful produce.

These events included visits to local farms with the interesting farm talks. Visitors experienced three informative farm experiences before enjoying the five course Hampton Long Lunch paired with local wines and all explained by the well-known executive chef at each event. Chefs were: Matt Golinski, Sunshine Coast & Glen Barrett, Wild Canary, Brookfield; Javier Codina, Moda Restaurant, Brisbane; and Ash Martin, Homage Restaurant, Spicers Hidden Vale.

Impact Tours

Activate Event’s educational bus trips have provided the opportunity for members of Toowoomba’s migrant and refugee community to visit several farms and natural areas in the northern Darling Downs. Many were from African countries including South Sudan and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The aim was to increase the awareness of the farming practices and philosophy of long‐term farmers in Australia for the migrant community while also allowing them to share their farming knowledge and experiences and gaining an insight into job opportunities.

Other education tours have been conducted for various groups such as Chinese students visiting on a special educational short exchange.