The Goodna Jacaranda Festival was postponed because of the weather, but Goodna's jacarandas bloomed anyway, so on Sunday afternoon I went and photographed them on my own. It was my first visit. A whole road there is lined with purple trees, and after the rain there was almost nobody around: petals all over the ground and plenty of parking. This post covers what I found, what happened to the festival, and why a rainy day turned out to be a good day for photos.
The video is from my Cantonese podcast, Brisbane真好, filmed in 4K with my own photos and clips. It has English subtitles.
Was the Goodna Jacaranda Festival 2026 cancelled?
Postponed, not cancelled. It was set for 23 and 24 October at Evan Marginson Park, and on 20 October the organisers announced they were postponing it because severe weather was affecting their preparations.
In the video I say it was cancelled, which isn't quite right, so the video has a fact-check card on screen. I'd also heard it might move to the weekend of 31 October and 1 November, but I couldn't find a new date on the festival website. If you're planning to go, check the official site first.
Honestly, it didn't matter to me. The festival has rides, and even after the rain stops everything stays soaking wet. The jacarandas don't care whether there's a festival. They flower anyway.
Why did I go to Goodna alone?
Because of the rain. When it rains my kids don't want to go anywhere, because they hate getting soaked, so I had the afternoon to myself.
It rained a little in the morning. From lunchtime to about three or four o'clock it mostly stopped, so I slipped out. I'd never been to Goodna for the jacarandas before, because it's not that close to where I live.
Where are the jacarandas in Goodna?
Brisbane Terrace and Evan Marginson Park are the best-known spots. Local work gangs planted the trees in 1932, during the Great Depression, according to Ipswich City Council's news site.
What surprised me was how far the trees go. A whole stretch of road is lined with them, purple on both sides, with petals on the road and the verge. I'd put it up there with Grafton. Grafton has far more trees, of course, but it also has far more people.
Is it worth photographing jacarandas in the rain?
Yes, if you can catch a gap in the showers. There was hardly anyone else there, so I could take my time.
With nobody around I could try different lenses, get close to the flowers, then step back for wide shots. The rain had brought a lot of petals down, so the ground was covered in purple, which gave me something else to shoot. And with no crowd, parking was easy.
I did see a few other people taking photos, but only a few. I spent about an hour there, shooting on my phone and on my camera.
Can an old camera and AI editing still give good photos?
Good enough for me. My camera is a few years old and the lens isn't great, but I shoot RAW and use AI to fix the light and tune the colour afterwards.
Some spots had very little sun. After the AI tuning, the light comes back and the purple looks right again. Shooting RAW helps a lot, because the files keep more detail to work with when you edit. The AI didn't generate anything. It adjusted the photos I took, and it also blurred number plates and faces. Here's one photo straight from the camera on the left, and after editing on the right.
I'm still learning the camera, and I'm keeping it cheap on purpose. I once bought fountain pens to sell and ended up keeping them all for myself, and I'm not a business person, so I know how that goes. A friend suggested 3D printing on Sunday and I said no. Every new hobby costs money. I'll use what I already have.
If you want the full process, my Claude video workflow post explains how these videos are put together, and the Sunnybank Hills jacarandas post has another before-and-after.
When should you visit Goodna's jacarandas next year?
Pick a day that isn't a festival day. The festival is ticketed and draws big crowds, and for photos a quiet weekday or the day after rain is much better.
Jacaranda season in South East Queensland runs through October into early November, so you have a few weeks. Watch the forecast. A rainy morning followed by a dry afternoon gave me empty paths and purple ground.
Why are some suburbs' parks nicer than others?
My guess is new estates. When a big developer builds houses, the new park comes with them and is then handed over to the council.
My kids had asked whether Goodna had a big playground, and I said I didn't think so. It's not a wealthy area, so there isn't as much investment in parks. That's only what I've seen. I'm not sure it's right, so if you know better, please tell me.
Should I become a YouTuber?
Probably not. On Sunday another uncle told me I should become a YouTuber, and I said I just do my own thing.
There will always be people who disagree with you. A lot of this is subjective. Say one wrong thing and some people think it's unforgivable, maybe because it really hurt them, or because they think your attitude is the problem. I once wrote about whether some dog breeds shouldn't be kept in the city, and got told off for it. I didn't know much about dogs, and I'd used AI to help write that article. So I fixed it. No big deal.
I'm not a big KOL who knows everything. I'm a nobody, an ordinary passer-by sharing my own life, and I'll be wrong sometimes. I'm getting older too. I need reading glasses now, and young people are more sensitive than I am. If I get something wrong, tell me and I'll fix it.
Where else can you see jacarandas around Brisbane?
My Brisbane jacaranda photo guide covers New Farm Park and UQ, and the New Farm Park 2026 album has 41 photos. For more rain photos, see the purple carpet in Sunnybank Hills after heavy rain.
Where did you see jacarandas this year?
Sources
- Goodna Jacaranda Festival: news (media release of 20 October 2026 announcing the postponement)
- Goodna Jacaranda Festival: general event information (23–24 October, gates and tickets)
- Ipswich First: the best places to see jacaranda blooms in Ipswich (Brisbane Terrace and Evan Marginson Park; trees planted in 1932)
Date checked: 26 October 2026. Photos and video by Michael Leung. AI (Claude Opus 5.5) helped with research, writing, colour correction and blurring; no images were generated.
