Sydney's botanic garden has turned itself into a sea of paper daisies and it's completely free

Sydney does not need Amsterdam's tulip fields when it has a paying-nothing sea of pink about 45 minutes southwest of the CBD. The Australian Botanic Garden at Mount Annan has turned its Connections Garden into a wall to wall paper daisy display, and the whole thing is free.

The Paper Daisy Spring Festival runs from 4 September to 11 October, daily during normal garden hours, with the paper daisies themselves at their photogenic best right now. The display is made up of Rhodanthe and Schoenia, native daisies that come in that particular shade of pink and white that looks fake until you are standing in the middle of it.

Weekends are where it gets busy. Live music plays on Lakeside Lawn from midday to 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and local florist Oak & Blossom sets up a pop up from Friday to Sunday so you can build your own posy jar or grab a ready made bouquet. Kids get floral face painting on weekends and craft activities on Saturdays, plus a nature play playground that runs every day of the festival.

Food wise, the Gardens Cafe is open daily for breakfast and lunch, and there is a rotating food truck lineup including a gozleme truck and appearances from Bar Coco for coffee and gelato. If you would rather make something than eat it, Pinot & Picasso is running bookable paint sessions among the daisies for adults, families and kids, though those need to be booked ahead and are not free.

The best entry point is right by the Visitor Centre, which is exactly where you want to be anyway for a coffee before or after. Bring the good camera, because everyone else there will have theirs out too, and this is not the kind of backdrop you get twice a year.

With entry costing nothing and the daisies only sticking around until 11 October, there is no excuse to keep putting this one off. Round up the kids, the visiting friends or just yourself and a flat white, and go stand in a field of pink before it is gone.