The Atlas Almanac · this month

October

What is in season across Australia this month — produce, wildlife, landscape and the working year. Every window below is a recurring annual one, taken from the body that manages or measures it, and reviewed before it appeared here.

Produce

Cherry harvest

Ladders down the rows, and fruit that will not wait — cherries are picked by hand and sold within days.

October–February

Adelaide HillsSA · Australian season; local picking is usually shorter
- Harben Vale CherriesBalhannah
- @Birdwood Pick Your Own CherriesBirdwood
- Charleston Cherries
- Kersbrook Cherry FarmKersbrook
Great SouthernWA · Australian season; local picking is usually shorter
- The Floating ForestDenmarkConfirmed
Southern HighlandsNSW · Australian season; local picking is usually shorter
- Cherry Tree Hill WinesSutton Forest
Yarra ValleyVIC · Australian season; local picking is usually shorter
- Blue Hills Berries and CherriesSilvan
- Cherry HavenWandin East
- CherryHill OrchardsWandin East

Also in season in Goulburn Valley, Granite Belt, Macedon Ranges, Mudgee and Orange. No Atlas listing there answers this one yet.

Wildlife

Humpback whale migration

North to calve and south again with the calves alongside, close enough to the coast to watch from the headland.

April–November

Byron BayNSW
- Blue Bay Whale WatchingBrunswick Heads
- Byron Bay Whale WatchingByron Bay
Coffs CoastNSW
- Whale Watch ExperienceCoffs Harbour
East Coast TasmaniaTAS
- Freycinet ResortColes BayConfirmed
Fraser CoastQLD
- Hervey Bay Whale WatchHervey Bay
Sapphire CoastNSW
- Bermagui Broadbill Fishing & Whale Watching ChartersBermagui
South Coast NSWNSW
- Provisions Deli & GroceryBraidwoodConfirmed
Sunshine CoastQLD
- Epic Ocean AdventuresNoosa HeadsConfirmed

Also in season in Gold Coast, Great Ocean Road, Margaret River and Port Macquarie & Hastings. No Atlas listing there answers this one yet.

Landscape

Wildflowers

Ground that reads as scrub for most of the year turns over to colour, then goes back.

June–November

Australia's Coral CoastWA
- Sols Place Boutique Pool VillasKalbarriConfirmed
Great SouthernWA
- The Floating ForestDenmarkConfirmed
PerthWA
- Wildflower Society of WA NurseryMadeley

Also in season in Australia's Golden Outback, Fremantle & Swan Valley, Margaret River and Southern Forests. No Atlas listing there answers this one yet.

The Dry

Tracks reopen, the air loses its weight, and everything that was cut off becomes reachable again.

April–October

In season in Alice Springs & Red Centre, Broome & Kimberley, Darwin & Top End and Katherine & Surrounds. No Atlas listing there answers this one yet.

Seasons move. A window here is the ordinary year for a region, not a forecast, and a cold spring or a wet autumn will shift it by weeks. Check with the place before you drive. Place counts are the Atlas listings whose location resolves to that region.