Apple picking in Australia

Apple varieties in Australia

Australian pick-your-own orchards grow dozens of apple varieties, but a handful of them make up most of what you'll find at the gate. Here's roughly when each one is ready, how it tastes, and what it's best used for once you get it home.

These windows are a general guide only — the same variety can ripen weeks earlier in warm growing districts than in cool ones, and an individual orchard's picking dates depend on its own microclimate and the season just gone. Always check with the farm before you drive out.

Where apples grow in Australia

Commercial apple growing in Australia is concentrated in cool-climate country that gets enough winter chill for the trees to crop well — elevated inland districts and highland pockets rather than the coast. The main pick-your-own belts run from the Adelaide Hills in South Australia, across the ranges west and south of Sydney around Bilpin and the Illawarra, through Victoria's Yarra Valley, Dandenong Ranges, Macedon Ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Gippsland, up to the Granite Belt on the Queensland–New South Wales border, and across Tasmania, long nicknamed the "Apple Isle". Western Australia's Perth Hills and South West also have a long apple-growing history, though we don't yet have pick-your-own listings there to point you to.

New South Wales — Bilpin and the Illawarra

Bilpin, in the hills northwest of Sydney, is the state's best-known apple district. Shields Orchard has free entry and charges per kilogram picked, with apples typically Feb–May. Bilpin Botanic Orchard runs a longer Feb–Jun window that varies by variety, and TNT Produce keeps picking apples through to June as part of its wider Jan–Jun season. South of Sydney in the Illawarra, Glenbernie Orchard (home of Darkes Cider) picks apples from late January through to April or May.

Victoria — Yarra Valley, Dandenong Ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Gippsland

East of Melbourne, Rayner's Orchard at Woori Yallock runs guided u-pick tours with apples and pears ready March–May, and Sanders Apples at Three Bridges opens for ticketed picking days from mid-February to early May. Down on the Mornington Peninsula, Atlanta Orchards picks several varieties — Fuji, Pink Lady, Kanzi and Gala among them — right through autumn. Further east in Gippsland, Sherwood Park Orchard at Bunyip has one of the state's longest windows, from February through to roughly the Queen's Birthday long weekend in June, and northwest at Bacchus Marsh, Payne's Orchards picks apples March to May.

South Australia — Adelaide Hills

The Lenswood district in the Adelaide Hills has been South Australia's apple heartland for generations. @Lenswood Pick Your Own picks apples late February to May with no booking required, and nearby Harrisville Orchards also grows apples, though its exact season varies year to year so it's worth calling ahead. Mahnew Orchard takes a different approach, opening for just one weekend a year — the "Pick a Pink Lady Weekend" — in early May.

Queensland — Granite Belt

The Granite Belt around Stanthorpe and Applethorpe is Queensland's only real apple country, cool enough at altitude for the trees to fruit properly in an otherwise subtropical state. Nicoletti Orchards at Pozieres runs one of the longest seasons anywhere, Feb–Jun, with booking required. Eastern Colour at Applethorpe has a shorter, later May–June apple window alongside its spring and summer strawberries.

Tasmania — Huon Valley and beyond

Tasmania earned the "Apple Isle" nickname for good reason, and the Huon Valley south of Hobart remains its traditional centre. Sorell Fruit Farm picks apples as part of a broader stone-fruit-and-vegetable season running roughly December to May, and nearby Iron Creek Bay Estate, at the gateway to the Tasman Peninsula, picks apples alongside cherries, apricots, pears and plums from roughly December to April.