TASSIE FESTIVALS

Kerry had never been to a music festival and wanted to cross that one off her bucket list.  So she enrolled us as volunteers at The Falls Festival in Marion Bay, thus avoiding the $300 cost of a weekend ticket.  

Our job (for 2 x 3-hour shifts over the course of the weekend) was to keep people out of the sand dunes on the designated area of the beach, thus protecting the nesting birds. Much nicer job than being on the loo crew!!  Here's me on our first shift.  

Opening ceremony and
traditional smoking of the space

The composting loos, organised by Bob Brown Foundation, were well kept, beautifully decorated, and mostly odour free.  There was a bunch of dried lavender in each one, so you could always hold a lavender sprig under your nose if necessary.

Amazing views out across the bay
from the main stage area

We had great fun 'people watching'

The weather got pretty hot, so people took to the beach to cool off

There was some interesting art and mosaics around

The Wilderness Society were at the festival and we went out on a 2-hour tour with them in to the nearby bush and mountain area.  We parked up the mini-bus and walked in to the forest, about 18 of us.  It was a great surprise to this young guy who was still in his swag, camped out in the middle of nowhere, in the shelter of an overhanging rock. He had been hiking and taking photographs.  So much for isolation.

We put up the annex to the van.  Wonderful additional space.  When it came to getting the tent pegs out again, it was another story.  We dug around with a screwdriver, twiddled, added water, dug some more, and eventually got the last one out. Hurray!!!

While this festival was very interesting, the music wasn't really my thing.  So a couple of weeks later we went off to CYGNET FOLK FESTIVAL.  That was more like it.  Fantastic music and great variety - not just your standard 'folk'.  And some dancing too.  Unfortunately it rained and was pretty cold most of the weekend, so not many pictures.  But we had a great time.

This band are called 'John John Festival''  They are from Japan and play celtic music.  Apparently it is very popular in Japan.  They played with such joy.

A display of home made instruments.  This one appeared to be steam driven