Lake’s Entrance – Byron Bay… pretty far.
Okay, now we’re moving fast! After finishing up at Lake’s Entrance, I zipped north, heading for Wollongong where I would pick up my friend, Emma. The weather was still stinking hot and I blasted the air con, taking the chance to pop in at pretty little beaches at any available opportunity. Some of my favourites were Eden and Jervis Bay.
Hyams Beach in Jervis reminded me a little of Tassie - white sand, clear water, droopy trees on a hill in the distance - and it’s secluded enough that you feel like you’re not constantly on display. I took my coffee and book down to the water and sat there for most of the morning.
Hyams Beach.
With hair still wet, I drove to Wollongong where I spent the day and night at Emma’s (and in the library doing admin) before we headed up to Byron Bay. Ideally I would have been able to do this drive slowly, ambling about and popping in to a few schools to teach along the way, but I’m still waiting on some NSW teaching registration documents to be approved so it was more like a forced early Easter holiday which, to be frank, isn’t the worst thing in the world.
The days on the road were long - we only had a couple of days to cover the almost 900km to Byron - so other than a handful of essential swims, we spent our time listening to music in preparation for the festival, playing Hive, and reading Love Stories by Trent Dalton. I will take a second though to mention Yamba, a little town that one of my cousins insisted I visit, because we had a spectacular time there sipping coffee in the rain and then, when it finally cleared up, playing in the waves and eating 50 cent masala dosa balls.
We got to Byron Bay just before dinner time as the rain started to bucket down. Hopping out of the car to our check-in tent, no one seemed to know what was happening or where we needed to go (ripper way to start a week of volunteering!), and to top it off, we got instantly bogged when trying to park.
The ground was so slushy and soft, and hundreds of people in heavy cars and buggies were ripping up any sign of grass - we had no hope of happily driving out, and this was only day one! Talking to one of the parking organisers a few days later, she said that the only time she’d ever seen worse parking was the year that Splendour got rained out… Yikes.
Emma and I signed up for five days of volunteering over Easter in exchange for free tickets to the festival, and even though the forecast said it would continue to rain, we were well set up and excited to see some bands. Some of our shifts included helping people with wheelchairs get on to the access ramps (while Portugal. The Man were playing), directing traffic in torrential downpour, wrist banding, and of course, rubbish collection. This last one was the best on the day after Tom Jones played because there were plenty of bras and undies to pick up!
Portugal. The Man from mine and Emma’s work spot.
The absolute Sex Bomb, Tom Jones (83 years old and still performing for almost 2 hours!).
Music wise, we saw some other incredible acts including Caravana Sun, Jack Johnson, Roshani, Rickie Lee Jones, Coterie, and Here Come the Mummies (a bizarre group dressed in Egyptian mummy outfits who got everyone performing choreographed dances in the crowd). Overall, even though there were times when I was sopping wet from rain and sweat simultaneously, it was an awesome festival.
Anyway, this post has been a bit delayed (apologies to the fans) and I plan on posting another update very shortly! In the mean time, stay safe and stay radical.
