still at The Common

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Over the past couple of days 3000+ caravans/campers have descended on The Common. There are several groups where the owners are all in matching t-shirts or fleeces and many have home made flags flying. There are campfires all around and there has been a lot of chatter about their individual journeys to get here from all over Australia, as much as lockdowns and border restrictions/closures have allowed. The group on Facebook still has a lot of people lamenting the fact that they will not be able to make it to the Bash because of these restrictions, but even they are wishing everyone fun for the next week.



Today is the first of 2 early roll-ins to the Bash itself, so throughout The Common vans were rehitched and many moved out. It was reported by the organisers that by 8:30am the queue to enter the main gate was already 2kms long. As the afternoon wore on many new vans arrived and The Common was humming again.



Wanting to buy a couple more pies to put in the freezer it was back into town for us. The queue at the Bakery wasn’t as long today, but it still extended well out onto the road.



Once back at the van we did some general preparation for tomorrow which is when we are due to roll in – charging of head torches, charging of camera batteries and charging fit bits …… given we only have 1 day early entry we expect to be toward the back of the camping area meaning we will have 1km or more to walk to the concert areas, merchandise tents and food vendors. It will be interesting to see how many steps we actually take each day.



We did our check in yesterday and swapped e-tickets for our wrist bands and car sticker – another queue, but their system was super efficient and so it only took a little time.



Of course ensuring we have plenty of water on board is crucial. We have plenty of drinking water but want to fill our tanks before we leave tomorrow morning. There are only 5 water taps at The Common and the gatherings around them are always chatty and friendly; the camaraderie is just brilliant with everyone super excited at what lay ahead. A few people leave their vans hitched up to fill their tanks, but the majority make several trips with jerry cans so as not to create a bottleneck. Over the last two days we have done just that but as we leave tomorrow we will just join yet another queue to top up.



Our travelling companion – Ted – has had some alterations made to an old Bash bandana and he is now dressed to impress and ready to Rock the Simpson.

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