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Published: February 10th 2006
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Meredith Music Festival
Kieran, Lou, Lucky & Don Meredith
Last weekend four of us went to the 15th Annual
Meredith Music Festival. 10,000 tickets sold out in 10 days so it promised to be a good one. The venue was a farm just outside the little country of Meredith, which is half way along the road between Geelong and Ballarat. We left Melbourne at 6am on Saturday morning to beat the queues. We were third in line so not bad, although when we entered the campsite it was already pretty packed?! We were directed to The Top Paddock and here we found a place to park. It was pretty windy in The Top Paddock as was emphasised when our 'neighbours' informed us that their tent had collapsed on top of them the night before! We hoped we wouldn't be so unlucky.
After setting up camp the girls had a nap while the boys checked the place out. We were happy to find out that the wind wasn't so bad down in the supernatural amphitheatre. We packed some drinks into our esky and headed down to find a spot amongst the crowds. We passed some very interesting camps and sights on the way. There were the hardcore guys with no
tent just swags, a yute with Kermit the frog posing as road kill, a truck with couches inside, an Irish flag!, gazebos and tents of all shapes and sizes. There was also the ever-present RACV man who was quite busy all weekend helping people who'd locked keys in their cars and the like. We passed Heaven (circus type tent offering luxuries such as shade, massages, chocolate etc) and the Meredith Eye, and a lovely aroma from the toilets filled our nostrils. I have to say I pretty impressed with the state of these toilets over the weekend. Yes, the stench got worse as temperatures soared into the 30's but inside they were reasonably clean and there was no danger of stepping in something nasty. Plus, they never once ran out of toilet paper - impressive.
So we found a spot next to couple in a bed! Obviously the serious festival goers and people who had been here before had come prepared this year. Every second group had taken couches and their own chairs with them. We hadn't taken anything to sit on but later retrieved a doona (i.e. a duvet to all non-Aussies!) from our tent so that we
Queuing at 7am!!!!
And there's a few behind us! could keep claims on our patch in the grass. The trees provided some relief from the heat of sun in the afternoon but it soon became unbearable and we were forced to seek shelter in Heaven. We chilled out here till evening enjoying the music and people watching. All the bands that played were new to me but the most memorable band for me that day was The Grates.
In the evening we returned to our spot on the grass and ate Hare Krishna food for dinner. We awaited the band we'd all been looking forward to seeing - Wolfmother. By the time they played at ten that night Kieran and I were frozen to death and were back in the tent and the comfort of our sleeping bags before the end of their performance! Apparently it was after this that the music moved up a notch and the party really started, but we were all in a slumber at that stage!
Next morning we tried a spot of Tai Chi which set us up nicely for the day ahead. We had crepes and coffee for breakfast before selecting a place to sit amongst the rubbish left over
from day 1! Day 2 was much more energetic and enjoyable than Saturday. The music was more varied and involved the crowd a lot more. King Marong really got the crowd going with their African beats and we all joined in the dancing in front of the stage. Rapper Backilicious was also a big hit. The temperatures soared even higher than the previous day and Kieran and I resorted to soaking our heads with cold water for some relief! The big event for which Meredith is famous is The Gift - a race where all the contestants have to be naked! This provided great amusement for all the onlookers as you can imagine and was a good note to end the festival on!
We packed up our camp quite quickly but had to queue for an hour before being able to leave the festival grounds and head for home. Voluntary breath tests were offered at the gates as it was stressed that booze buses would be waiting for us. I'd had an alcohol free day so didn't take them up on the offer, however a few unlucky people obviously did and had to pull over to the side of
the road and wait for the alcohol to leave their blood!
All in all it was a great weekend with Sunday being the better day by far.
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Flo
non-member comment
Beautiful!!
Oh my god, that's so good to see all of you on these pics guys!! I miss you so much! Makes me be part of your life in oz...