Food glorious food

When the weather is inclement, what better way to pass the time than browsing and buying from the unlimited amount of Woodford shops and of course, sampling from some of the 40 odd amazing food stalls.

Some of our Woodford favourites – Woodfired pizza, Langos, Poffertjes, Burger Bar, German Fare, Turkish Pastries – hmm, making me hungry again!

Day 4 Highlights:

• TaikOz (Aus) – unbelievably high energy Japanese styled drumming. Quote: “athletic dynamism that will leave you breathless” as might their upper body strength Pics below
• Wild Marmalade (Aus) – blending the ancient sounds of the didjeridu with grooves of the present; high energy dance music
• Maiden Speech (Aus) – 80’s inspired avant-garde poetry-pop (great 80’s costumes, themes and references) – Pic below
• Poetry Slam finals – with contestants performing short pieces and being judged by select audience members
• We saw The Go Set (Aus) for 2nd time in as many days – a mixture of celtic, folk, punk rock combining bag pipes, accordion, electric guitars and political passion. Crowd participation: J Keenan (lead singer), calls everyone down to the front, turns off the amps/pa, sits down on the stage edge and plays an acoustic. Pics below courtesy of Chris Converse
  

We were disappointed to have not been able to get in to see both The Space Cowboy, or the Comedian’s Debate. Both were well and truly packed out half hour before the performances – a sign that they were definitely proving popular.

Note: You’ll be proud to hear that by night 4 we could find our campsite even in the muddy dark We thought our next challenge should perhaps be to try catching a bus back?

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Go To: Woodford Day 5 - As we celebrate the last day of 07

Photos from Day 4:
Taikoz:

Maiden Speech:

The Go Set:

A little wet under foot…

Rain, puddles, mud – and kids playing happily in them all. It’s great to see so many families come to Woodford. I’d say, it’s a shame for the weather, however the kids were loving every second of it (perhaps a different story for the parents who wash their clothes).

Lucky there’s SO much to keep kids entertained – they have their own fun-packed, non-stop, carnival area with story-telling, craft & activities, dancing, singing, clowns, puppets and much much more! Tip: Lots of fun for adults too.

Day 2 Highlights were:

• Sonia & Disappear Fear (US);
• the unusually but very talented That 1 Guy (US); touring soon – you should check him and his “magic pipe” out
• The Wells – 5-piece Indie band from Brissy
• Angus and Julia Stone (Aus)
• The Cat Empire (Aus) as always, brought down the house!
• Urthboy (Aus) – one member of The Herd, Urthboy was a funky hip-hop end to the evening

Street Performances: Another enjoyable moment during the day was watching the Australian Unicycle Society ~ a group of about 6-8 guys performing impromptu / playing about down around the pond’s rocky waterfall. Sharp rocks, slippery wet surfaces, spills and thrills! (Pics below)

Personal challenge: learn our way back to camp in the dark

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Go To: Woodford Day 3 – Unexpected Sunshine

Photos from Day 2: (Click thumbnail for full size)

Keen as Mustard!

We set out very very early on the 27th – hoping to meet up with friends and get a good camping posy together. You know, somewhere easy and close to the festival gates. Well – weren’t we Woodford ’season camping newbies’ as most arrive Christmas Day! A fact that is evident after an hour and a half driving about trying to find anything larger than a postage stamp sized tent space.

Luck then appeared on our side as a brand new, green, grassy paddock was opened, with minimal occupants and our own mobile shower and toilet blocks. nb: raised off the ground, which would prove very important later (Pics below – and see comparative pics on day 5).

However, Mother Nature thought we looked a little dirty and made sure we were showered on whilst setting up camp. Never to mind, we’re in a drought after all and were so excited about six days of live music that little could dampen our spirit – at least, not this early on.

Highlights for Day 1 were:

• the opening ceremony (albeit during heavy downpour)
• ambient velvety sounds of Jess McAvoy (Aus)
• The spoken words of Crazy Elf (Aus) – talking about religion, samurai, time machines, pirates and much more….
• the unusually but very talented That 1 Guy, (US); touring soon – check him out
• comedic relief by Sean Choolburra (Aus)
• triple j darling Sarah Blasko (Aus)
• Oh, and catching a little of Blue King Brown (BKB) – (Aus)

BKB were to be one of our festival highlights but after a few hours of sitting on the Amphi hill in heavy rain, I could handle no more. That’s ok, there’s always next time AND I did get to do a little celebrity spotting that day when I ran into Natalie of BKB in a festival shop (Pictured below)!

Hats off to all who also supported the Festival organisers by joining in the Opening Ceremony amidst such heavy rain. And to all the kind souls who helped us find our camping spot that first night in the rain and along Woodford’s numerous and humourous roads and ways, with the help of torches.

Note to selves: Take torch to read map on night 2!

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Go to: Woodford Day 2 – A little wet underfoot

Photos – Day 1: Click thumbprint for full size