For over three days, in seriously high temperatures, all I experienced were smiles, friendly greetings, thoughtful actions, laughter and helpful volunteers. Win! Add a diverse and eclectic range of musical acts, workshops, stalls, food and various performance arts and you might begin to understand the renaming.
Arriving late on the 29th, after manoeuvring through very thorough car checks, we navigated an awesome campsite location next to (you guessed it) the loveliest people who shared anything and everything. This included alcohol, food, utensils, face painting, pillows, advice, stories and more alcohol.
The festival itself boasted over 90 musical acts and the festival directors were committed to bringing the punters both established artists and the best up-and-coming talent. And they delivered on this in spades. From well-known acts like John Butler Trio (who were the NYE main attraction), The Black Seeds, Friendly Fires DJ Set, Tijuana Cartel and The Herd to lesser-known bands like Svelt, Brow Horn Orchestra and Battleships — everything I saw was entertaining. Other highlights include local Brisbane act Hey Geronimo, central coast Triple J Unearthed winners Valley of Kings, Lime Cordiale and Kaki King (who was there on her honeymoon).
When there was a break on the stages or if you were in the mood for something other than music, you could wander around the festival for hours eating, shopping at the stalls or participating in myriad of workshops. And what a choice there was with the workshops — from yoga, tai chi or meditation to dance classes learning the Thriller dance or Gangnam Style.
Then there were hula hooping classes, burlesque lessons and a class called ’50 Shades of Play’ — which was all about S&M (demonstrated in a fun and respectful way). And incidentally, the cool chick who ran that class happened to be in the tent next to ours. The whole festival is located on a family farm, deep in a green valley and is surrounded by a river (that you can swim in). There were rubbish hubs scattered about with bins for recycling, compost, cans and landfill and volunteers dotted in each area to point you in the right direction, answer questions or help you if you were lost, sick or confused.
Overall, it was a magical three days, spent in the tent-covered wilderness, laughing, dancing and being bemused by the lack of festival bogans. Bring on 2013 NYE at Peats Ridge.
