We arrive in Melbourne Friday afternoon and it’s chaos! The Rainbow Serpent festival starts on Friday but we wouldn’t be getting there until the middle of the night. There’s prep to be done and sneaking in instructions to be reviewed multiple times. We grab groceries (pb and jelly ingredients) and booze, pack some random clothes in a bag, shower, and eat a dinner prepared for us by my Lexie. There’s salad, vegetable stew and steak. Or at least that’s what we thought. Halfway through chomping on a piece of meat, Max is informed that we’re eating Kangaroo meat!! We’re eating a Kanga before we even see one! It’s delicious! It tastes like venison, and is very lean. We head out of the house at 11pm and we grab coffees, preparing for a very late night. As we arrive in the town (Bellarat) right outside the festival grounds we go over our plan. It’s 2am. Max and I are to run through grasslands, trek through the bush (aka forest) and scale a mountain arrive at what they call the “Bush Duf”; you can hear the music going “duf, duf, duf” hence the name. Terrified of snakes and creatures you only see living in Australia on TV, I play it cool and we’re dropped at the side of the road, just behind Lexie’s sister Zoe and her boyfriend, who will be ten minutes ahead of us. Slightly panicked and still taken off guard that we’re actually doing this, we make a run for it pausing to duck and army crawl to avoid being seen in the open field, the moonlight shining on us. It’s like we’re in a Bourne Identity movie. We make it to the hill. Oh, this is no hill! It’s a mountain full of ferns and bracken (blackberry like bushes). We make it up and over and are stunned by the size of the festival. There are campgrounds everywhere and the music is pumping. We case the joint and we have to book it once again in open field for 500ft. This is where it’s most likely we’ll be caught! And if we are we have to figure out how we’d make it back to Melbourne without our friends who all paid for their $400 tickets. We’re gonna make it, we have to make it! Go!! Max is running ahead of me and all of a sudden he falls back like a board! He just sprinted into a fence, haha. I try not to laugh and keep our eye on the prize. Go, go, go! We climb the fence, and take small fast steps across the field. We’re starting to come into campsites. We made it!! It’s 5am, and our adrenaline is pumping. Time to find our friends and have a victory beer.
Rainbow Serpent Day 1:
We head to bed as the sun is rising but our entire campsite starts to come alive around noon. We eat our pb and jelly’s and crack open some drinks. The party preparation has begun. Colorful people, colorful costumes, colorful art installations and 4 stages. People here are some of the most interesting we’ve seen. It looks as if each person blindly grabbed clothes from a gay pride parade, army surplus, and Lady Gaga’s closet to create some of the wackiest ensembles. Max and I get peacocked out as best as possible and with the help of Mother duck Lexie. We head out across the grasslands to check out all the different stages that are playing very loud, thumping, electric dance music. Not our favorite style, but it doesn’t matter because it’s fun to dance to and it feels like one giant Halloween party! We dance from the day into the night.
Rainbow Serpent Day 2:
Dust, dirt, and barefeet. This festival is an evolving and changing entity. With a thick layer of dust on everything and everyone, it’s beginning to look as if everyone lives out here. There’s a sort of quiet comradery, 14,000 people getting down and dirty together. Max and I take a break from dancing today and go to the outskirts of the festival grounds to take it all in and watch the sun set. It looks like we’re in Africa, but it’s beautiful. I’ve honestly never seen so many stars in my life. It’s as if a bottle of Lady Gaga’s glitter was spilled in the sky.
Rainbow Serpent Day 3:
It’s the last full day of Rainbow. There is a sense of urgency in the air to finish any leftover booze and get in all the dancing we neglected the day before. We drink a goon bag (bag of wine), take our shoes off and dance in the dirt that has now turned to mud because of some serious misters. It’s over 105 degrees out here! Max and I dance it out until we can’t and take a break to wander the festival grounds and join in a workshop. Rainbow Serpent, we learn, is an Aboriginal god and the digireedoo(after the drums) is the second oldest instrument that is used by men for healing. We also get the chance to carve some designs on fifty foot long, 3’ diameter drift wood. We head back to the stages to continue dancing. Day 3 comes to a close and we make it back to our hillside to watch people mill around and watch the sunset.
Rainbow Serpent Day 4:
The party still isn’t over for some people. One stage is still in full swing, but the majority of people pack up, gather trash, and say their goodbyes. A whole city is beginning to collapse, dust and all. We haven’t showered since Friday and it’s now Tuesday! We also haven’t eaten much besides pb&j’s. We’re so ready for some modern comforts, some good food, and a long shower. We head straight from camp to the Australian coast to do a few days of relaxing in a coastal town called Lorne. Lexie’s uncle has a house overlooking the beach. We unpack and admire our tans, only to discover in our first cleansing ocean swim that it’s just dirt! It’s time to relax.
