From Ulluru Brett, Hannah and me soared towards South East of Australia to Deniliquin to celebrate New Years at an alternative bush camp out festival called ConFest.
Unlike most music festivals ConFest has no loud speakers and all the fun is purely acoustic. If you are really crazing to get into them beats then they have a silent disco which is surprisingly a lot of fun!! Otherwise people mostly dance to hundreds of people drumming along on their Djembes.
This gathering is held twice a year – one during New Years and one during the Easter break. I normally go to the Easter one but this time it just made sense to make our way to Confest to celebrate New Years.
The year is 2012 – and the Mayans are predicting the end of the world counting down to the midnight of 21st Dec 2012. Meanwhile Brett and me are been gearing ourselves up to take off. I quit uni at the start of the year and then I find someone to replace my position as the Head of Accounts and Administration at my job to hand it all over to Ken! Brett too gives up his some of his shares in his company over to his two business partners to say good-bye – once and for all to this “corporate lifestyle”. Its October now – and Brett and me are leaving on a jet plane off to Brisbane and two trains to finally get to Eumandi – to pick up our new portable home – “The Eagle”
The Eagle
Our kitchen
Our bed..
As we arrive in Eumandi we get a call from the mechanic who was adding a new engine to make the eagle as good as new – asking us to not arrive yet – that he has discovered some major problems that need to be fixed. Brett and me just have two pairs of clothes as our plan was to get to Eumandi pick up the Eagle and drive back to Melbourne to quickly pack up and leave for Cairns via the Blue Mountains near Sydney where we were booked in for Vipassana.
So with two pairs of clothes – we are stuck here in Eumandi – until the Eagle is good to go – the previous owners Tim and Sally put us up at their house and cooked us some amazing food. Tim told us that there happens to be a vipassana centre just 1/2 an hour away from where they live in Pomona and we could just transfer there instead of the Blue Mountains.
So we head off to Pomona to embark our journey with a 10 day silent meditation – Vipassana. Here I am introduced to the notion of ‘annica’ – which means impermanence or change -is drilled into my head of not having any cravings for anything to be a certain way – or any aversions to way things are as they stand. Having harnessed the power of equanimity – I start my journey feeling limitless and free – confident to face anything and everything that can come my way. Little did I know what the universe had in line for me!
Vipassana at Pomona
We have our portable home and we have just completed Vipassana – next mission is heading back to Melbourne – and coming back all the way past Brisbane to head to Cairns – for a 7 day solar eclipse party. We have 1 week to drive to complete about 4200 kms..
He looks tired doesnt he?
We make it to Melbourne (1600 kms) in 48 hours – really knackered and delirious. Now we need to pack and make our way back to Cairns which is another 2000kms.. Good news is that we are not on our own – Jason and Terry will be joining us!!! The drive back is definitely exciting – except for 1 fact – the eagle is not feeling too well – and she needs a doctor! Every 200 kms we find ourselves rushing into the driveway of the nearest mechanic to give her a doze of his magic to keep her going. About 400 kms from Cairns.. 4/5th of the way the Eagle broke down and could not move any further! Here is where the universe is definitely forcing me to apply the principles of Vipassana. I must not crave my lovely portable home and I must not have an aversion to a rented car. Embracing the fact that at least we have the option of a rented car to take us to our party we jump ship and finally make it 1 day late to Cairns for a very exciting 6 days!
One of the most magical festival that I have ever been to – there are some memories that will never leave my mind such as watching the 3 shooting stars as Fat Freddy’s Drop was playing live – the main dance floor after the eclipse – the chill stage which was full of crystals – the tree art house art decor that you could climb on and the eclipse itself!!
We all gathered together at about 5 in the morning and found a comfy spot on the mountain.. The sun rose.. the birds started chirping and it was really like any other ordinary day. The sun was shining brightly in the sky and when we looked at the sun through our eclipse glasses – you could see part of the sun slightly covered in black. Over the next hour – this shade over the sun grew larger – as the moon began to come closer the sun. As this happened I felt the temperature dropping as it became colder while the daylight reduced to sheer darkness. The birds became silent and when you looked at the sun – you could see that it is completely covered by the moon – it was pitch dark and all you could see in the sky was this:
I heard someone say at a festival – that once you witness an eclipse – you never want to miss another one ever again – and I feel like I definitely would agree with that. Maybe its something about the feminine energies of the moon uniting with the masculine solar energies which brings out within you some form of an orgasmic awakening which can never really be described by words.. its something you have to witness for yourself to know what I am really talking about. But you could definitely feel a certain kind of ecstasy from that experience.
Empire of Love – Photo Credit – Jess Dales
By the end of all of it – I was just glad that I made it 🙂
Time.is.happenin
Byronfilm.com
Guerillabyte Media Resources
Shot on 5Dmk3 by Oliver Claude Buckworth and Sean Patrick McAuliffe
Edited by Sean Patrick McAuliffe
Music-
SWAMPRATT
OFRO – soundcloud.com/rohithabraham
TEMPLE STEP PROJECT- soundcloud.com/temple-step-project
Special thanks to MoonArt Collective – moonartscollective.com/
Shrine On – shrineon.com/
The Bongo Bus – threeworlds.com.au/l
The concept of Rainbow Serpent is based on an Aboriginal Dreamtime folklore. The Australian aboriginal notion of dreamtime(acheringa) is symbolic of timelessness and Godliness – a divine space where heroes and creators come from. When the aboriginals observed the multicoloured rainbow in the sky; they believed it to be a snake emerging from dreamtime whose movement around earth enabled the foundation of mountains and valleys; which allowed waterbodies like rivers, creeks and lagoons to come into being. They also observed that the multicoloured snake only appeared after a big storm or heavy rainfalls and hence assumed that it resided in the waterholes. They believed that once the storm dissipates it comes out of its waterhole to travel to another waterhole and find a new home. Rainbow Serpent is thus a representation of the water element and is regarded to be one of the most powerful dreamtime creatures – a protector portrayed as one of the greatest forces of nature and spirit.
Aboriginal Art of Rainbow Serpent – Photo Credits Ladymaggic
Rainbow Serpent Festival is Autralia’s largest electronic music festival which is held at the start of every year during Australia Day long weekend. A weekend full of festivities, camping, workshops, shopping, fun with close friends, lots of dancing to all your favorite artists for people who enjoy electronic music and massages and healings from awesome healers in the lifestyle area.
The year is 2011 and Rainbow Serpent – here we come!!! I am in the car filled with camping gear, blankets and pillows, yummy food – booze – mixers and and everything flashy we can possibly fill the car up. With me are some awesome people: Brett, Jason, Harry and John. Brett is my boyfriend and Jason is a really close friend whose son is Harry and John is a friend of a friend (who became a really close friend too) that messaged Brett a few weeks before Rainbow Serpent asking if he could join us for the festival.
Jason with Harry on his shoulder, Brett with the cap and John
We arrive at the site to be welcomed by the very colourful expressions and vibrancy of the festival with a buzz of excitement from all the people; only to look at the sky to witness a rainbow initiating the magic in the festival.
We set off on a walk to find our other friends who have set up camp somewhere around one of the stages and we take a pause to look at the schedule for the upcoming 5 days at the chill space.
Seems like John’s excited about something
As you can see above – the chalkboard is full of really exciting activities and a chance to meet really talented often renowned artisans giving free workshops on art, yoga, dance, capoeira, meditations etc etc etc. One that stands out to me is Alex Grey who is a mystic artist who’s art work is to die for!!! His live art performances added extra sparkles to the festival .. below are a few images:
Live art installation by Alex Grey!
During the four/five days – the space which was empty before very soon becomes a temporary village with main roads and bylanes filled with campsites, dance floors, lounges, wicked artwork and colourful awesome crazy people. The space is alive with the heartbeat of the synchronised dance floors; specially at night with mind-blowing lasers beams and visuals lighting the whole space up. In my experience I felt like everyone present there came together to create a space of timelessness – what the aboriginals believed to be dreamtime – another dimension of psychedelic madness.
We are a tribe celebrating life and joy via music – we are one on the dance floor altogether resonating a frequency which everyone absorbs to travel through space and time experiencing a transcendental journey to the present moment. Here our woes and sorrows disappear – our identity disappears – only presence remains.
The Self
O Master, Tell me how to find Detachment, wisdom and freedom!
Child, If you wish to be free, Shun the poison of the senses.
Seek the nectar of truth. Of love and forgiveness. Simplicity and Happiness.
Earth, fire and water – the wind – the sky – You are none of these.
If you wish to be free, know you are the Self. The witness of all these, The Heart of Awareness.
Set your body aside. Sit in your own awareness.
You will at once be happy. Forever still, Forever free.
You have no caste. No Duties to bind you.
Formess and free. Beyond the reach of the senses. The witness of all things.
So be happy!
The Ashtavakra Gita
More artwork..
Rainbows favorite hangout spot – the Chai Tent!
Taxi anyone?
One of my highlights from this Rainbow is watching this guy bend spoons.. I have heard that people can do things like that but watching it live literally blew me away. Please excuse me for not having the best video to show you from my iPhone 4 camera I had on me back then..
Turiya Tatyana 