Thursday, January 28, 2010

Rainbow Serpent Nights!!




This was the end of one of the best days I have had in a long time. Thanks to everyone who made my experience at Rainbow Serpent festival so much fun. I had a fantastic time and value the new friendships that I made and hope to see you all soon.

Rainbow Serpent Festival & The Nargile Lounge





Whilst in Melbourne friends and I spent almost a week at a festival called Rainbow Serpent. It was held in the bush near Beaufort and Ballarat about 2 hours outside of Melbourne. There were lots of DJ's and a few live acts as well as various performers and entertainers too.







I was part of a group that went and set up a gift economy space called the Nargile Lounge. A lot of the organisers were Burning Man people and this is a concept that is very common at Burning Man festivals around the world. I haver never been a part of something like this though and so was not sure what to expect.


The aim of the Nargile Lounge was to provide a free space for people to come and enjoy and hang out in. Nargile or Nargila as it's pronounced are hookah pipes, or hubbly bubbly pipes as I call them. We had several of these for people to smoke as well as given out peppermint tea and various snacks like dried fruit, nuts and turkish delight.







It was amazing to see how much people appreciated the space and were so grateful for the chance to enjoy the tent with us. It made me feel really great to be a part of the team and to be offering people this experience.


The festival was awesome. Some great music was played and I was often found dancing away till the sun rose each morning. There was a huge mix of people at the festival and all seemed to be enjoying their experiences.







It's been a long time since I went to a good festival and so was great to let my hair down and enjoy every aspect of it and meet some fantastic people along the way.

Melbourne - oh how I love thee!!

Yesterday I returned from 2 weeks in Melbourne. It's a city I have always had a fondness for. I lived there for 6 months when I was 19 and have always said I want to move there one day. 







I was a little apprehensive about going there as had such fond memories of the city and wasn't sure if I would see it in the same light. No worries about it though. It's exactly the same as I remember and even better. It's been so long since I was in a big city, I'd forgotten how much I love the hustle and bustle of it all. There was always something going on whatever time of day or day of the week. I especially loved the trams and travelling around exploring the city on them.







I managed to catch up with old friends as well whilst there and it was fantastic to chat about old times and it even felt as if I'd only seen them about 6 months ago even though it had been at least 8 years with most of them!







I loved the shopping. Melbourne is a shoppers paradise! So much to choose from. So many great designers and funky stores as well as amazing discount stores like Target which quickly became and regular haunt for us. 


The food was amazing too. We found a fantastic place to have breakfast on Sydney Road. It served all kinds of things including american style pancakes with real maple syrup and made a great cup of coffee to have with it.







Melbourne definitely has a special buzz about it and I can't wait to go back and discover more of it at some point in the future!