// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAsjO3UIUsY //
HEY FRIENDS!
I'm currently wallowing in post Woodford depression, especially now that I'm looking through all of my photos. IT WAS ONE OF THE BEST EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE and one of the most beautiful places on earth; a completely different world void of any worries :')
*Just letting you know in advance that this post contains SEVERAL photos* and btw these photos are a complete mess and definitely not in chronological order.
(ALSO I may have stolen a few pics from the Woodford facebook page because they have such beautiful photos)
Arriving at camp involved quite some journey, so sit tight because I have a funny story to tell. (Well, let's be real - it was probably a lot funnier at the time)
SO, we went to Coles to buy some snacks and groceries that were supposed to last the week. We had decided to push all of our luggage and groceries out of Coles with one of their trolleys over to the Caboolture train station (don't underestimate how much a duffle bag + a couple of grocery bags can weigh). However; whilst exiting the centre, we were met with my worst enemy..STAIRS. ZOE came up with a brilliant plan to carry the trolley down the stairs. HA GOOD IDEA ZOE THX. We were halfway down the stairs when a couple of bags fell out and as we slowly looked up, out of the glass doors, we were met with a couple of shopping centre cleaners shaking their heads. OF COURSE MY IMMEDIATE REACTION WAS *ENTER FULL PANIC MODE*. We dropped the trolley and left it mid-stair, whilst all of our belongings and food fell out bag by bag. We watched (from behind a wall) as they slowly took their turn in rolling down to the bottom of the staircase. Traumatised/ 10, we gathered all of our things and decided it would be best to walk to the train station minus the shopping trolley (to my arms and shoulders' dismay).
WE DID HOWEVER ARRIVE ON SITE HAPPY AND ALIVE, ALBEIT MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY DRAINED. I also got to see the finished product of Woven Cloud upon entering :') It was truly amazing and I couldn't believe how COMPLETE and BEAUTIFUL it was, and to think that I had actually taken part in building this thing. #LUV
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| rain ain't stopping no one // shitty panorama |
The first (official) night of Woodford (27th Dec) involved a brilliant opening ceremony that left me smiling from ear to ear :) They had a choir performing on stage at the Amphi Theatre, as well as a small fire lighting ceremony + cute performances.
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| light it up uP UP |
On the second/ third (?) night there was a cute gathering/party for Wen-Chih and the Woven Cloud team. IT MADE ME REALLY HAPPY SEEING EVERYONE AGAIN EVEN THOUGH HALF OF THEM WERE PROBABLY WONDERING WHO THE FUCK WE WERE SINCE WE WERE ONLY THERE FOR 5 DAYS LEL.
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| ~~ cElEbRaTiOn ~~ |
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| freaky decor // ye ye it's aRT oK |
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| pretty lanterns! |
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| pinapple n muscles // party pants |
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| strolling // actual blue sky |
One of my favourite things about the festival was the numerous amount of street acts. From live-moving performances, to people dressed up in wacko costumes. There were also some pretty confronting street acts; e.g. someone dressed up as Hitler, shaking and hiding behind a pole whilst a woman dressed as a maid came up to him and offered him a platter of ashes (?!?!) Also quite a few men dressed as FBI agents who would act very serious and speak to you on the street haha; it was all part of an act LUV IT. I
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| Giant scottish man + woman dressed in long-legged-dog suit + confused children |
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| legit wondering wtf is happening |
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| 'someone please save me' |
This woman dressed as a dog actually lay on the ground after it came and hugged/headbutted me. I THOUGHT I HAD 'KILLED' IT AND SHE WAS FAKING A DEATH. But next thing I know, a stream of water comes splashing at me and I realised she had fake pissed on me HAHAHAHA. SO MUCH FUN, SO MUCH TRAUMA.
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| cute street band on a vehicle of their own creation |
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| can I adopt them pls // ermahgerd hair |
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| mine mine MINE |
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| freaky. no but srsly fucking freaking. |
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| street performers :) |
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| so beautiful :') |
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| teh golden compass ?!? |
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| The festival becomes even more heavenly during the night |
SO there is something called 'the game' and nobody completely understands WHAT it exactly entails. The aim of 'the game' is to be enthusiastic and just have fun. Pretty much there are several so called 'characters' (Zoe's sister being one of them) and these characters give you 'quests' and in exchange you get 'funs' that help you become a citizen. I was a little bit confused with it all but we did attempt to play 'the game' for one afternoon, where we had a stressful time finding 6 strangers at random to flap their arms whilst several onlookers filmed us (hmm maybe I made it to someone's snapstory lel)
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| Autobot (?) |
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| Some bird lady character |
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| Teh autobots + Pilates |
There were several different gigs at different times of the day at the many venues within the festival. A few of my favourite acts were Sticky Fingers, The Cat Empire, The Cairos, Paper Lions, Kate Miller-Heidke, Louie and Patrick and Dehli 2 Dublin. Fun Machine was also really good on new years eve - dancing through the early hours of 2015 :') There were several other acts but I can't remember/ don't know their names.
We also managed to catch Mario Queen of the Circus and the Frankenstein freak show act.
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| Sticky Fingers |
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| The Cairos (SERIOUSLY currently in love with this band) |
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| The Cairos again! |
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| Paper Lions (the first time round) |
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| Kate Miller-Heidke |
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| Mario, Queen of the Circus! |
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| The Pineapple Lounge is so pretty |
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| FINEapple lol #lame |
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| Inside the entrance walkway |
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| embarrassing attempt at self-timer |
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| Pola action |
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| sun safety first guys |
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| a nice lady at one of the stalls offered to take a photo for us |
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| outfits that for once don't consist of monochromatic colours! |
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| bum-angie |
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| fake-a-smile |
There's this thing at Woodford where people gather larger rocks and sticks and pile them up at certain points and intersections on the street. People that pass by often add/adjust the ever-growing structure, and by the end of the festival it's a large castle of sticks, stones, and other found objects.
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| 1 like = 1 prayer |
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| there's a mannequin leg in there |
I really didn't take many food snaps oops but the festival seriously had so many different stalls selling delicious food. One of the days we went to Govindas for lunch which was devine, although it was really hot and such an effort to actually chew. There was also an amazing place that sold Gozlemes which we got for only $5 because we were volunteers :)
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| Byron Bay doughnuts <3 |
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| Say the word 'Haloumi' and I'm there |
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| Chai tent SO MUCH LOVE // The Chai was a bit more spicier than I'm used to |
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| Bill's Bar BRILLIANT WORK |
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| cOLOUR |
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| oriental |
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| CRIKEY // straya = thongs |
At 11:30PM on new year's eve, there's this tradition known as the 3 minutes of silence. Everyone in the entire festival holds a candle (or two) and is completely silent for 3 minutes. It's to reflect on the past year before the beginning of the new one. Zoe, Angie, and I decided to spend the 3 minutes of silence down by the lake. It was absolutely stunning <3
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| The beautiful lake |
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| strike a match // we may have lit our candle too early oops |
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| lots of people also gather at the Amphi |
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| simply beautiful |
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| Woven Sky, pathway towards to Amphi theatre |
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| Amphi Theatre |
THE FIRE EVENT. The famous fire event takes place on the last night of Woodford. I was really looking forward to this throughout the entire festival and it DID NOT DISAPPOINT. They had orchestrated a huge performance that told a story (although I didn't really understand the story, it was quite vague and open to interpretation I guess). There was plenty of live music and of course FIRE. There was also a very beautiful ceremony of the lanterns that had been made during lantern-making workshops every morning. At the very end of the event, they set fire to the huge structure that had been sitting next to the Amphi stage for the past week and we all watched it BURN TO THE GROUND. Despite how it may sound, It was quite elating and actually very peaceful.
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| fire dancing |
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| story time |
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| the live choir in the background :') |
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| beautiful lantern ceremony |
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| amezzing |
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| so many props |
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| The fire event |
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| 'just gonna stand there and watch me burn' |
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| it kind of looks like it's screaming for help but let's just ignore that |
FEKING AMAZING EXPERIENCE I'M SERIOUSLY CONVINCED THAT I WILL ALSO GO NEXT YEAR. LIV. LUV. LAV.
The day after the fire event, I got picked up and went to the Sunshine coast with my family + Misha. I was so tired and fell asleep on the beach and now MY FEET ARE BLACK. yay. Well, at least I can say that I successfully got rid of my sock tan.
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| reunited with the lil shit |
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| yes she's holding chips |
Hope I didn't bore you with this long ass post and hope you all had a lovely new years, and let's hope 2015 is a good one (srsly pls)
peace owt
xo
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