I survived Nook X

DD and I made our yearly pilgrimage to a private music festival called Nook over the weekend.

Nook is described by its creators as: “our private farm party fundraiser for kids with kidney disease. You know the drill – buy your ticket, pack your tent, bring your food and grog, dance and sing all weekend.”

DD is friends with one of the couples who organize the event – Dave and Lou – which is how we get to experience its magic each year. I think last weekend was our fourth visit.

It’s held on a property around three hours south of Sydney. This year was the 10th anniversary – hence the X – and there were even commemorative T-shirts and Budgie Smuggler cossies (They were very cool and I couldn’t resist buying both!).

We had a bulk fun time, despite the weekend featuring some of my least favourite things: camping, no showers, portaloos and extreme heat.

The traffic out of Sydney was also horrendous on Friday afternoon, so we only made it to the campsite just before dark.

The youngest arrived a few hours earlier, so DD sent me off in search of her while he started setting up the tent. When I returned a group of complete strangers were helping him pitch our tent, bless them, with many hands making very light work.

We were also joined this year by DD’s mates Benny and Lettsy, who added to the fun with their gaggle of kids. Benny’s little ones declared it their best weekend EVER.

After pitching our tent we wandered up to the main stage, where the youngest and one of her friends were delighted to see the first band, The Fungus, take to the stage.

In keeping with their name, The Fungus wore mushroom hats and white pants, with bare chests, and put on an energetic show. They were followed by a fun duo called The Yeezy Experience who performed on the back of an old ute and almost came to grief when the handbrake failed and the car started rolling down the hill …

And a band called Barley Passable were so fun that I stayed up past my bedtime to watch their performance. They had a touch of Daft Punk about them and I would be totally be up for seeing them perform again. Poor DD missed them because he was on a business call between 10.30pm and 1am, using the satellite dish that I borrowed from Billy at work.

The next day there was a stall serving bacon and egg rolls, followed by the annual colour run.

And here’s DD in his sexy Crocs with Dave and Lettsy …

The colour run was followed by an inflatable race and party on the river.

There was an added degree of difficulty for me this year because the bar had been set up on the other side of the river and I had to dog paddle across in a blow-up ring for a coldie.

If you have good eyesight you can spot me in the blue ring talking to the youngest and her friend on DD’s blow up mattress.

The girls used it to launch themselves twice down the slip n slide. I hung out in the tree roots at the bottom (to stop myself floating off down the river) and was very entertained by all the people screaming as they catapulted down the hill.

It was also the perfect spot to keep cool on a 35C day.

That night the organisers served lamb wraps for everyone’s dinner and we settled in to watch a few favourite acts from last year – a Northern Beaches band called Aloe Vera performing a “slinky pop” set and a young crooner called Taj Ralf, who has a record deal.

But I think the line-up on Friday stole my heart.

We also loved sitting beside our tent late at night, gazing up at the Milky Way in all its glory, far from the bright city lights.

All too soon it was Sunday morning and time to pack up and head home. At one point we reached a crossroad on the dirt road that pointed left to Braidwood and right Goulburn. DD chose Braidwood and that’s how our three-hour trip home became five hours.

But we thought Braidwood was a gorgeous little spot. We grabbed coffees and pasties at Braidwood Bakery, then continued on our epic journey, stopping for a quick swim at Mollymook, where the water was glorious.

I was very tired when I got home, but I had 18 cooked sausages leftover from the weekend that I needed to repurpose because I hate waste. I decided to go for a nostalgic hit of the curried sausages my grandmother used to make me every school holidays: Keens curry powder, gravy powder, carrots and celery. I’ll be eating the extensive results for the next week.

Song of the day: John Denver “Take me home country roads” (there was a rousing singalong of this during Nook)