National Folk Festival 2013

We rode into Canberra on our motorcycles and checked in at the festival camp site on Wednesday afternoon, the day before the opening concert. We cruised around the camp site for a while, trying to establish what was available in the fowls, the quiet, camping area. We were off to a good start as a new found festival friend invited us to share his powered site. The great aspect about camping onsite is you can wander back to your own patch for a little RNR and then immerse yourself in the festival again.



Red Molly.

On Thursday we poured over the program with a highlighter pen. Without my guitar in tow I didn’t pay enough attention to the incredible experiences on offer. If I had, I would certainly have joined in the Festival Choir, led by Spooky Men’s Chorale choir master, Stephen Taberner. The Festival Choir performance, at the Farewell Concert, was testament to Stephen’s ability to create something quite magical under challenging circumstances.



We just hung out at the festival over the four day Easter weekend and enjoyed many performances including fiddler, Alasdair Fraser and cellist Natalie Hass. I was thoroughly entertained by the synergy between these two musicians and they were a pleasure to watch. Spooky Men are a festival favourite. Apparently they “are not a mens group;” they said so in one of their songs. I also spotted a Spooky Men poster which read “Spooky Men in acronynimus dispute with FCUK.”



Finbar Furey.

Red Molly were a must for anyone who enjoys country pop and Chris Smither if your poison is blues. Finbar Fury delighted the audience with his Irish charm and humour; I could quite happily listen to Finbar spinning a yarn all day long. During Himmerland’s performance I was drawn to the character and deft touch of their percussionist, Ayi Soloman, for the entire fifty minute set. If you ever need a session drummer he’s your man.

At times we wandered through the Session Bar. The number of people participating in jam sessions was amazing. Then we would check out the dancers in the Coorong, I wanted to have a go but Steve said “I don’t dance no more.”



Judge Judy.

Judy Small surprised us all with her decision to retire from performing in the pursuit of her new role as a Judge. I first heard Judy’s song “Mothers, Daughters, Wives” on my car radio way back in 1995. Judy’s farewell concert, to a full house in the 3,000 seat Budawang venue, earned her a standing ovation. It felt surreal that we may never see Judy perform live again.

The catering was great and we chose to dine on Thai, Mexican and Turkish Gozleme. With Pizzas, Indian delicacies and Moroccan fair amongst the large choice of culinary delights, every ones taste was catered for.

We were lucky to buy souvenir festival mugs before they were sold out. In the mornings we filled these mugs with coffee and in the afternoons we filled them with beer. When I washed them and put them away I could feel the slight touch of the potters hand and they are a wonderful souvenir of our first National Folk Festival.

There were so many wonderful musicians in residence that I couldn’t help compiling my “2013 National Folk Festival Super Group,” the line up is as follows:

¯  Fiddle - Alasdair Fraser

¯  Cello - Natalie Hass

¯  Acoustic Guitar - Graham Mcleod (The String Contingent)

¯  Bass Guitar - David Woodhead

¯  Percussion - Ayi Soloman (Himmerland)

¯  Duduk - Tigran Aleksanyan (SANS)

¯  Vocals – Kavisha Mazzella (I Viaggiatori)



A group setup while we were having lunch.
They played some Swedish folk tunes.

This festival is the friendliest event I have ever attended. I never saw a sad face all weekend and the level of participation is unprecedented. The musical groups didn’t just congregate in the black board venues and the Session Bar, they also formed out in the festival streets, under trees, and around picnic tables; each group playing quietly in their own space without becoming a nuisance to anyone else.

On Easter Monday I knew the carnival was nearly over when I started brushing my teeth to the tune of a little jig playing inside my head. Thanks to the organising committee and the hundreds of volunteers who make this event happen, long may it be so.

In the tent on a cold Canberra morning.
Updating my blog and drinking coffee from my festival mug.

Bright to Tathra

If Bright got its name because of the Bright and cheerful place that it is then it is well deserved. Warm balmy days and cool nights - get rid of the mossies and it would be perfect! We arrived at the start of the Australia Day long weekend. We left the bikes alone until the weekend was over as the population in Bright swells from 3,000 to 30,000 during holiday time and the roads are chaotic. Then we settled in to ride those mountain roads, Mt Buffalo, Falls Creek, Mt Hotham, even the valley run to Yackandanda, Beechworth and home again to Bright was fun too. There seems nothing more enjoyable than riding into the main street of an historic town, which we have never seen before and may never see again, parking up and walking up and down the main street, first one side and then the other - if only those walls could speak.

On my Yamaha Vstar 650 along the Alpine Way

Quite often, while we are having breakfast, we will muse over the days ride, with The Bears book in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. Steve commented "apparently we need to watch out for cow pats on the Red Bank Road," to which I replied, without thinking, "s***, yes." We couldn't stay in Bright for ever and with our riding destinations complete we packed up our tent once more and headed east. A little rain on the hills around us but we stayed dry as we crossed the Snowies, through Thredbo to out next camp at Jindabyne. The road through the Snowies didn't seem quite as tight as some of The Alpine roads in Victoria and on the cruisers we had great fun.

before the rain

And then it started to rain. Just a thunderstorm at first, then just steady consistent rain. Never stopping long enough to do the most menial of tasks - even a trip to the toilet required the rain jackets. 24 hours later and the tap still hadn't been turned off. We questioned many a local about the weather and they just said "we've had a lot of rain this year." When I posed the question at the information centre "when do you think we will get a suitable day to climb Mt Kosiosko?" the lady just smiled and said "next week" - it was only Monday! No riding out of Jindabyne for us - next time around.

So we packed up a very wet tent on Tuesday 5th February, even though the weather bureau reported a low pressure system off the central NSW coast which could dump anything between 50 - 200mm, and rode out of town - destination Canberra. We stayed dry all the way to the McDonalds car park at Cooma and as soon as the horse had been fed and watered on a bacon and egg McMuffin meal deal, we were back on the road again - grey skies all around. And then the rain came - no wind, just drenching rain and a little hail for good measure. But we rode on. The road between Cooma and Canberra isn't that dangerous and quite honestly it didn't seem that bad. We took it easy, made it safely and got very, very wet. My boots literally filled with water and the rain found its way into places it had never found its way into before. I was so wet when we arrived in Canberra that I created a pool of water in the reception at the caravan park!

The War Memorial - Canberra

Not to worry, the air conditioner in our little cabin provided a great airing cupboard for jackets, bags, boots and tent and an afternoon in the laundromat solved the wet clothes problem. By the time we had a good nights sleep and a new day had begun we were ready to enjoy the Capital.

Parliament House and The War Memorial were the only things we could find the concentration for. Many people had said to us that The War Memorial is a must see and even with eager anticipation we weren't disappointed. But two days was enough of city life for us. We are now at the seaside town of Tathra. Some good roads to ride in this neck of the woods so we could be here a while!

Lunch break at Batemans Bay