WOW

And I thought Burning Man was crazy!

Rainbow Serpent is NUTS. I had no idea what the hell to expect and just jumped on the festival coach from Federation Square in Melbourne and arrived straight into a dusty doof.

( Funny thing is I had no idea what a DOOF was until I came here, L O L ! )

I go to A LOT of festivals, but never thought whilst raving in the bush or middle of the countryside, I was basically at a bush ‘doof’.

The Aussie bush DOOF is the rise of another kind of music festival that’s bucking the dying trend of Australia’s shitty mainstream day festivals.

So what’s the deal, exactly? What’s a DOOF?

Most of a Bush Doof’s magic is in the atmosphere – you know, the viiibe – so it’s hard to put into words. A Doof is basically a rave held in remote rural areas of picturesque Australian bushland that gets transformed into psychedelic wonderlands complete with trippy light shows and colourful euphoric art installations. They’re the perfect playgrounds for escapism, and wearing some euphoric threads!

Then there’s the music. Niche, eclectic lineups of underground local and international artists playing every strand of dance and electronica you could imagine. Not to mention a lot of psytrance. A LOT! .. and I bloody love it now! HA

DOOF DOOF DOOF DOOF .. goes the music in the distance… ALLLL god dam night haha.

Together, this attracts a crowd unlike anything you’d see at a regular three-day camping festival.

Doofs bring together an open-minded, like-minded mix of people from all walks of life, who are all there for the same reason. There’s a real sense of connectedness between punters, and you’re bound to make some friends for life. It also helps that the douchebag count is noticeably low. If crowds can make or break a festival, the unique, colourful breed of people who flock to bush doofs only add to its crazy atmosphere.

I’d say if you’re searching for a new festival experience – something a bit more intense, sensory, and out of this world – definitely turn to the BUSH DOOF.

Which brings me back to RAINBOW SERPENT FESTIVAL….

What started out as a psytrance festival nearly twenty years ago has evolved into an enormous celebration of music and art, encouraging a strong community spirit and engagement with the environment.

The year I choose to go, Melbourne had a major lazor heat wave so I ended up having to drag my new Kmart eski (coolbox), filled with Fat Lamb and Vodka, about 5 miles through dusty barren fields and past numerous campsites and half-cut rainbow ravers until I got anywhere near finding my mates. SWEATY BUSINESS. Took me nearly two hours to find them, as I was alone, without phone signal, and had been given THE most vague directions to find them.

NOTE – NO PHONE SIGNALS AT DOOFS.

“By an Orange H sign, and a rasta flag” they said. Fantastic. There is like a thousand tents and flags. Luckily the Orange H sign was a help station with maps and friendly rainbow volunteers that allowed me to dump by heavy luggage I’d hauled from the coach, then I missioned around on my own until I magically recognised the squad of about 30 Aussies from Phillip Island.

It was full on, shove-your-tent-up, LETS-GET-ON-IT vibes.

FYI – You will never be short of party sweets etc here, people are constantly wondering around offering an array of “rainbow treats”. However, check out this interesting VICE article on drug-testing in Australian Doofs. Overseas back in England, drug-testing facilities at festivals are legal and saving lives, but here in Australia the government are determined they stay banned, so you might be still be taking cleaning products not ecstasy – YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

ANYHOW, you need A LOT of alcohol at Rainbow as there are no bars, just heaps of amazing food stalls. Hence why my luggage was super heavy. You need fluids. Hydrate before you jirate!

I could rant for hours about the crazy encounters, and euphoric escapades over that weekend… but I’ll save that for another time. The weekend basically consisted of me on a bender with 30 funny Australians, most of the time loosing them, wondering around on my own, making new friends, galavanting around different rave tents, perusing the INSANELY colourful and euphoric fashion stalls, and eating the most delicious grub ever.

 

The food at Rainbow Serpent festival is AHHH-MAZING! There is an array of healthy and wholesome food from around the globe; Thailand, Lebanon, Japan, Italy, India and Israel to name a few, and including vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and organic dishes. My favourite: Vegilicious!

So although the music variety mainly features electronic music, there are only a few main stages to choose from; sunset stage, market stage, and main stage. Each providing different tempos and genres within the electronic music spectrum, as well as a few different genres (I had no idea what sort of music to call it). The Main Stage plays for 20 hours; Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, and sees some of the main headlines; though not exclusively. The Market Stage might present anything from glitch hope to ambient to tech house, and runs continuously throughout the entire festival. For more niche acts, the Sunset Stage is there, (awesome day-rave vibe on the Friday) and the other Playground Stage, enjoys live music – jazz, hip-hop, dub, reggae etc. Oh and there is the Chillout Stage, which also runs continuously, and is pretty self-explanatory. Nice to find one morning and zen out.

LIVE COLOURFULLY

What I love about Rainbow Serpent, is there is a widespread appreciation of the arts – huge installations, and the set up of the venues themselves, reflect the creativity and imaginative freedom fostered in the colourful festival mentality. This resonates down to the mad colourful outfits and costumes of the festival-goers – an amazing liberal opportunity for expression and EUPHORIC THREADS! Check out these beauties:

The outfits too are insane. Some of the most creative and vibrant apparel pieces out there. One morning I headed out on my own to peruse the stalls and stumbled this AWESOME brand, Get Yourself Dressed. Also the beautiful fire dancing colour queen, Kirsten, from Midi Make Up and The Disco Spirits check out their festival outfits!

 

I met Emma the wonderful, colourful owner and designer, along with her just-as-colourful husband Ben from Chile. I spotted the most insane headpiece instantly… However, I was broke, I hardly budgeted enough cash for the weekend

(NOTE – Bring AT LEAST $200 ffs! … especially if you’re planning on having a shop around!)

.. Emma was SOUND, she trusted I would pay her back and even invited me to meet the rest of her squad at sunset up on the North hillside of Rainbow Serpent Festival (a must do to watch the sun go down!). I met THE most colourful and nuttiest of people … all from the purchase of a headpiece! 😀

There was also this awesome space called The Village, tuned towards informing and inspiring, presents workshops, lectures, art, permaculture education, massage and healing – and masses more. You can take part in yoga and dance classes, learn more about meditation and plant healing, or, theres random children activities for all the rainbow families. Oh yeh, I remember finding some very strange spiritual bus with the most AMAZING family that lives and travels the world in it.

Then theres the Bazaar area where you’ll find a spot of festival retail therapy – all ethical, sustainable and conscientious produce, of course – plus food and drink etc. I love how eco-conscience the festival was, with some obvious environmental initiatives focused on “Creating No Waste” and recycling conscientiously. Bloody love Australia!

Vital lesson learnt from Rainbow Serpent:

You got to EAT and SLEEP, if you want to RAVE and REPEAT.

Friends that know me well, know I do not rest easily, I’m known to wake up and crack open the cider, (which is still the case here at rainbow – especially surrounded by these mad Phillip Island-ers haha) but in this insane heat I had to listen to my body and seek that water and food. Make sure you rest at Doofs, even if its in a hammock during the midday heat, your body needs a bit of loving.

If you’re feeling fancy, you can actually hire yurts or tipis if you book ahead of time, but if you’re bringing your own tent like I did, I recommend you also bring a tarp/marquee and anything else to make shade – there is only a few trees on site and the weather reaches all sorts of extremes!

 

We look forward to seeing our Rainbow family again next year, come join us in 2020! 🎉

Read about more Euphoric Escapades down under here, and our adventures at Strawberry Fields Festival.