So my day one didn’t start real well. I was late! In my defense I didn’t get to bed before 2 am the night before and had set the alarm for 4:30am so I could pack my bags. Yes I know what you’re thinking! Well there was the “I’m running a wee bit late” phone call to Paul and that was the start of a long day of ridicule about 'MannieTime'.

Woodford looked amazing as we rode in on the wave of laughter and the excitement levels went up another notch.

After parking what would be my mobile home for the next seven days we sat down to the customary cups of coffee. Our first taste of Woodford entertainment was watching Bridget move and adjust tent pegs, ropes, tarps, then perform an ancient weather prediction rite. She picked up a piece of dried animal droppings held it to the light then smelt it before telling us it would rain for the rest of the festival with one day of sunshine if she was reading the signs correctly. I was further amazed when she walked up to a small wallaby, made it take one hop to the left and told us the time right down to the last second. “How da hell did you do that?” I asked. She just smiled and said “the bush is in my blood” as she bent down to pick up what looked like a small watch.


That set the scene for a day full of great performance’s from such artists as Sarah Blasko, Bernard Carney & David Hyams, Martin Pearson, Cloudstreet, Doch, Madviolet, The Pirate Brides, Eric Bogle, and woman in docs just to name a few.

After all of that I was knockerd and declined the offer of the session for a warm bed and happy thoughts of what lay ahead with Sunas on day two.

It's safe to say I've never wanted to kiss a man as much in my life as I did Bridget's dad, John, when he turned up holding a pair of size 11 wellies from Bunnings. Apparently he had to fight off ravening hordes just to deliver them into my sodden little fingers. With two pair of socks, they fitted nicely. I've also discovered that it's possible to dry socks using those odd little toasting devices for stoves. Despite the smell and the constant need for vigilance (socks with brown crust singe-holes are not a good look!)

Odd thing is it looks like the rain is easing now. Bloody typical!

Saturday 29th Dec

A night of blissful uninterrupted sleep. No catapulting to speak of, although I was up at the ungodly hour of 5:15am! It's just not right to be up and awake at that hour, but my sleeping patterns are totally buggered right now. You don't come to Woodford to sleep! I woke up to Soup City. Even the ground under the tent is squishy. Ew :) Thankfully we were gigging later on in the day so I was able to have at least one coffee, go me! The rain has stopped today, and things are drying up surprisingly quickly. Wasn't Paul disappointed (but incredibly thankful at the same time) when Bridget's lovely parents John & Paula presented him with gumboots he didn't need to wear!

I had a very interesting (and early) conversation with Andrew, the owner of the Troubadour -we've scored a chalkboard gig tomorrow night at 7pm, woo hoo!

The first order of business was watching Grand Master shakuhatchi player Riley Lee at 9am. Even he was slightly stunned at having to gig in gumboots! His playing is just brilliant, and I just floated away & enjoyed the moment. Afterwards we geared up for the amazing Japanese drumming sensation TaikOz. Bridge fell in love with one of the drummers, and he has been referred to as TaikOz Boy ever since. Aah, crushes! Speaking of crushes, Paul nudged me to turn around soon after the TaikOz gig, and who was hanging out by the Guiness tent, but none other than the lovely Riley Lee. Well, off I went to have a chat & hopefully have a photo taken (Aah, yes, must confess this was my crush). Well Riley was the connsumate gentleman, very softly spoken & very obliging for a photo! So I walked away very satisfied, only to be greeted with Mannie & Paul stuffung their hands in their mouths to stop laughing. A cacophony of shakuhatchi teaching ribbing followed me back to the tent. Aah well, I guess I have to allow the boys to have their fun once in a while so I can lull them into a false sense of security :) We hung out for a while & then got ourselves ready for our second gig.

Second gig, Duck & Shovel, 4:45pm: I experimented a little with this gig and wore red lipstick & a very short black dress. Those who know how much I dislike wearing make-up will realise how major this was for me! I was mostly afraid of getting it all over my whistles & flutes, but it wasn't too bad. As for the dress, I figured, what the hell, it was Woodford & I've only got a few more years to get away with wearing something like that. Plus it was damn comfy! The gig was an absolute corker. We slowed things down for this gig, and God, did it go off in an oddly mellow way! The Duck was packed to the rafters & it was Paul's turn to utterly kill Mannie in the piss-taking stakes -the topic was snoring. This prompted Mannie to shoot back with the gem, 'I don't snore, I purr!' We finished with Ready for the Storm & The Gael, & the response Bridget received afterwards was stunning. Job well done, Bridge! As soon as we had finished, Mike the manager of the massively cool Chai tent ran up to us and asked if we could play in their World Music Chalkboard that night. Well we were thrilled & of course said yes! So off we went to the Duck Bar to wind down & gear up for another gig later on. Thank you so much to the lovely Gary who very kindly provided us with lattes after the gig - they were *wonderful*. We also met Jeff, a lovely gentleman who had taken several shots of us in action and asked if he could be our gig photographer. Well we were more than happy for him to snap away, & he has become somewhat of our official Woodford snapper :)


Third gig, Chai Tent, 6:15pm: There was a little more pressure with this gig than I orginally thought. Firstly, I met Katie Noonan from george, & she was watching us. Then I saw Julia Stone hanging out after her gig with her brother Angus -and then I saw Chris, my boss from my day job! Well damn :) The gig was very chilled out. I had some lovely hippie juice (consisting of a blend of mint, pineapple & mango juice - just divine) & we had a fantastic time. I think Chris liked the gig! In my opinion the Chai tent is the coolest tent at Woodford. It's always packed. I was knackered after this gig though. The adrenaline wore off with a vengeance. I really do sometimes forget how much of myself I give to people when we gig. I've spoken to Paul about this, and he suggested that I just don't give as much. Well I'd rather cut out my heart than give less than everything. I just can't. I feel like I cheated people.

Came back utterly exhusted. I barely had the energy to organise dinner - spaghetti bolognaise. It was very filling, just what I needed. Tonight I can hear the sounds of The Waifs playing in the Amphitheatre. Bridge went to check them out with her sister. The music is pretty loud, but I have no doubt I'll sleep well tonight!

Saturday 29th Dec

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday was that I spent a good hour traipsing through the stalls looking for wellies. I found some, but the markup was just outrageous. Seriously, if you're going to do that, put on a mask and rob me properly you fecking footpad. So Bridget called her parents who are coming up today and they're going to pick up a pair for me on the way. Things are getting pretty desperate here. I'm down to my last pair of dry socks, and thought that doesn't sound like the end of the world, there are still four more days to go. Mannie has already had one pair of his socks turn Chernobyl on us, and they're currently sealed under fifty feet of lead in an undisclosed location at the site (probably along with the left overs from the dinner that someone was cooking a little ways away from us yesterday. Smelled like they were barbecuing a wombat. Without skinning or de-furring it first.

So, it's wet, stormy, balmy but bugger me we're having fun. Today we have gig at the Duck and Shovel (my favourite location -I just love the little creek that flows between the venue and the beer tent, and this year it's really flowing (picture).

Had a funny episode happen on the way to the gig, which I told the audience about. Funny thing was it's true. I was sheltering under an awning from a particularly nasty shower, and I was wearing my new Mr Grumpy T shirt (from the Mister Men). I looked over and there was this guy grinning at me. He pointed to his chest and low and behold, he had the same shirt on, except his said Mr Happy. He smiled, grinned and pointed at his smiley face. I just told him to sod off. Mr Grumpy indeed. (Thanks to Bridget for the lovely photo :) )


The Duck turned out to be another corker. We varied the setlist so we did a completely different set to yesterday, and the highlight was definitely Ready for the Storm/The Gael. At the end of the gig we were approached my the manager of the Chai Tent (which is a big venue in its own right these days) wondering if we'd like to do a set there in the evening. It was another cool one, and we managed to get the tent singing along to Sunny Sailor Boy (although that was a bit tricky as everyone was just so mellow).

Unfortunately the Mr Grumpy T shirt seems to have become a bit distinguished, and throughout the day I had laughing at me. Even two policemen took the piss.

My feet are just buggered from the wet, and Mannie's are about the same. If another one of the girls makes a gloaty remark about their dry feet there might just be a terrible bodhran/arse accident.

Friday 28th Dec

Well I slept quite well apart from my little episode where my mattress slid off the camper bed and catapoulted me face-first into the side of the tent, which completely freaked me out as I couldn't move much. My trusty tent-sharer Bridge's reaction went something like this: 'Whaaa? Wha? Hmmm? *pause* 'Mna mna mna . . . *roll over & go back to sleep* Thanks for your help, Bridge! :) I somehow managed to right everything & slept very lightly for the rest of the night!

It rained all night and today there's mud everywhere, so Bridge & I decided to gig in our gumboots. Not so fashionable, but damn, my feet were warm & more importantly, dry, so I just went with it. They go with everything, anyway.

First gig, Concert, 10am: We definitely weren't expecting such a turnout in the 1000-seat plus Concert tent at 10am, but that's what we were greeted & finished with! I had been fretting a bit over our first gig (my mouth ulcer proved it!), & I made sure I took my time warming the ol' vocals up (Mannie was also fretting a tad, but his bodily functions served to remind him just how nervous he was - frequently!). I was too busy distracting myself with vocal & whistle warmups to actually be nervous, so there you have it. Once again I had no coffee before the gig (but you should have seen me attack the caffeine afterwards!), and it was a wonderfully mental performance for us all! The audience cheered when I did my soundcheck (one of my standard favourites, 'The Fairest of all Yarrow' by Kate Rusby) - thanks everyone. Paul took his time tuning his bodhran between songs, which Mannie took as an opportunity to take the piss in the most hilarious manner. He was utterly on form in this gig! The venue was packed & we were enormously proud of our first effort at Woodford. The feedback was incredible. We went straight to the Guinness tent to celebrate (Bridget told me cider is a morning drink, and she's a teacher, so she must be right), played more tunes and just relaxed.

Caught Trouble in the Kitchen's gig in the Troubadour, they were just brilliant. The Troub is THE tent to play in, so I hope we can play a few chalkboard gigs - you have to be invited to play. We'll wait & see. It was Mannie's turn to cook tonight, chicken & a yummy sauce with rice, using Bridget's awesome cooking utensils. It's been quite cold today, so this was exactly what I needed. Angus & Julia Stone played a great gig at the Amphitheatre, & right now The Cat Empire is playing. I took a stroll up to the Amphitheatre before to see what was happening, & it was just mental. I kid you not, literally 20,000 people were squashed together dancing in the mud to their music. I was just hoping I didn't fall over in the mud :) Back to camp I went, I was knackered. Bed now. Goodnight.

PS, Paul has been whinging like a girl because he didn't bring any gumboots with him & the floor of everything is pretty soupy now, so today we all went in search of size 11 gumboots. Turns out they'd sold out everywhere - the only ones available were pink psychadelic swirly ones straight out of Austin Powers selling for a mere $90!! Bridge placated him by placing an SOS to her parents to bring some tomorrow when they come to spend the day. Mannie declined to get a pair - he's assuming the rain will clear up over the next few days. I'm not so sure about that . . .

Friday 28 Dec

Sometimes things just work out better than you ever imagine.

This morning's first gig at the Concert Tent was one of those things.

The rain hasn't let up, and there are some rumours flying around of a cyclone building, so everything is wet, windy, treacherous. My tent is leaking worse than an incontinent octogenarian (it had humping goannas climbing over it last camping trip), and last night's sleep involved lots of manoeuvring to avoid the drips. But the coffee is hot, the cider cold, and the music, well, musicy.

But back to the gig. I've never been any good at judging numbers, so let me just say that the concert tent is one of the bigger Woodford venues, and it was stuffed to the gills.

When you get applauded at your soundcheck, you know you have a great audience. People danced, shouted at the tune-changes (in a good way!), listened to the songs and gave us a standing ovation. There couldn't have been a better start to the festival for us. It was grand. One of the best things for me was to look out over the crowd and realise that there was no more seating left, and that people were standing 2-deep at the edges.

Anyway, Trouble in the Kitchen, Angus & Julie Stone, The Cat Empire, women in docs and Andy Irvine all await, so I'm going to stop here. I'll just add that if the rain keeps up for the rest of today, then I might look into buying a pair of Wellies. All I have are the Old Yellow Cats, my suede comfy shoes and a pair of old sandals (that I bought for Woodford 2003!). We'll see...

Where do I start… Woodford was amazing! We had a great time gigging, camping, eating, drinking, shopping, running around in the mud, listening to fantastic music and just generally soaking in the brilliant Woodford atmosphere.

It was my first time as a performer at Woodford, and hopefully not my last. Before I go too much further, I would like to say a huge thank you to all the people that supported us at the festival, and for those who took the time to stop and chat to us while we were wandering around. I felt a bit like a celebrity, if that’s possible while walking around soaking wet and muddy in a tie-dye petticoat and purple gum-boots.

So, from the beginning… I was firstly very excited that my little car ‘Cheryl’ made it through the mud to the campsite, and even more excited to discover that our tents were still standing as we had left them a week or so earlier. We managed to organise the camp site, with Mannie’s van holding up the side. With a few arguments about whose table was better (mine of course!) and which equipment should be used (also mine… with the exception of a really old saucepan that Paul named 'The Cancer Pan'), we set up a fairly comfortable home for the next few days. Or so we thought. Within hours it was muddy and leaking, all the while with Mannie sitting dry in the back of his van laughing at us ‘real campers’.

Our first gig at the Concert tent was a great experience. We had our doubts about a 10am gig so early in the festival, but were surprised to see a huge crowd who seemed to really enjoy the music (or were particularly good at pretending!). Our other gigs saw the same response, and we even ended up being invited to play in some chalkboard concerts which were a real highlight.

The whole festival was like a dream to me, and I feel so lucky to be in this amazing band! While there are many more stories to be told (just ask Mannie about the stinky bugs!), I’m going to leave it there for now with a huge thank you to everyone for welcoming me into Sunas, and to everyone at Woodford for a fantastic 6 days of music, mud and fun.

Thursday 27th Dec

I was up at 4:45am, on adrenaline and a mere 4 hours sleep. I was so nervous I was actually sick - God Sarah, pull your head in - a great start to the Woodford week! I finally managed to be packed and ready to go around 7-ish when I received a phone call from Paul:

Me: 'Haven't you left yet?'
'Erm, no, Mannie's running late again'
'What's his excuse this time?'
'He slept in. He got up 15 minutes ago.'
'Are you serious?'
'Yeah, he said he's really sorry, but he schlep in.'
'He schlep in, huh. Is that a new Mannie-ism?'
'He reckons he'll be over here in 15 minutes'
*Me laughing* 'Mmm-hmm. Sure he will!'

Cue 8:30am when the big white van finally pulls up. I go to give Mannie a hug & he greets me with, 'If you say one word about me sleeping in I'm gonna boot you up the date.'

Well Good Morning Mannie!! It can only get better from here :) My reply was that I wasn't going to say anything until we were well & truly on the road, and then it was open season. And how :) Paul was on such a roll he made myself and Mannie laugh so hard on the drive up that I cried & Mannie had to stop the van, get out and throw up on the side of the highway - nice one Paul! :)

Today consisted of making camp. Bridget is Camp Queen with her awesome camping gear - table, stove, tent, etc. It craps all over Paul's stuff (it really does! Something he was quite vocal about too), much to mine & Mannie's delight :) It began to rain as we were setting up, so Bridge & I dragged out the trusty gumboots - hers are funky shiny purple ones :) Mine are the standard fashionable black rubber ones that have been worn only once since I bought them - Woodford 02/03, so it's fitting that I should drag them out at this one! We heard from a doom & gloom-er that a cyclone is headed this way. Not quite sure if he's serious or seriously taking the piss.

Highlights for today were listening to Sarah Blasko do her extensive soundcheck from the Amphitheatre - she sang for a good half hour, it was fantastic!! Paul made a spicy/sour vindaloo for dinner on Bridget's awesome stove, using her awesome saucepan (not quite sure what the desired taste was supposed to be though. Still, it was yummy), and I'm sure we'll all pay for it tomorrow. Much exploration was made, & I've concluded that the Guinness tent is a pretty kewl place, particularly as it sells cider. We caught up with ex-Sunas member Brendan & played a session until the wee hours (it was great to get the session blood fizzing again!). Tomorrow is our first gig in the enormous Concert venue. I'm excited and ready to throw up again. Nerves normally don't get the best of me - in fact I rarely have them. I'm more at home on stage than anywhere else, so this is really unusual that I have butterflies. Will have to get over that one quickly. The rain has set in now, and I have a feeling I'm going to be very glad I brought my gumboots with me :)

Thursday 27 Dec

So, the big day.

I'm up at 5.30am, after driving back from Christmas up north the evening before. Packed, restrung, washed, shaved, plucked, powdered and ready for Mannie to pick me up in the van at 6.30.

At 6.45 the phone rings. It's a sleepy-sounding Irishman on the other end.
".... I schlep in"
Me: "Who is this?"
"I schlep in"
"Mannie?"
"I'm sorry.... I schlep in."
"You slept in?"
"That's what i said. I schlep in."
I'm quiet, silently seething that I could have had another hour in bed myself.
"I'll be there in minutes," he says.
"Yeah right."
"I'm so sorry...I schlep in."

7.50, we're on the road. Of course Sarah and I constantly take the piss out of him for the first half of the journey, then it's my turn to be mocked as I was too busy singing 'Bird of Prey' at Mannie to remember to tell him to turn. So we have to continue north for ages before swinging back.

The campsite is still set up, though someone has decided to pull up the stakes that mark where Mannie's Mobile Mando Pleasure Van is supposed to be deployed and put a plumber truck there. A couple of stern phone calls later and the Inflatable Sultan's Palace that will be Mannie's home for the new few days is rocked out and waiting. My tent has puddles inside it. Not a good sign. Of course the girls are all snug, dry and gloaty. I'll have to keep an eye on this if the weather stays wet.

We haven't got a gig today, so we just mooch around, getting used to the new layout and marvelling at how the site has transformed in just a few years. To call this a folk festival is really a misnomer. During the week, this place will have a more of population than any of the local towns right up to the city of Gympie to the north. First things first, we locate the nearest good coffee vendor, and it's the gypsies in their wagon right next to the entrance to the Performer's Camp. These guys also look like they serve a mean organic brekkie, so that's all noted. We check out all the venue tents, which seem huge this year, and munched on treats like Byron Bay Doughnuts and more coffee.

We find the session a little later in the evening, hosted by an old friend (and former Sunas member) Brendan, and sit in until the wee hours. Great fun, and nice to see that the Guinness tent serves cider, the preferred Sunas beverage. It's still raining, and starting to get quite gloopy around. The girls both have Wellies (gum boots), but Mannie and I didn't bother. I have my old Faithful Caterpillar YellowBoots, but they're nearly 15 years old now and not all that waterproof. Still, it's usually as hot as arse up here rather than wet, so I should be ok.

First gig tomorrow is at 10am, and it's in the Concert Tent, which is one of the main venues. Should be a corker.

Well we've just returned from an absolutely remarkable Woodford experience where we played seven shows, went blind from playing in so many sessions, sold all our cds, caught up with old friends, made a lot of new ones and are now the proud owners of three new pairs of wellies/gum boots (mannie didn't get any and now has 3rd-degree trenchfoot as a result).

I'm in the process of going through all the blogs that were written, and I'll start posting them later this evening, maybe even to a new page on the site.

To all of you who have taken the time to write an email, thank you so much! The inbox was bubbling over. We'll get to them all eventually, it just may take some time :)

For now, there are some great photos of us and the Festival in general here, thanks to Jason Nahrung (author of our favourite horror novel of 2007 'The Darkness Within): http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonnahrung/

Listening to: 'Caravan' by Madviolet