Our cat was still enjoying a peaceful holiday with my parents since before Christmas so it was only the dog who had to go to kennels.  That accomplished we continued northwards to Bulli.  Last year the Illawarra Festival had moved from it's original home at beautiful Jamberoo which nestles under an escarpment in rich dairy country to Bulli.

We arrived at about 10.30am, parked the car and camper-trailer in the car park and immediately found set-up jobs.  Andrew had volunteered for this while my real roster in ticket sales was to start on Thursday evening.  I tagged along with some blokes who were erecting a marquee to house the ticket office, performer registrations and volunteer registrations.  This was quite an involved process as none of us knew what the final shape was and there were colour coded poles but no instructions.  We had got to the point where the frame was set up and the roof canvas over when the festival organiser stopped by and rummaged through his vehicle, producing the instructions for construction!!

The volunteer kitchen was up and running and we were well supplied with morning tea and lunch.  Sunscreen and a hat were vital and the work was hot.  We got advice as to where to camp and selected a leafy spot up near the Grevillea Park as we didn't need power.  Set the trailer up and covered the ancient canvas with a tarpaulin for extra shade and weather proofing.  Found that our attempts to locate a gas leak in the fittings of our camping gas bottle had been spectacularly unsuccessful, forcing us to purchase Chinese takeaways on the first night.  Next day a two hour and 7 store search finally produced the replacement fitting to allow us to use the gas cooking stove.

During the 3 days of set up our jobs included transportation of chairs to the marquee which had been set up in the centre of the greyhound and trotting track. There were signs to be pasted onto boards and covered in plastic in order to give them a couple of years life.  The main marquee frame had been erected only to allow the Wednesday afternoon greyhound race to take place without obliterating the views of the patrons.  This race meet was very interesting as we had never been to one before.  The seven dogs in the first race were led out by their trainers and paraded down to the starting box.  The electric rabbit made a couple of circuits and we selected dogs that we thought might win.  The dogs were released and the race was on!  My picks came 1st and 3rd while Andrew selected a second!  At the end of the race the dogs are fenced into a run that stops them and all seemed to thoroughly enjoy the race with tails wagging and they searched for the "rabbit" which looked more like a toy wombat to me!

On Wednesday night at the Heritage Hotel (one of the venues which is sited outside of the greyhound track) a bush dance kicked off the festival led by the Wongawilli Bush Band which has been in operation for 20 years now!  All dances were called and that was a great night.  Thursday lunchtime the restaurant at the track was taken over by the festival people and an Italian lunch with entertainment was held with a three course meal for only $6.   On Thursday evening there was a fully catered Tripe and Haggis night to celebrate Robbie Burns' birthday with plenty of musical acts to entertain.  There was even a stew (called sludge) for those who didn't quite think they could come at the mainliners on the menu! 

My first volunteer roster begins at 3pm and I head off early to run through the ropes with Bruce and Robyn, our venue managers.  It is all quite easy as I have had plenty of experience using eftpos and cash registers.  Folkies are usually friendly and forgiving people so the customers are not daunting.  Pre-paid tickets forms and complimentary tickets are exchanged for wristbands.  There is a steady flow of performers, volunteers and paying customers during my three hour shift and I have fun.

As soon as I am finished I head off to join Andrew to see the opening concert where about 18 acts get a chance to showcase three of their songs.  Vic Chapman provides the Aboriginal welcome on behalf of the indigenous tribe of the district to the folk who are attending.  The Black Diamond Shanty is basically a huge tin shed with a concrete floor that slopes downwards from the stage and despite materials hung to improve the acoustics it is really a huge challenge for the sound people and not entirely successful. 

We have been meeting some lovely people who are volunteers during the last couple of days and the atmosphere is very welcoming.

Next day I am on the first shift starting at 8am.  I get to have a busy shift as the crowds are arriving to make the most of the next three days of entertainment and mostly purchasing season ticket passes and camping.  It is Australia Day (26th January) and the media has been full of reports that the organisers of the Big Day Out concert in Sydney today are banning the Aussie flag on the grounds that it might "incite rioting"!  Australians are rightly outraged that they would suggest that we can't show our patriotism for fear of offending other nations on our national day for goodness sake.  Indigenous people mostly think of Australia Day as Invasion Day and the loss of their country to an invading nation but that was not what the BDO organisers were suggesting.

So, a huge backlash began with people flying flags from their cars (we did), wearing them, applying transfers of the Aussie flag to their faces and arms.  The morning shift is very hot but once it is out of the way I head up to the dancing area and arrive just in time to join a Contra Dancing workshop.  Andrew gets reluctantly dragged in but retires after a couple of dances finding that the turns leave him disoriented and he cannot keep up with the moves as a result.  I have great fun. 

Amongst the artists that I chose to see are Jigzag, Women in Docs, the BordererS, Rory McLeod, the Wheeze and Suck band and am totally blown away by a band I haven't seen before called the Beez.  Billed as being from Germany the two women might well be but the guys come from the USA and Sydney.  They sing songs by Kylie Minogue, Queen, ACDC, the Dolly Parton song Jolene translated into German then translated back into English as no one "got"it sung as Jolena, in arrangements that you wouldn't have believed possible, very clever and extremely funny.  I want the sparkly boots that one of the women wore!

Over the next few days I have a go at an Indian dance workshop, watch an African Gumboot dance workshop, belly dancers.  I see a reunion of Settlers Match who last played together 12 years ago so I never saw them in their heyday.  The crowds gather for this performance and I see why they are well loved and missed.  There are about 11 venues around the place that caters for children, dancing, singing workshops, a session bar, a poets breakfast, blackboard sessions and much, much more.

All this talent for a very reasonable $AUS90 for the season ticket and only $AUS15 camping fee.  As volunteers we earn our free ticket.  By Sunday I had seen Rory's three gigs and he failed to repeat a song at all.  Sunday evening finished with a concert to honour all the volunteers and once again the Beez did a great show. 

All that is left is to rest one more night then the pack down commences early in the morning to restore the greyhound and trotting track for another year.