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Woodford, Falls and N.S.W North Coast part 2.
written: 3rd February 2003
By Clay

Waking up on New Year’s Day was no fun. We had driven back to Melbourne after new years kicked in and found ourselves a hotel. We topped off the past year in good spirits but we woke up feeling shady. Everything was alright though. In a few hours from now we would be back in Woodford Festival country preparing for our final performance there and the closing nite of the festival itself. It was good to get back up there. It was very hot compared to Melbourne. On the way up we could see Byron Bay and the Gold Coast, we could see the surf was pumping from the plane and we were keen to get back out to the ocean. One more night of festival joy though. We weren’t back for long before we had to go and set up and do all that responsible sort of stuff. It was a low key vibe through out the valley because everyone had had a massive night the night before. Everyone was eager to see the fire show and closing ceremony. This is the biggest event of the 7 day festival. The whole valley is shut down and everyone from performers to volunteers to payers alike move up to the massive amphitheatre at the top of the valley and find themselves a seat to watch the spectacular fire show. This thing, I cannot describe. lets just say, approximately 3000 fire dancers, lots of lanterns, lots of giant paper insects, lots of drums and other instruments and a larger than life paper totem pole that was blown up for the finale. It was a beautiful thing.

After the fire show/closing ceremony we played in the big top again. It was
a very mellow affair and it really was just perfect. People slowly walked down from the hill to join us as we played. Everyone had room to dance. it
was cool. it was a really nice way to end the festival madness we had
experienced over the last few days. After the gig we packed our gear away
and went and joined everyone for the final farewells. It was a good nite and
it was a good sleep too.

Morning came and we were off to Byron. It was so nice to get in the ocean
and get all the country dust off our skin. Good surf too. It was funny being
in Byron town that afternoon because even though there were cars and roads and shops and civilisation all around us. It felt like we were walking
amongst the same bunch of freaky people we were with up in Woodford. No
doubt that was half true as a lot of those crew would have made Byron their
next destination as well.

That nite we had the privilege of playing to a packed out Great Northern back room. I couldn’t count the number of people we knew there, but what else would you expect in Byron Bay? It was really fucking hot and we played for 2 hours which is unusual for us. We were really tired, but the audience had us that geed up that it made it so easy. There was a good energy in the back room that nite and it was nice to look out and see our friends constantly paying us out with rude gestures and stupid faces too. God bless the Great Northern, it’s an Australian landmark. Also, huge respect to Jez, a local guy who did a solo act before we played, what a fucking awesome musician.

The next nite we drove back up to the Goldy for a gig at the Beer Gardens.
There was an excellent band playing with us that nite too called Rogerthat.
Cool dudes. Please check these guys if you see em around. We ate deep fried fish, we played the gig, saw some friends, had some fun and then we drove back to Byron to crash. Sorry, not much to say accept that the Goldy crew are such a good audience to play too. No crowd surfing this time though, what a bummer.

January the 4th. We played in Yamba that nite. The Pacific Hotel, where we
played and stayed, has to be one of the best damn hotels in Australia. It’s
perched up on a cliff top overlooking the river mouth and the ocean. There
aren’t too many places like it. The locals are as cool as cucumbers and the dance floor that nite was a pleasure to watch. Everyone seemed to have a good time that nite, except we missed the underwear party down the hall from us upstairs after the gig. How uncool.

January the 5th. The last gig of the tour and it was at one of our very favourite venues, the Sawtel Hotel. It was nice to be home. We had a surf in
the afternoon, had a quick kip and went down stairs for our final supper.
Everyone was in good spirits, how couldn’t you be, we were just about to wind up the best tour of our lives. We’d played to thousands of people, we had made so many new friends, we had been to 2 of the coolest festivals on
planet earth and we had seen amazing places we had never been before. It was a call for celebration. We love playing to the Coffs/Sawtell crew and that nite was no exception. They really do go nuts, and that can’t help but make a cool atmosphere. Everyone was carrying on, we had sing alongs, dancing and beer spillings. The kind of stuff a good gig is made of. God bless the cool kids of Coffs, they topped off what was already a perfect journey, it really was a great nite. We were very happy people right there and then.

And then we went home...