FLINT | Weekend at Wave Rock

October 3, 2014 In Dispatch By FLINT Magazine

Weekend at Wave Rock

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While the idea of driving 350km’s for a music festival may not sound that appealing it’s the destination that makes it worth the journey: Wave Rock; a huge rock formation, shaped like a grand wave about to crash onto the surrounding scrubland. Formed over millions of years it sits majestically in the Australian quasi-outback providing a surreal backdrop for the wave rock weekender music festival – held every September in Hyden, Western Australia.

The festival itself is something of an anomaly, as it’s fluid and free, with seemingly few rules apart from respect the environment, chill and enjoy. It’s not often that a iconic landmark in the middle of nowhere plays host to a music festival, and it’s obvious the festival goers have a huge reverence for it.

Sitting on this gigantic slab of granite, looking out into the infinite vista as the sun sets is an almost spiritual experience, one that gives a real feeling of connectedness to the surroundings, and an appreciation for the uniqueness of this event.

As the night falls, the weirdness begins, and the ability to recollect exactly what happened slowly fades into insignificance. The atmosphere was unlike anything else I have experienced, as everyone is on the same page, happy to be there and respectful of others, not a negative vibe in sight.

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The weather held the festival hostage for the majority of the weekend, with only passing glimpses of sunshine breaking through the rain clouds, yet this only bolstered the feeling of being on another planet.

Surrounding the “rock” is the idiosyncratic Western Australian landscape of wildflowers, scrubland and salmon gumtrees. There’s also a salt lake nearby which apparently has some serious buoyancy.

If I am totally honest the bands were secondary to the experience of just being there and enjoying the ambiance, not so say there was not some excellent musicians with 20 local and international acts performing on a intimate stage to a receptive crowd.

It’s a camping deal, yet there is every luxury one would want with delicious food, reasonably priced drinks and most importantly a decent cup of coffee in the morning!