Splore 2010: A 3 Day Music & Arts Wonderland

Splore is an incredible outdoor summer festival devoted to music, arts and culture.

Merry Making festivities, carousing and frolicking.

& what a SPLORESOME weekend it was. I am estimating a total of 5 hours sleep over the weekend, but the exhaustion was well worth it.

The festival is held every second year at the beautiful Tapapakanga Reserve. As you can see in the image above, the campsite overlooks a gorgeous bay with stages set up beach front.

The music veers toward the electronic variety, with headlining acts including Lupe Fiasco and Basement Jaxx, but the music is only half the attraction.

The decor is crafted for pure aesthetics, and sometimes I felt as if I was in wonderland. Themed camp grounds, a shortcut trail down the cliff strung with fairy lights, a tree covered in lei’s, ‘Bare Bottom Land’ (can you try imagining that?) an Arts Trail full of live size art pieces and a hippy vibe filling the atmosphere.

Photo by Serena Stevenson © 2010

The most memorable part of the weekend was the MIDSUMMERS NIGHTS DREAM party. I didn’t know about it in advance, so unfortunatly I was not one of the hundreds dressing up as fairy’s or other mid summers night dream esque creatures.

Photo by Serena Stevenson © 2010

I was, however, lucky enough to stumble upon the brilliant stage performance of a Midsummers Nights Dream in the acrobatic style of Circque De Solie. It was incredible to see live, and even more impressive considering it was held on a portable stage overlooking the ocean!

In between we’d be sunbathing on the beach. ♦ Having a veggo eat from one of the majority vegetarian food stalls. ♦ Chilling at the campsite. ♦ Puffing and wheezing up the ‘Goats Track’ – the shortcut down to the beach. ♦ Mixing up Sangria after smuggling in a few bottles of alcohol. ♦ Cupcakes at midnight! ♦ Purchasing overpriced Jagerettes (Jager, cranberry & lime!) from the Jager tent. ♦ Applying makeup in a tent. ♦ Dancing my heart out. ♦ Midnight kisses on the sand… ♦

The ultimate summer festival!

There was a bit of an event when a pretty wasted girl attempted to crawl into one of our tents, fulling in the belief that it was her tent and why was all our stuff in her tent? Always, always keep your friends close. Particularly if you are going to get a wee bit experimental.

Have you ever been to a weekend music festival? What do you think of Splore?

Photos from Splore 2010 Facebook group.