The 2017 Saltwater Freshwater Festival at Coffs Harbour’s Botanical Gardens compressed itself into the large open grassy quadrangle at the back of the complex.
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The area is completely surrounded by marquees plying food drinks and merchandise with a huge stage at one end.
This setup is better than prior festival outings at Coffs, which had spread the event across the entire gardens.
Today, the whole show is now 500m from the front gate, prompting a continuous cavalcade of golf carts to transport elders and performers with their gear.
From 10am people began streaming into the event and organisers are beginning to contemplate reaching the target of 5000. Could it happen?
The music started with some hip hop straight after the Welcome to Country and the crowd has continued to swell.
The rain began at 1pm – and what started as a summer shower, settled into soaking rain.
A surprising number of well-prepared patrons popped up parasols and shared with their new neighbours.
That's the thing about festivals – people are nice to each other for the day.
Half-an-hour later, the rain’s stopped.
No one left – just stood firm against the rain, which has washed away the heat.
And yes – the music is all just fine.
