Bellingen Global Music Festival by Alana Taylor

After traveling the world staying in amazing hotels for work, eating at five star restaurants and being (mostly) treated like a princess, I figured for my own holiday I would head off the beaten track for a much-needed change of scenery. In some ways, I saw this trip as an opportunity to get back to my rural roots (if I had any to begin with), but mostly I just loved the idea of camping at a hands-up hippy festival on the Northern NSW coast for the long weekend. In retrospect, hands up and hippy seem something of an understatement!

The Bellingen Global Music Festival is a cross-culture arts festival full of world music, international food feasts, workshops and all kinds of performances. Bellingen itself, which is situated about 20 minutes south of Coffs Harbor only a little further inland, is a cute, quaint and quiet town, full of many little gold mines (both literally and metaphorically speaking).

The festival camping grounds are nestled behind a beautiful fresh water river, which fast became the place to bath for the 3 days of the event. Our days were long and relaxing, with so much to do, so much to eat and loads to see. My personal highlight eateries included the spiced up Jamaican stand, offering grilled perch with caramelized onions, fresh salads and a top secret Caribbean sauce. I was also very partial to the Hare Krishna cuisine on offer - koftil balls, cous cous, vegetable curry and good ol’ sticky date pudding for dessert.

The music was wonderful. Having spent many a summer at the usual Sydney festival suspects - Homebake, The Big Day Out and V Festival – I can confidently say the music at Bellingen is guaranteed to inspire and surprise even the most music savvy purveyor.

Two special performances that come to mind include West African, Jali Buba Kuyateh. His voice was simply phenomenal. While playing the Kora (a West African styled Harp), he silenced the crowd who stood in total awe of his performance. Another artist that kept the crowd on their toes and literally jumping up and down was Ghana’s Shasha Marley (no relation to the actual legend but based on his crowd pleasing abilities, he most certainly could have been!). Rastafarian beats were also belted out to a crowd that left us thinking we had slipped off the map and landed in Jamaica!

It’s a must see check it out www.globalcarnival.com