Jindabyne - CMC Rocks the Snowys - camping in the rain

Well it's becoming a tradition for us.  The Canberra Day long weekend seems to coincide with the one of the newest festivals in country music.  It's called CMC Rocks the Snowys and so far we have been to all three!

There are probably a few country music haters who will read this, and I don't intend to review the festival, but I will knock the camping stuff out of the way quickly.  For each of the festivals we have camped in Jindabyne.  When I say camp I mean we set up the tent in a caravan park, spend the weekend at the festival and sleep in the tent.  The festival is at Friday Flat, close to Thredbo, but Jindabyne is in my opinion a better place to camp for this sort of stay.  The last couple of years have been picture perfect high country days, hot and sunny during the day and clear and cold at night.  It is generally a couple of degrees warmer at night at Jindabyne's lower elevation.  This year it didn't matter as much - it varied between overcast and pouring rain during the days, and the cloud cover seems to keep the place a few degrees warmer.  It's also pretty nice to get back to the park, have a hot shower and generally warm up.  The camp kitchen speeds things a long a bit as well.

We drove away from an overcast day in Yass and Canberra and into rain as we headed south along the Monaro Highway.  We arrived in Jindabyne in the rain and had some lunch, set up the campsite, and went up to the festival.  And it rained, and rained, and rained, and rained, and rained...

It was still raining when we got back to camp at about 10pm.  We changed and went to bed, impressed that the new dome tent hadn't leaked.

The next morning it cleared up, and stayed fine all day and night for the festival, and while we didn't stay till stumps it was a great gig.  Some of the artists we had seen before so we took a bit of a break to visit Thredbo Village, take a chairlift up the mountain, and have a bobsled ride!  We went back to the festival, saw the international and 'big' artists, and then returned to the campsite thinkng 'cool - won't have to pack up in the rain!'

WRONG  -  next morning we were woken by thunder, and rain.  Now I don't really mind setting up in the rain but I am not a fan of packing up in the rain and putting wet tents and other gear into the car.  But we did, and we got home safely!

So add two more nights in the tent for 2010!

And for those who want to know...

We got to see all of these guys!

• Phil Vassar (USA) - very cool
• Lee Kernaghan - only saw part of the show
• Kasey Chambers - fantastic - my pick of the weekend, mainly because Bill Chambers and Shane Nicholson were in the band
• Guy Sebastian - he was on too late and it was too wet and we had gone back to camp
• Jack Ingram (USA) - I liked this guy
• Nanci Griffith (USA) - a bit folksy for me - but cool
• Doc Walker (CAN) - these guys are very cool, and a lot of fun, if you get the chance to see them you should go
• Adam Harvey - an early show that was as good as ususal
• Steve Forde - not as good as he usually is - sounded unwell
• Richard Clapton - now here is a way cool fella
• Tania Kernaghan - saw the end - never really been a fan
• Sinead Burgess - not really a fan
• Peter McWhirter - cool
• Dan Sultan - cool
• Mike Carr - one of the best writers and performers in the genre
• Kirsty Lee Akers - not a fan
• Paul Greene - one of the best performers of the weekend and a nice bloke to boot - see him if you can
• Wilson Pickers - missed them
• Jetty Road - cool
• Amber Lawrence - one of the best female artists in Australia at the moment, and an independent
• Mark Wells - missed him
• Victoria Baillie - liked her
• The Harrisons - new to me and they are a duo to watch
• BusbyMarou - they were good - but the gig was cut short - would like to see more of them!

I know that's a big list but we were there for a lot of hours...  These guys make a living off selling tickets to their shows.  They don't make much off CD sales.  If they come to where you are at give them a go.