Friday dawned and of course I was running late, so we didn’t get to the site until after dark.  Trying to find a camp site was hard enough, let alone attempting to put up a tent in the dark… after a very tense hour, I finally stormed off and left the boys to it… luckily they managed to put the tent up in my absence.  ;)

Spent the evening wandering around different venues, checking things out.  Went to an interesting interactive discussion on Fair Trade, watched part of a guitar hero comp, & caught up with a bunch of Stumpers I know.  I bought sausages from the God Squad (a Christian motorcycle group) and donuts from the baptists, and moshed to a really good band.  Went to sleep about 2.30am.

Was fully awake by about 5.30am.  Discovered I’d left a few important things at home – d’oh! – and made the mad dash to Campbelltown to buy replacements, but didn’t make it back to camp in time for the “Meet the Artists” lunch I’d been booked into to – double d’oh!  Had plenty of time to get ready for the whodunnit though, which was a blast for all involved!  Caught Joel McKerrow’s set – he was  just before me – very intimidating to have to follow him, haha… my show went well though, and I had time to relax and catch a few bands before the Poetry Slam.

Went to 7@7 – seven speakers each given a topic at random and asked to speak for 7 minutes made for some interesting results!  Then the slam was on… it was awesome!  I wasn’t expecting much, since in previous years the “audience participation poetry event” was run in the afternoon and didn’t attract a huge crowd… and although we got off to a bit of a shaky start (weren’t sure enough people were going to sign up!) we ended up with a full house and a really exciting show.  After that we went to a Climate Change discussion, caught a few more bands, and finished the evening by going to the “dance party” which was on from 11pm till the early hours every night of the festival.

Sunday was cruisy… slept in till 12pm, had a great chat with someone I’d met the day before, then wandered around until my second show which was at 4pm and then I was pretty much done with my stuff for Stump. Caught Cam Semmens’ show – very funny stuff!  The comedy debate this year was – “Social Networking is Anti-Social”; the negative side won that one so turns out we all still love our facebook after all, haha.

Grabbed dinner before heading to the evening gathering to hear Mike Pilavachi speak.  After the gathering went to Carpe Idiotus and Michael Connell – saw a few more bands & finally went to see the Outback Hippies play. I’d never seen the Outback Hippies before… that was probably the highlight of the weekend for me!  The Hippies do 60’s and 70’s covers, they’re a tradition at Stump – they’re always the last band to play on the Sunday night and they play through till really late.  Everyone crowds into the tent and has a bit of a dance and a sing-along; they also called random people – some guy who was turning 18 (we sang happy birthday to him), stump organisers, “Yellow Pants” – a stump mascot! – up on stage to have a dance and sing with them… the whole thing just felt like one big party rather than a gig.  And I think it was because people were just genuinely glad that Stump was back and we were all really happy to be there.  :)

Monday morning went to the farewell gathering and then wandered around and caught up with people to say goodbye until next year!  Packed the tent up and left about 2pm and headed straight for Campbelltown McDonalds.  Got home about 3.30pm and crashed out until around 7! I’m still really tired… I have had two cans of Mother today just to keep me awake!  But it’s all been worth it and I’ve got so many ideas for next year – Bring on Stump 2012!!