Friday Afternoon - The Day Before Splendour 2007

As the clock tick tocked slowly towards 5pm I still had a bit of organising to do. The agreement to borrow a van was at best a casual acknowledgment of my intention which at this point had yet to manifest itself as a confirmed & collected booking. This was obviously not ideal preparation for our kickarse splendour bender weekend. Without a campervan to drive from Brisbane to Byron Bay my companions and I would be stranded in Brisvegas.

Phone Call #1: “Hey Joe, we’ve put The Eagles van aside for you”

Ok, a bit daggy but what a relief! With that sorted out I could now focus my attention on the other logistical requirements of the trip. Or so I thought…

Casey (Wicked Brisbane Depot Attendant): “Hey Joe, did you see which van you got?”
Joe: “No, still waiting for it to be brought over, I guess, I’m meant to be getting The Eagles”
Casey: “No, you’re getting The Village People van - it’s waiting for you over there”

M’kay… it appeared that I would have to trade in any hopes of Hotel California for a nervous stay at the YMCA. Unfortunately, the Village People van was inadequately equipped for my cohorts and me. Between us we had a combined arse count of three. A quick calculation suggested that a 2 berth campervan would prove inadequate in parking said arses!

After a bit of the old proverbial phone ping pong we had managed to resolve this issue. My new best friend for the next week was to be none other than Speed Racer! I used to love that cartoon when I was a little tacker though I always did prefer Racer X… Speed just seems like a pussy by comparison.

Wicked Campers Speed Racer
Go Speed Racer, Go Speed Racer, Go Speed Racer Gooooo… Oh wait, we’ve stopped!

Bus home, check bike - flat tyres… Walk/jog to Wicked workshop to collect “Speed”. Swing past the petrol station to fill up then it’s back home to pack. With all the due diligence you would expect from a 15 minute luggage stuffing exercise, my housemate and I were ready to hit the road.

“We haven’t forgotten anything, have we?” I asked, to which he replied,
“I’ve got dirty laundry for my parents to wash and a couple of bottles of $4 chardonnay… what else could we possibly need?”

Reassured by his logic, we were ready to hit the road and get on over to the girlfriend’s place to pick her up. After a short drive through the city (honking like a madman at all the kiddies going to the movies in Southbank and embarressing the crap out of HM) we had collected GF and her luggage and it was time to hit the Riverside Expressway.

“You’ve got the tickets, right?” Enquired the inquisitive young lady…

HM and I briefly exchanged blank looks before I pointed our heroic chariot towards home for a mad ticket dash. Having faced the prospect of being stranded in Brisbane with no campervan we could well have ended up stranded in Byron Bay with no Splendour tickets!

We arrived back at my pad and in a flash got the tickets and then headed straight off again. After battling through the Stanley St traffic jams we were out on the highway and on our way to Byron Bay and Splendour 2007!!

Apart from coming to terms with the aerodynamics of a campervan (Speed Racer was a little wobbly going around corners at high speed…) the drive down was pretty much incident free. Remember, kids, Wicked Camper Vans are not cars and that fact alone precludes them from being racecars - no matter whose motif is painted on the side!!

After singing and shouting “Wiiiiiiiiiickeeeed!!!” at anyone would hear it and generally carrying on like a pack of larrikins for around about 2 hours we drew closer to Alstonville (a lovely little place near Byron), which was to be our base camp for the entire Splendour weekend (we stayed at HM’s parent’s place). The exertions of driving (not to mention the excitement of going to Splendour 2007 the next day) had made me thirsty so we stopped off at a depressing rural pub in Wardell to pick up six (Coopers Pale, no less) and shortly afterwards arrived in Alstonville.

After quenching thirsts we then made ready to get some sleep and prepare ourselves for Day One of Splendour in the Grass 2007…