Far North Queensland Rainbow Gathering

We're back from rainbow land! The gathering was wonderful; we had a fantastic time. And of course, it's also great to be home.

The journey up was pretty easy - we drove 1900km (about 1200mi) in 2 days, which included frequent playground stops for Littletree to run around with other kids (our favourite was the roadside JumpingPillow at Rollingstone)

We arrived to the area near the rainbow after dark, so we decided to camp nearby and come in the early morning, rather than trying to find hippie trails in the dark. After walking in 2 full loads of gear and setting up our camp, Purple and I collapsed into bed, exhausted, only to be woken up at 4am by the freezing cold!

Learning the lesson, I dressed warmly to sleep the next night, and we settled in to enjoy rainbow. We set up a great camp, which involved a lot of work digging and carrying sand to make a nice flat area in the rocky riverbed, but the end result was worth it.

I even had a great office area set up so I could keep up with my studies:

While the nights were cold (we were at 900M elevation - about 3000ft), the days were hot and sunny, so we spent a lot of time relaxing in the shade or the chai shop

And hanging around the sweet, fresh river, which was absolutely spectacular and had many little waterfalls and "jacuzzis" in the rapids

I joined in on Sisters' Circles, did a lot of crochet and held a workshop on natural fertility, as well as a lot of working in the kitchen. 

The kitchen is for me, the best part of rainbow. There are 2 meals provided daily, and a large main kitchen, but there aren't any workers or bosses. There's no one whose job it is to cook the dinner or buy the food or wash the pots or collect wood or carry water. People just show up to help and we all work together, cooking delicious vegetarian food for hundreds of people on an open fire, without running water or electricity.

I always have a great time in the kitchen. I think this photo was the day Purple and I made Cholent for the whole gathering.

Breakfast circles were under some shady trees to hide from the sun

While dinner circle was on the rock in the riverbed.

So this is getting long - I came home with a LOT of photos, which after deleting crap ones, was still 111 photos exactly! I'll only share the highlights on the blog, but you can see the full set of photos HERE 

and just because I can't resist, I'll do a 'rainbow part II' post tomorrow ;)