Event Info
Here is all the info as we see it, if there's something your not sure about then please feel free to hit us off the contact us page..
A QUICK SUM UP- fully licenced all age event, event starts 5pm Friday 11th April, ends with a Sunday arvo barbie 13th April. camping and day parking available, strict NO GLASS policy across town, no byo allowed in festival, no pets, camping areas have full amenities, shuttle bus system available for Wollombi Valley...
TICKETS- Tickets are now on sale, available here online and also offline at various moshtix retail outlets. www.moshtix.com.au
check out the buy tickets page for all the details.
VENUE- Wollombi Tavern, 2994 Great North Road, Wollombi Valley. NSW Australia
check out the website www.wollombitavern.com.au
camping is on various pieces of land within the vicinity of the tavern. available until sold out, first in best dressed.
LINE UP-
Gum Ball is a festival, emerging in its plight to showcase some of the best blues, rock, roots and country music that Australia and the rest of the world have to offer.. previously a one stage event, for 2008 natural growth will see the festival expand to 3 stages...a full scheduled program will be available closer to the event, below is a bit of a draft on the three days...
Gum Ball 2008...
URTHBOY
BOTANICS
DAN SULTAN
HAT FITZ & ITCHY
MARSHALL & THE FRO
RADIOPHOBIA
THE EVENING SON
MIA DYSON
THE VASCO ERA
CUSTOM KINGS
THE FUMES
THE RE-MAINS
ARABESK
THE DETONATORS
MOJO JUJU & THE SNAKE OIL MERCHANTS
PERCUSSION JUNCTION
PEREGRINE
FIG
LAURA IMBRUGLIA
DEAD LETTER CHORUS
THE DENNIS BOYS
OOH LA LA
ROGERTHAT
TIM CROSSEY BAND
GREAT DIVIDING RANGE
THE JONES'
JOHNNY REAL & THE LOVEMAKERS
PAT CAPOCCI COMBO
THE DENNIS BOYS
BLUEZONE
laid back barbie, raffles, dribs and drabs... what you'll get here is a perfect sunday arvo at the Tavern
There is also a rake of other extra stuff going down over the weekend, a lot of performance based projects, live visual art display, Aboriginal welcoming/closing ceremony, street busking, market stalls...
THE DEAL...
Naturally we want everyone to have a right ol' time, so in order for that to happen, you need to study all these points of interest, in particular the do's and don'ts.
WHEN TO GET THERE For those who have purchased camping passes, you're welcome to arrive any time after midday on Friday 11th April, get there nice and early to set up comfortable before the music starts at 5pm. For those staying in accommodation, arrive when ever you wish, a shuttle bus will be available from Friday 4pm onwards, running a select route throughout Wollombi Valley along Great North/Wollombi Road, entry will be permitted into the festival at 5pm.
HOW TO GET THERE Wollombi Valley is a little of the beaten track, but relatively easy to get to because a hundred years ago it used to be the main highway to the north. Coming from Sydney turn off at Calga/Peats Ridge and follow the Great North Road all the way to Wollombi. Coming from the east travel to Cessnock and take Wollombi Rd all the way to Wollombi. Coming from Singleton way, turn off the Golden Highway at Mt Thorley and travel straight through Broke over the mountains to Wollombi. As far as general public transport goes, there is none. where up in the mountains here...however because its such a small village, with limited space, we're providing a few option and asking everyone to give their best effort to minimise traffic build up.
Here’s a few options!
Catch the bus there! There are buses departing Newcastle and Gosford Train Stations Friday 11th April at 3pm, returning you when it all finishes up, 4pm from Wollombi Tavern on the Sunday. You must book your seat before hand, return bus pass is $30 and available for purchase through www.moshtix.com.au .Bus 1 = departs Gosford Train Station (interchange bay) 3pm – Cessnock (vincent st) 4pm – Wollombi 4.30pm
Bus 2 = departs Newcastle Central Train Sation (interchange bay) 3pm – Maitland(Grand Junction) 3.30pm – Wollombi 4.30pm
Pick ups on route are available if required, but you need to register your pick up point, send an email request through to The Gum Bus driver thegumbus@bigpond.com
Sydney bus travel is coordinated through Rover coacheswww.rovercoaches.com.au
any other general questions on tickets or accommodation then feel free to give us a hit off the contact us page
All tickets purchased will be return, taking you home on the Sunday afternoon.
Alternatively if you’re a bit of a goer, a 12 seater bus costs around $300 for a weekend (thrifty), if you’re coming from Sydney that’s less then $30 each and you all get to chat on route! Bigger bus, more people, less expense, you could even make money!
Other alternatives This year we have a car pooling forum, a special link off the Gum Ball website for people to hook up and hitch lifts. Go to hitch a lift forum.now.anywhere and let people know if you have a spare seat or wish to get a lift…that there is a great way to meet festival buddies!
For all people driving out to the event, we ask you to please be responsible in two ways, firstly drive carefully as the roads are very narrow and winding, the other is to make sure that you’ve got a car full of passengers. Car pooling, is not only better for the environment, but it will allow for a lot more space around the village and the camping areas.
CAMPING The camping set up is a little bit different this year, here's the drill. There are various camping spaces in and around the village. The first one is 300m from the entry, the second is 700m from the entry, the third is a 5min shuttle. All weekend camping tickets include Friday and Saturday night only. Camping is selling quickly so you really need to jump to it if you wish to score your spot.
CAMPING HIRE If camping wasn't already easy enough, why not rock up to the event with your group and roll into a ready esembled rig, big or small. There are a few 8p, 6p, 4p and 2p tents available for hire, so once again, jump to it to claim your spot! send an enquiry or booking request through the contact us page.
OTHER ACCOMODATION- There is a large range of accommodation available around the Wollombi Valley region. We suggest looking at www.wollombivalley.com or www.wollombivalley.nsw.au for all the registered listings of accommodation within the region, overall there is a lot of accommodation available, but i am led to believe it is booking out a rapid rate. Wollombi Valley is quite large, we'll have a constant shuttle running from laguna to Wollombi and another from Paynes Crossing/ceder creek as necessary. Furthest likely accomm would be Cessnock or Broke regions, which are roughly 30 mins away. feel free to contact the visitor information centre on 02 49 900 900 for further advice.
If your staying in accommodation located somewhere in Wollombi Valley, you can register with the shuttle service(register through your acomm) which will be running a complete service for the duration on a select route, taking you to and from the festival as required (gold coin donation applies).
FULLY LICENCED EVENT- You are not permitted to bring your own beverages into the event. You're welcome to bring food and beverage into the campsites but one very important factor is NO GLASS. Please respect this rule, glass smashes, cuts, shatters, hurts when thrown and is hard to clean up out of the ground, why would we want it? we'll be checking for glass on entry to the campsites so If you have beer in glass bottles you will be asked to surrender it.
ENVIRONMENT-We here at The Gum Ball feel a strong sense of respect for our environment and if you are coming to this event you have no choice, but to feel the same. When you purchase a ticket, waste management becomes your responsiblity just as much as ours, and ultimately your response to waste management will determine the future outcome of this event within Wollombi Village.
The plan is to avoid bringing anything to the event that is non recyclable. Everything should be aluminium, paper or plastic. We will have a stack of recycling bins at the festival and camping areas.
All you've got to do, is make the effort, read the signs, crush and dunk accordingly.
For people who are camping, you will be issued with an extra set of garbage bags, please use these. Clear is for cans and plastic. Black is for banned (everything else). In the morning it will be your responsibility to clean up your site. So do your best, respect your position, remember nothing in this world consumes more then we do.BRING PLENTY OF FUNDS- EFTPOS will be available but it's usually best not to have to rely on it.
FOOD- We suggest not to bring any food at all, if you have to, bring some of those sweet treats you can hide in your swag for when you go down.
There is going to be heaps of super grub ready and available all morning, day and night in and around the town and event to cater for absolutley everybody. Just off the top of my head, there's some German, Indian, Italian, Mayan, Moroccan, Australian.....Vegetarian? A few of them will be run by local charitable organisations looking to do a bit of fundraising...so go on support the cause.
As a five star alternative, there are a number of restaurants around town to enjoy a full course breakfast, lunch or dinner. If your interested in pulling up a seat for some fine dining, you will need to make a reservation before they close the book. Here is a link to a listing www.wollombivalley.com/dine
Naturally, there will be plenty of provision for vegetarians and freaky people who can't eat stuff.
Breakfast will be available in the morning served up barbie fresh at each of the campsites . Be smart, purchase your breakfast ticket on entry to save hassle in the morning.
THE MARKET MALL There is going to be some really cool little art, craft, clothing, jewellery, trinket etc stalls in and around to stop shoppers from shaking. There are still a few spots available, hit the contact page for enquiries. There will also be a merchandise stall, set up for all produce associated with the bands and the event. Please be ready to check them all out and support their efforts on the day.
CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUND (UNDER 12 FREE)- Come on bring the kids along! this year we've got a great kiddies area set up, heaps of activities, face painting, art and craft workshops, dress ups, jumping castle, you name it... if they start to become a problem, our fully qualified Nanny knows a few good knots and can tie them up without a drama. The Gum Ball prides itself on being a family orientated/child friendly atmosphere. As most of us are building a nation at the moment, its kinda our duty to supply a social security network of sorts!
DISABLED ACCESS- The site is wheelchair accessible. we'll have a special viewing podium set up for those on the roll. There will also be a disabled toilet close by and plenty of freindly assistance from Gum Ball staff and volunteers.
SHADE/COMFORT- One of the main reasons for the move to Wollombi was for the trees, this year the event will have some nice shadey trees to hide under. Due to our rather unpredictable weather it is advised to come prepared for any situation that may arise... start with a bit of sunscreen, end with a raincoat! If your type is the one with sore legs at the day then feel free to bring your own picnic set up i.e chair, rug, umbrella etc
SMOKING- We understands the need to smoke, it has many positive features, why else would all the movie stars and Indians do it? Now please listen here, if you smoke, place your cigarette butts in a container, do not leave them on the ground, amongst other things they are not biodegradable. A really great idea is to bring an empty film canister and put them in that. empty it, fill it back up etc. People will really be impressed by your efforts and more then likely, you will make new friends!
COMPETITIONS- There is going to be a number of fundraisers on the day to support our world's needy causes. They will mainly be in the form of raffles on the day and we ask people to get right into it and support the charities! And remember, please don't be upset if you don't win. There will be plenty of other opportunities in your life to win something. And for those who win stuff all the time and can't believe their luck, how about maybe looking around and passing it on to one of those who is crying… Hey it's just a thought!
DON'TS
Quick list of the main rules:
DO'S
Quick check list of things to bring
If you have any troubles on the day, St Johns Ambulance and a number of suited volunteers will be on hand ready to assist.
Drink driving is something that selfish, stupid people participate in.
If there is anything that you're not sure of then go to the contact us page, drop us an email with your query, we'll be happy to help out.