So you thought Team ‘Abulous were hard core geeks? I’ll have you know that this morning we put on our hipster hats and attended the Surry Hills Festival. This is a metaphor people. Dadabulous wore a floppy canvas number that makes him look like Benny Hill and I unwisely went hatless. Nevertheless we left our Eastern Beaches comfort zone and ventured forth to Prince Alfred Park. Contrary to the spirit of the day we drove.

Immediately upon entering through the festival gates it became apparent that the event was fifty shades of “groovy” and “right on”. Everything was certifiably organic, sustainable and free range. The hair was long, the sunglasses oversized  and there was nary a synthetic fabric in sight. A sustainable living tent was the first port of call, followed by a recycled art installation. These pretty much summed up the vibe of the entire shin dig.

The sustainable living tent. Because its easy to live sustainably in tent.

Upcycled art.

It wasn’t long before we encountered the giant adult sized, bouncing twister board. I’m hiring one of these for my next date with Fassbender (to see just how much the Fass can bend bahaha). In the meantime the girls got their shoes off quicker than you ask ” how much for a ticket?”. Luckily it was a free ride.  Ps 1 & 2 could have easily stayed on board this inflatable square all day. We had to bribe them off with the promise of a snack.

Bouncing Twister.

We found refreshments in the Chai Tent.  This was a “tent”

in the fashion of “have him washed and brought to my tent”. In other words it was one fancy camp. Everything was decked out like a Bedouin boudoir. I mentioned to Dadabulous that I would be happy to take it with us the next time we went to Dunbogan, as long as somebody else did the erecting.

Fancy pants camping.

What would you expect us to dine upon in such exotic surrounds? Camels balls perhaps? Nup – we got two regular coffees, industrial banana bread and a juice popper. The juice was  organic and the carton recyclable of course.

I was happy to recline on these ornately embroidered cushions for a little longer but the girls nagged us to move on. We entered the market zone – a wonderous world of cotton, cheese cloth, hemp, crystals and feathers.  I’m hardly a cool hunter but just maybe the American Indian look is warming up to become “so hawt right now”.

Ever wondered where Jay Kay gets his head gear?

Similarly here’s another prediction. 2012-13 is shaping up as a Summer of Love V2. Prepare yourself with a floral garland or several.

Party like its 1969.

Whilst we’re dressing for a Summer of Love – show a little love to your pets this summer. This is stall devoted to doggy fashion accessories. Seriously?

Inner city dogs are very fashion forward.

These sweet delights had the girls turning up the volume knobs on their whinge-a-phones but Dadabulous managed to skirt around the issue by promising treats “later”.

Temptation*

Somehow we managed to stumble into this tunnel of terror. Whoever had the bright idea of handing a bucket (yes a bucket) of neon paint to a five year old and a three year old should, in the vernacular of Mrs Woog, be sent to “spanky town”.

Kids, buckets of paint and enclosed spaces – a dangerous mix.

P2 decided that some maestro’s interpretation of ET was incomplete and generously painted in the heart lights. An improvement – don’t you think?

What’s ET without a big pink splodge?

By this time Dadabulous had all the sustainable, organic animal, loving creative, warm fuzzies that he could take and I was chaffing at the bit to buy something. The girls were nagging to go on

the dodge ‘em cars and the sun was dehydrating our pale and interesting skin. It was time to withdraw from the inner sanctum of inner city hipdom* all the while praying to the parenting deities that P2 would fall asleep on the drive home. Alas no cigar.

Its worth mentioning that there were four stages and dozens of performances going on through out the day. Unfortunately chaperoning kids around meant we didn’t get to take in any. Its lucky for us our girls are just so entertaining isn’t it?

Happy organic, sustainable environmentally sensitive festival going.

Mumabulous

* The cake pops were done by the new kid on the baking scene Valhalla Dessert Bar. http://www.valhalladessertbar.com.au

(Not a sponsored post – I just want to be nice)

* Another word I just made up because I like to take liberties with the Queen’s English.