Attendees of beloved Aussie music festival Splendour in the Grass are posting about enduring a rather unsavoury escape from the grounds the festival was held on. Cars were stuck in the mud, buses were delayed and that was just half of it.
According to the ABC, folks at Splendour had a bit of a hard time escaping the muddy misery at the Byron Bay campsite. It was reported that people had to help each other push cars out of the muck. On the other hand, some had to wait to be towed out of the festival grounds.
“50 per cent of the cars down here are going to need to be pushed out,” festival attendee Ewan Roxborgh told the ABC.
“We’ve already spoken to the girls down the road in the campervan and they’re pretty bogged.
“People were just getting bogged and there was no way we were going to get up to the campsite, and this was the best we were going to be able to have.”
@chloejettmusic
Folks on TikTok are sharing wild vids of their time in the mud, and it definitely doesn’t look pleasant. It’s giving Peppa Pig’s favourite festival. It’s giving a western Sydney eshay with fresh TNs’ worst nightmare.
@bratzdoll2000 A living hell there’s just no other way to describe it. #splendour #flood #sitg
@brendonphillips1 Serving fyre fest #splendourinthegrass #sitg
Folks who weren’t four-wheels balls-deep in mud awaited buses to get out of the Splendour festival grounds. Some attendees claim that there weren’t enough buses going around to make a timely escape back home, and that organisers weren’t around to provide food or water while they waited.
My daughter waited for 5 hours for a bus at midnight, no food or water, in ankle deep mud. Got back at 6am! Thousands waiting with her. No organizer in sight. She and her friends won’t go back for day 3 or 4. @BreakfastNews #splendourinthegrass
— Jo (@joywunjo) July 23, 2022
People waiting 3 hours for the buses and still a LOT of people waiting… Zero communication from @SITG. No water available for those waiting for the non-existent buses.
This is not a weather issue. This festival was not prepared.#splendourinthegrass #SITG2022 pic.twitter.com/OYlZPdbulX— Jesse Howes (@Jesse_Howes) July 23, 2022
12:30 at the Tweed splendour bus stop the day after making everyone wait 6 hours for a bus home from splendour last night. Two buses, both empty, No one to board. And yes, this is the last bus stop on this route #youfuckedup #splendourinthemud pic.twitter.com/frAIpSRrKE
— Roisin (@roisycheeks) July 24, 2022
Splendour in the Grass released a statement about the less than savoury bus conditions.
“Unfortunately, some of our Tweed routes experienced extended delays due to bus driver shortages,” organisers wrote in a statement.
“We estimate that approx 1000 people were affected.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CgYJlxSJGgX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Byron Shire Mayor Michael Lyon told the ABC that if it were up to him, there would have been no increase in capacity by 43 per cent.
“I was never really in favour of the increase, but it has nothing to do with us,” he said.
“Those approvals are run through the independent planning authority from the state government point of view.
“Given the year we’ve had, I think [the wet conditions were] … somewhat predictable.”
Godspeed to everyone who had to endure the mud at this year’s Splendour. Apart from the music, it did not look like a fun time.
