There are plenty of opinions, views and misconceptions out there on what Burning Man is or isn’t like. In simple terms it is almost an indescribable experience. To understand more about the history of Burning Man, the 10 Principles and more click here: https://burningman.org/ This is a small insight into our time in Black Rock City (BRC).
Everyone’s experience is different - every time you go - the shear size of the city and the vast amount of activities, art installations, shows, art cars, bars and music on offer means it is impossible to see everything, I honestly think we saw less than a tenth of what was there.
The Preparation
Before we made it to BRC the amount of planning, buying, packing we did surpassed any other holiday... plenty of friends shared their must take lists and we were also sharing our RV with Justin, Lou and Bek who had been before. We had connected into a camp (O.K.Korral) through friends in Sydney, we had managed to get tickets, through another friend, we had shipped our 'suitable clothing' to LA and smashed through an amazon order with more stuff. We picked up the RV in LA and started our road trip with the boys, Justin, Lou and Bek stopping in Yosemite and then a camp near Tahoe where we had a birthday party for Tim and Dex (I'll post another blog on our full RV road trip...). Tim’s sister, Jo, joined us, flying across the US from North Carolina to take the boys back with her for the week. Thank you Jo and Rich for giving the boys the best holiday with you and ensuring we didn’t have to worry about them while we were at BM. 😘
Getting in to Black Rock City
We were feeling pretty good after picking up our hire bikes just outside of Reno, getting final bits and heading out around 2pm on Sunday. However after a check on twitter we heard that there had been a fatal car accident in a town close to the gate which meant the road in was closed. We reached the queue of traffic around 5pm and sat for a few hours - huge queues in front and behind. We made it to the gate for our virgins dust angels, group cinnamon roll hug and bell ringing before cruising into our camp just after 9pm.
To be honest the days and nights blur, as sometimes we were out exploring in the day and other times at night or early morning for the most amazing sunrises. Here are our highlights and memorable moments.
The BM Philharmonic Orchestra
Firstly it was amazing that they could play and that some of their instruments worked considering the dust storm that had hit and was swirling around the marquee. Many with dust masks and goggles they played the most amazing 90 min concert, with a selection of Mozart, Brahms and even a Beethoven pianist solo. They managed to include a Bohemian rhapsody sing along and to finish handed out kazoos for participation for Ode to joy. Spine tingling music by a talented group of musicians that come together specifically for Burning Man from all over the world.
The Temple
We visited the temple a few times, it is an incredibly special place where people leave tributes, messages, mementos of loved ones, Tim left a note for his mum. Whether you are there to remember someone or just to visit it is intensely emotional, impossible to hold back the tears. On the Sunday after the man burns they burn the temple, whilst the man is a celebration the temple burnt with a crowd of 10’s of thousands watching in silence. Again incredible emotional.
The Sunrises and Sunsets
Both sunsets and sunrises are spectacular on the playa. The sunsets seems to coincide with mini dust storms which made some of the photos look like we were on the moon. It always amazed me how quickly the city changed as the sun set, very quickly all the bike lights flick on, art car lights, sound stage lights and crazy lasers, artwork lighting and before you know it the playa and BRC was a mass of fluorescent flashing lights. This is a city that never sleeps and before you know it the sun is rising and people are heading out to deep playa to watch it either in front of the Robot Heart or Mayan Warrior listening to some of the best DJ’s in the world or out in the middle of nowhere to appreciate the silence. Our favourite sunrise was watching Lee Burridge at Robot Heart, topped off by the hotdog camp who had managed to get a large bbq out into deep playa and then cooked hotdogs for hundreds of people for brekkie.
The Art
There were over 300 different pieces of art spread out across the playa, amazing craftsmanship. For the some thoughts and photos of some of the best click here. Our favourites included:
The Dali inspired elephant - Slonik - so many arguments on whether this was or wasn’t an elephant
the LOVE letters - climbing these one early morning wasn’t easy but the photos were awesome Spaceship on legs - I’m sure it has a more elaborate name but we had fun with Justin and Lou at this one, with someone getting quite dusty
The rings - if your a good rider you can ride straight through the middle, or if you’re me you could stack it halfway through...
The folly, with intricate detail in all the rooms, completely made of wood, incredible detail we should have gone back in the daytime to explore more
The Art Cars
Wow everyday we saw more art cars that we had never seen before. Every shape and size you can imagine, some built for the day, others so lite up at night. We loved Thor (our camp art car), the funhouse always seemed to be around when we were out. The sheep, the pineapple, the chair that always centred itself right in front of Robot Heart, then there was the 747, yes that’s right a jumbo jet. MOOP from last burn but back again this year.
The bars / camps / music
Every street had 100’s of camps everyone offered something different, everyone generous with their offering whether that was food, drink, music, shows, hotel rooms, massages, spas, bodywashing. You name it there would be a camp for it! Ashram galactica was opposite us and we had some great nights there, our friends at Bang Bang were also just down the road. Bloody Mary bars were a gem to find, I loved the Pink Heart where they had delicious ice cream. There was also great Russian food at Plov Kraft where Tim dj’d early in the week .
Our camp
It was great to be part of an established camp, many of our friends that had been to BM before had stayed with them and we had met a few at a friends wedding in Australia last year. Making the camp meal for 60+ people was a highlight. Fun, a little crazy at times but we pulled together and made the best chicken (and veggie) burritos with all the trimmings. This was served after our camp meeting where we got to meet everyone that was staying with us. O.K.Korral have an art car - called Thor. They take him out in the day and at night, there is an awesome sound system where the many dj’d in our camp got to play. Tim has a few sessions often back to back with others, some in the camp as we prepared to head out and the best being the night of the burn where Tim had his most memorable moment dj’ing to our camp on Thor as we watched the spectacular burn of the man. A story he’s sure to tell for years to come. Just amazing. Two awesome members of our camp are getting married back in Sydney in November, they had a pre-wedding on the playa with the whole camp which I was very fortunate to officiate - congrats Em and Jared - love is a circle 😘
Random stuff we won’t forget
VR dome (360 projection)- without VR headset - amazing images
Locking your bike, finding your bike - both incredibly difficult in daytime and nighttime!
Dust storms - we should have brought proper dust masks, they would come out of nowhere and be gone as quick
Foot massages, body massage camps were great!
Swing city - Tim made it across the hoops and back, pretty good considering his collarbone was broken not that long ago
Having 9 days without the boys for the first time in 9 months was special for the two of us, it was amazing to reconnect as a couple and also just hang out with friends (old and new). It was a welcome break from our 24/7 family travel adventure
Tim's love/hate relationship with his manbag and camelback... when you leave the camp you never really know when you will be back and need to ensure you always have your dustmask, goggles, sunnies, lipsalve, tissues, anti-bac, camera, your drinking cup or bottle (needed for any camp bars you visit) and also a few litres of water or gaterade in the camelback. However when you're only wearing leggings (tim) or a bikini (me) then you need to have a bag to put everything in. Having baskets on our bike also made a difference particularly night to day when we need somewhere to put all the coats and jumpers!
The pack down of the camp - this only works when everyone pitches in. And they did, it’s incredible to watch all the camps pack up into trailers and truly live to the principle of leave no trace. You get very into looking out for MOOP (matter out of place), this will be a new term used at home....
Finally the margaritas by the pool in Reno after a 20 min shower worked wonderfully
In conclusion Burning Man for us was emotional, thrilling, amazing and challenging, like nothing else we have experienced. The main reason of this was the people, there were people from every country, every age from babies to the elderly, diversity in every way. It was great to meet so many new people, the generosity, selflessness, kindness and love emanating from everyone is the foundations of the amazing culture of the city, it really shows human nature at its absolute best. Being disconnected from the ‘real world’, from technology, from money all make a difference. I had read about the 10 Principles before going in, going back through them now they have a deeper meaning and also a reality check is that those principles shouldn’t be just for BRC there is no reason we can’t all try and live to them more - the world would be a better place.
There is no doubt that we will return to Burning Man and next time we will take the boys as there is so much for kids and they would totally love it. Maybe not next year.... but you never know.....
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