Wow. That was good. Just when you thought Sydney’s festival calendar was past saturation point, along comes Subsonic and blows the rest of them away.

Let’s be upfront – this is a camping festival 3-4 hours from Sydney featuring techno for a doof crowd. So it’s not going to threaten Stereosonic or Good Vibes anytime soon. But we like it like that. A week after being nauseated by the fake tan and attitude of the Stereosonic crowd, it was so refreshing to drive into the middle of nowhere and party with friendly, open-minded people, plenty of room to move, and a stunning bushland setting.

The drive up was exhausting, mired in the start of the Friday night exodus from Sydney I’d hoped to avoid. So after pitching the tent, I was asleep before I could say ‘let’s just have a little nap’. I was woken a couple of hours later by the aural rape of Crookers – Day N Night, but even though I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t having a nightmare, I was sure that would be the one and only 2Day FM playlist speed hump of the weekend. And soon enough, the techno shed was sorted out good and proper by Rob Zobec.

This Woolshed room was the only indoor arena, adjoining the impressive wooden cabins populated by the lucky ‘VIPs’. Now, the mention of VIP cabins might prompt comparisons to Playground, but that’s about where the similarities end. In truth, this is Sydney’s answer to the mighty Rainbow Serpent.

You could see the influence of that eminently well-run Victorian festival everywhere: the shaded outdoor stages, the water mist keeping the main dancefloor cool, the unrivalled pleasure of hammocks plus techno, the rotation of music styles around the stages through the weekend. Most importantly, though, was the ease of camping – you could park your car next to your tent and BYO everything you could want. Two big, big points of difference with Playground – this was camping done proper.

Back to Saturday morning and Craig Pringle again impressed. I’ve only seen him a couple of times at doofs, but I love the range of slamming to downtempo tech he plays. Robbie Lowe and Matt Aubusson were absent but luckily the techno colossus of Diatribe stepped up for the first of many impromptu sets of the weekend (I hear Sasha is the new Danny Tenaglia).

As the day heated up the river was the place to be. Some people took the Nudist Beach sign literally, others lazed on the provided rugs, cushions, deckchairs and floating tubes (I refuse to call them noodles). At this stage the main stage was yet to crank, so there was unspoilt sound floating over from the smaller Market stage where Dylan Griffin, Suspekt, and Scruffy Goat all made a name for themselves with some very enjoyable proggy tech-house.

Towards sundown The Cook and Jamie Stevens got the crowd warmed up for the night before Marcotix stole the show. As the lighting shimmered through the trees, the crowd really lifted for the Subsonic organiser’s set, and from there the cannons were loosed and the party shifted up a gear. Well done Marco – the hard work, the planning of the little details, all the effort showed – and the set was a belter too. He deserved the applause.

Little details? There were a few, like the secluded riverbank where a soundsystem played a selection of techno, the river whooshing over rocky rapids, the moon rising, Total Departure playing, and everything so right with the world. These are the random moments that you get from the great festivals, and this is the escape from reality that Subsonic gave its punters.

On the main stage, Salmonella Dub were the highlight of an interesting evening that saw K-Oscillate doing their best Pendulum/South London MC impersonation and a guy named Shamik beatboxing dubstep. Not a typo. Later at the Market stage, Ze Germans ruled the roost. First was Tom Clark, and then Daniel Dreier laid down the soundtrack for sunrise. The crowd was small and dishevelled, but Dreier was hilarious to watch, gesticulating and dancing behind the decks. He was cute like a big soft toy and had me doing my best Veruca Salt demanding to know where I could buy one. Musically his upbeat tech-house got me re-energised for the final day. Vielen dank!

Logan Baker was also great but after a final dip in the river it was time for techno to take on the main stage. The mist was heaven, eskies were packed and still icy, and the crowd was hungry for even more. Fiord were a surprise treat, Format:B started well but seemed to lose their oomph in the midday sun, and that left Alex Smoke to slay the party with an often downtempo but altogether more trippy set after a weekend of straight-up tech-house.

Solead started in the same dominating fashion as at the Civic last year, but the forces of designated driver sobriety and Monday office work were busy conspiring to end my Subsonic. Next year I might not make the same mistake.

Next year, I hope more people can experience what made Subsonic 2009 truly great, and why the doofers throw the best parties around. At Rainbow it seems the entire Melbourne techno community makes the trek and melts in the heat to coalesce with the dust and hippies. For Subsonic to grow yet maintain the magic of its first year, it will have to convince more of Sydney’s camp-shy chinstrokers to come play in the lush green fields of Barrington Tops.