Touted as a four-day festival of music, arts & culture on the promotional flyer, Twizted Evolution was essentially a doof party with three performance stages pumping consistent trance and psy-trance doof-doof beats 24-hours a day over the four days. When I told my friend that I was going to a doof party and she noticed that my car wasn’t in the driveway for the next few days, she got worried and sent me this text:

“Where are you?”
“I’m at a doof”
“For how long?”

And that’s the thing about a good doof – it’s like the party and the after-party just keeps going and going and going and, for most people who live and breathe doofing, there’s not a lot of sleeping involved, not until after you get home anyway.

Twizted Evolution officially started at midday on Friday 8th and didn’t finish until midday on Monday the 11th January. After having driven for three hours from the Sunshine Coast, past Ipswich and over the mountains at Cunningham’s Gap, we pulled into the rather-more-swanky-than-your- average-doof location; Bestbrook Mountain Resort at around 10pm on Friday night.

Navigating past the check-in process and trying to recall directions only just explained it was time to drive over a swollen creek causeway and beyond. About one kilometre down the dirt driveway and we were stopped. Mud had caused havoc on the roads that day and so the road had been cordoned off and we would have to make camp temporarily here until the mud dried up the next day.

The creek then provided even more entertainment as stepping stones over the rapidly flowing waters became obstacles between campers and the alternative stage which was pumping up some rather seductive psy tunes, the oh-so-yummy baked potato stall and the not-so-well placed market stalls. The main stage did not kick off until midday on Saturday, so at this point, the alternative stage was where the action was at and the small crowd accumulating there did their best to get the party started.

Once the main stage opened on Saturday it suddenly became apparent that most people had camped too far away and now faced a couple of kilometre walk from their camps to the main stage. Outrageous scenes ensued as entire camps were uplifted and relocated with erected tents placed on top of cars and driven from one side of the camp to the other. I chose not to move camp and to stay in my quiet lakeside position. The friendly tractor-driving farmer ensured my portaloo ensuite stayed in place and the awesome creek provided fresh water as required for my frequent refreshing dunks.

As far as locations go, it doesn’t get much better than Bestbrook. Set back in the foothills and valley just below the Great Dividing Range, the property itself is massive, easy to find and so well suited to a festival. With Eucalypt forests, cleared paddocks, natural amphitheatres, a cool flowing creek and plenty of shady quiet camping spots, despite numbers seeming a bit low to justify the extensive overheads required by such a sumptuous location, a great time was definitely had by all in attendance.

While I’m not sure how accurate the DJ line-up was in comparison to the program, the turntables were kept spinning around the clock. Even the regular doofing dogs who accompanied their owners seemed happy to catch up with mates they hadn’t seen since the last doof. It felt like a small party out in the bush, but it was a really, really good party.

Dancing all day in the sun was just a part of the fun, long chats with brand new friends made down by the creek and relaxed kicking back sessions back at the camp were also very much part of the experience. On Saturday night a third live music stage started up as well, but due to low numbers, awkward creek crossings and minimal lighting this was unfortunately not so well attended. The main stage with its’ trippy visuals, hula hoopers, stilt walkers and live graffiti art shows pretty much stole the show for the rest of the weekend with the other two stages struggling to pull crowds.

By Sunday night, my natural sleep/wake cycles had been completely disrupted, and despite having interspersed my bursts of dance floor activity with many cooling dunks in the creek, I was paying the price for dancing in the blazing summer sun for two days. My head was pounding and although the tracks I could hear from across at the relatively empty alternative stage were sounding sublimely enticing, I had to face the fact that it was time to pack up and head home for a decent shower, a sharp razor and a long, long sleep.

Twizted Evolution – An awesome party in a spectacular location. I’ll definitely be back again.