A truly brilliant new year's at AUM Festival

After months of deciding which event to go to my friends and I took the plunge and went to Aum New Year's up near Parakai north of Auckland over new years. We could not have had a better time. What a brilliant little festival it is, and much larger than I expected.

We had ummed and ahhed about going to back to Rhythm & Vines after the previous year being at Northern Bass with the younger crowd (and the mud) but decided on Aum because it was closer to Auckland. It was a breath of fresh air which took me by surprise. Only one of our crew had been before and she had told us how good it was. But everyone says that about their favourite thing.

There were lots of people over 30 there and lots of families, and lots of backpackers from Europe too. It felt like we met so many German and French people on the dance floor. Aside from the main stages, every time we checked out a new pathway we found someone making a lovely piece of art or playing music with a small group of people just chilling out in the shade.

The music was varied and great. You could see bands like Devilskin and then walk for 2 minutes and be on a big stage in a forest playing techno. Walk another 2 minutes up a path and you'd find a smaller stage playing drum and bass. In the daytime there were shows by Suzy Cato, fun performances in the food area to keep everyone in the spirit. Workshops of all types ran all day. There was just so much to see and do compared to most other new years events which are 95% music and drinking focused.

Everyone we met was super friendly and we didn't see any obvious dickhead behaviour at all. I didn't even notice the security until someone pointed them out when we were looking for a misplaced phone (which was handed into reception and recovered).

Not even the rain which came during the late night could ruin the experience. There was no flooding at all when we got up. When any rain stopped the ground was dry within minutes except for some small areas.

The final night had a cabaret show in the circus tent stage which was packed. It was a really enjoyable way to prepare for the end of the festival.

There's barely anything I could fault for a first time to Aum. Maybe there could be more showers but that's the same at all NZ festivals. What a brilliant festival run by a team who know how to bring fun, friendly people together.

Did anyone here go? I'll remember some of the other acts we enjoyed in the coming days.