(6) SATURDAY (EVENING) 18^TH MARCH - CONVERGE 

I arrive early at the very grounds of my horror volleyball dream (though I still believe it to be nightmare, I am beginning to find more evidence which suggests the plausibility of it actually having occurred) and am relieved to enter the grounds populated with those interested in a stable and actually relaxing environment. The Converge on the Goulburn Multicultural evening is set on Lake Victoria, and in the dying afternoon sun I am happy to say without fear of sentimentality that the immediate scenery is beautiful and somewhat tranquil.

5:00PM - Traditional Aboriginal Smoke Ceremony - I am solo and  chatting to an older fellow as a great convergence of people, lead by local elders, enter the festival grounds. 

5:14PM - The kids are stoked - Though I've always found indigenous dance athletically impressive and—more to the point—interesting on a narrative level, I have forever been slightly intimidated by the manoeuvres incorporated into the different dances. It is the conviction of the performance which does it for me. The tools for narrative are limited to the performer's bodies, and story is carried not by props and effects but by the tone of body language and facial expression. The most apt metaphor I can use to describe my feeling of intimidation is the indescribable difference of effect between two guitar players of unmatched mastery bending an identical note. It's the same, but one one player is just damn more convincing, and the more convincing player has that effect art can have where you kind of step back and say, damn. 

The kids obviously have not arrived at this interpretation of dance and art just yet. But they are front and centre, laughing and screaming at the playful antics of the younger dancers. The dancers begin feeding off this, and emus and kangaroos leave the dance area and come within inches of the captured faces. I look around. Everyone is smiling, but not as much as the kids. 

5:30PM - ZORBA - The Greek performers begin their singing and dancing. They appear to have both the oldest and youngest performers, and are no doubt the loudest.

6:10PM - DINNER - I am hungry, and get two kangaroo burgers from the Indigenous food stand. 

7:30PM - BOOGIE - All of a sudden there is a hundred people dancing to one of the most upbeat and funky bands I have ever heard. The lead singer is even coming down to the crowd and dancing with the little kids. They're Columbian, extremely charismatic and confident onstage, and I am certain everyone in the crowd has fallen in love with them.

8:45PM - PEOPLE STILL GOING - I am an enthusiastic dancer but I cannot dance without wine and cannot fathom how all of these people are still dancing and smiling and having fun as I'm tired and ready for bed. They've not even had any alcohol to fuel them.