Blessed Coast: Triple Hippie Certified

Holy shit. I didn't think it would be possible, but I'm all hippied out. I am sitting in a pub in Vancouver, drinking beer and eating poutine while writing this. Loud music, sports on big screens. I needed this. To balance out the extremely airy fairy hippie weekend I just experienced. In Squamish, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been (think: 360 degrees mountain views, a rushing river of glacier water, eagles and black bears) hundreds of mostly naked people gathered for Blessed Coast festival.

The name says it all: hippie galore. I was there last year but didn't remember it to be so hippie. Like, too much. People yelling at each other: YOU ARE BLESSED! YOU ARE LOVED! I can't count on both hands how often I had to set intentions and realign my chakras. Thank goodness I wasn't the only sarcastic person there. I met another Belgian girl and a whole bunch of sceptics. Perfect. Most of the weekend was spent jamming in camp, laughing and inventing ways to describe what the hell was going on. Triple hippie certified food was being made: organic, vegan, nutfree. I was about to make stickers saying 'triple hippie certified' and sticking them on every single person at the festival. The stickers would be biodegradable and vegan friendly, of course. 

The craziest thing at the festival might actually be the fact that I did not dance at all. 90% of the time the music was spiritual, soft, with conscious lyrics and no beat to be found. So when the Light Twerkerz organised a twerkshop, I went all out. Upside down, on a bus, on the floor, in the air, you name it, I twerked it. Women would walk past the group of us twerking our lives away, saying: "this is not authentic". I explained them there is nothing more authentic than shaking your booty. The music turned into hiphop and while some people moved away from the stage because it was 'too intense', we danced until we had to run to the river to wash away the dusty sweat. "This is our night", we said," finally we will DANCE!" But the next act was yet again a band singing sweet songs of being blessed, gratitude and light. All freaking night. 

If you think all I did was twerking and making fun of hippies, you're wrong. I attended workshops, too. Like the church of reggae yoga, magical menstruation talk and breathwork where I actually had to leave after ten minutes because people were breathing so intensely they were letting go of demons, purging and having orgasms. By breathing. My god. 

My crew of sarcastic friends and I were so happy we found each other. That's what my Blessed Coast was all about: hanging out with friends, enjoying the gorgeous scenery and seeing the whole thing as a great camping trip with entertainment on the side. I had a blast, but if I wouldn't have found my awesome crew, I would be chain smoking and binge drinking by myself, just to keep me sane. Blame it on my crown chakra, it's out of alignment.

Please excuse me for my rant, but I promise you, it's a blessed one.

A thousand lives

When I was 13 I got myself a headfull of dreadlocks. I used to go on shopping trips to Brussels where I spent all my pocket money on long Indian skirts with shiny bells. In summer I would wear my dreads on top of my head like a pineapple, get a pair of big earrings and forget about shoes. I traveled everywhere in my mind, waiting for the day I was old enough to leave cold Belgium and go on endless adventures. Live a thousand lives and be absolutely free.

Ten years later I'm hitch-hiking around Australia and playing a different role every day. I just love telling stories. But it gets boring answering the same questions in every single car that picks me up. Where are you from? What do you do for a living? Some days I'm from Belgium, but on weekends I enjoy being a Scandinavian, South African or the princess of a place far far away, where they eat spaghetti for breakfast and pour champagne into raspberries and drink tiny sips at a time. Did you know I'm a professional belly dancer, helicopter pilot and the person who decides what the IKEA showrooms look like? I'm also a very good actor.

But most of the time I'm just a dreamer, living on love and coconut water. Always in search of hidden gems. Spending most of my time on the road, but once in a while bumping into a little piece of paradise. As soon as I set foot in Maleny, I knew I found a treasure. Surrounded by bright green rainforests and the stunning Glasshouse Mountains. Populated by beautiful hippies. Floating around, enjoying life in a commune named Crystal Waters. Moon goddess tea, bathing in the creek, kangaroos and dingos in the garden, tarot cards, sunbathing on the couch, glow in the dark mushrooms, full moon and a golden cardboard box filled with love stories.

Happy hippies

After a week of Melbourne I longed for less grey buildings and more ocean. During the flight to Byron I transformed from concrete loving city chick to hard core hippie. My awesome friend Gem picked me up from the airport in the moustached van and drove me straight to the beach. Salt in my nose and sand in my teeth. I needed this.

After a pesto party in a backyard full of Buddha statues, I jumped in Gems lovely green van named Salvador. Driving straight through Byron, we turned the music up and headed for Mullumbimby. The air felt fresh and the palmtrees were rising from the ground as we entered hippie capital Mullum.

Long skirts got dusted off, shoes were hidden from the planet and the balcony was filled with red velvet couches. All of a sudden I was living in a beautiful jungle house with three gorgeous girls. Days were spent cooking organic food, finding treasures at garage sales, reading old books, diving in the waves and doing yoga. When the moon started to shine and the mozzies went crazy, we would all fit under the mosquito net and talk love while drinking wine.

Living in a forest

Sometimes you will find yourself living in a tent in the middle of a forest and that's alright. You might want to spend all day (every day) in your comfy pants, boil rainwater to prepare food and dance to dub when it gets dark. You have to accept you are a hippie and you do smell like one. Whatever people say, it's okay to have koalas and snakes as your neighbours.

My problem is I didn't really care about the snakes and at one of the many unconcentrated moments while bushwalking, I nearly stepped on a very poisonous one. Raph yelled and I screamed and the snake just stared. I think there was a Joke-shaped whole in the sky after I took my highest jump ever. Quite a performance. You should have been there.

Peace, love and rainbows

I'll warn you before you read on: this one is about rainbows, animal love and the new Woodstock. We've become gypsies with hippy minds. We might look like normal backpackers hidden under a thick layer of dust and sun screen. But on the inside we are little girls, without any responsibilities, without life plans, but with the biggest smiles and a love for rainbows that's hard to explain. So you can imagine our ecstatic happiness when we were cruising on a boat along Milford Sound and witnessed A DOUBLE RAINBOW. Best day of my life.

We saw seals as well! Usually I'm not the biggest animal fan, but these guys were just so cool. Enjoying their lazy lives on a rock. Being all slimy and awesome. Like huge naked snails. Afterwards, when we traveled on the East Coast, we saw yellow eyed penguins and I decided to become an animal friend. And penguins are my bffs.

More on the hippy side of life, we went to a party in Queenstown (we went to a lot of parties in Queenstown) called Worldstock. Exactly, a tiny version of Woodstock in the World Bar. Dressed up like proper hippies (picnic blanket used as a skirt and eyeliner all over the place) we danced barefoot to live music. The place was covered in grass, long haired wigs and psychedelic decoration. We felt at home right away.