Gold Coast Oceanfest

Oceanfest is the center piece in the crown of the North Devon Festival. This year it was being held at Croyde over Friday, Saturday and Sunday. These photos are just a snap shot of what goes on. We went in on Friday night, Saturday daytime and Sunday evening. There was loads that we didn't see. For me, the best bit was sitting watching the bands with the sun on my face and a beer in my hand. Excellent! There are bands on stage almost constantly until late into the night.

The children enjoyed having a go at everything: climbing, trampolining, bouncy castle. On the beach you can try your hand at surfing with lessons for beginners, or just sit and enjoy the football, volleyball or other exhibition sports on show. There was an Aquathon, although I wasn't quite sure whether that was something you could join in with or just enjoy watching. And an event which involved paddling your surfboard from Croyde round to Saunton, the beach next door.

Friday is schools day with events laid on especially for the schools. It is also FREE! Of course it's free on the beach anyway, but Saturday and Sunday you have to pay to get into the field where the stage, the bike displays and the skateboards are. My advice would be to purchase your tickets online and go and pick them up on Friday. This will saving queuing as on Saturday you can then walk straight in - very satisfying and almost VIP-like to walk past all those people (and there were a lot of them) who hadn't pre-bought tickets!

Also inside the grounds are various stalls from skate and surf shops like Animal and Billabong, jewellery stalls, tents full of skateboards, canoes, etc. Then there is every kind of food van you could possibly imagine from your standard fish and chips, to pasta, mexican food, crepes, and cappucinos. Its also quite safe to let older ones go wandering. My eldest daughter founds some friends on Saturday and we didn't see her for hours, although she did throw the usual teenage strop when we made her come back so that we could go to the beach together.

A lot of the nearby fields were filled with campers, and some of these were locals (the aforementioned teenage daughters friends). Next year I think we might do the same. Then I can spend longer in front of the music stage, with my beer, and not have to worry about getting home!