Oktoberfest

A group of 10 of us flew in to Munich at various times on the Friday. Myself and 3 of the lads got in early and headed straight to a pub to join a strong Victorian contingent watching the Pies v Hawks prelim final. After lunch, beers and a bloody good game of AFL we headed for the fest via the impressive Munich underground tube. We walked out into the biggest party Ive ever seen! Its like the royal show for beer. World class roller coasters and rides surround the warehouse sized beer tents. The event fills up with up to 60,000 people per day.

dee-bag stealing much needed sunnies in the bright German sun

We were extremely lucky with the weather (as the first weekend was wet) and enjoyed an outdoor beer garden for our first steins. It is very easy to get lost from each other in the walkways at the fest and we all spent the first night meeting up and loosing each other but all made it to bed eventually and passed out on our pillows. The girls had arrived Friday evening so our whole gang headed straight back into the fest in the Saturday AM. The rest of the day and night were spent in another beer garden drinking lots, eating the odd pork knuckle (an amazing crackle surrounded piece of Oinky loveliness) and dancing into the night on tables. Sunday was much of the same fun except thanks to the wonderful roommate Dee-bag, we got a table in the impressive Hofbrau tent. 16 hours of sing along songs, more beer & pork and some characters to remember throughout the day and night.

Hofbrau tent

Very fun coaster

the 440 festers - Jamie, Ben, Dee, me.

Top 5 votes have got to be:

5) Nikki for going from sitting quietly all day to suddenly dominating the table dancing

4) Benny eating a juicy German pickle

3) Jamie for getting so drunk that he fell out of a bumper car whilst driving it. According to him he has "never know fear until he stood in the middle of an active bumper car session"

2) Dee-bag for skulling a pint and putting up with the resulting Italian attention

1) Willow for destroying 3 steins in single gulps. Fastest in the whole tent by a margin.

WELL DONE LUMBERJACK!

All in all a great party on a massive scale! Monday travels back to North London pretty much finished us and our melting brains off.

Great FEST! - MAH