Leaving home can be hard to do. After five days of radical self-everything it’s time to pack up and prepare for the exodus from Kiwiburn. Here’s Nicola’s handy run-down to make sure you are prepared.
While most of us spend our year thinking about what we’re going to bring to the Paddock, we’d like to take a moment to talk about how you’re going to leave the Paddock (distressing, we know).
The best time to plan for Exodus is when you plan what you’re bringing to Kiwiburn. So here’s a few things to think about to make your Exodus a bit smoother, and hopefully give you time to spend those final hours enjoying the Paddock.
Communal Effort: Share yo’ ride
If you need a ride and you haven’t hit the rideshare page before Kiwiburn to sort out your ride home, you can sort it out on the Paddock! Keep an eye out for a big whiteboard by Depot or the Town Hall – in the last days of the burn, this will turn into a magical rideshare board where people with seats and people needing seats can find seats. Yay!
Just say no: Leave No Trace
Kiwiburn is a leave no trace event. This is more than just taking our tents and rubbish behind. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavour, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.
Leaving No Trace starts with MOOP. Read up on MOOP and how you can keep the Paddock tidy during the event so you have less to do on packup (long story short: if it sheds, avoid. Bring things that make less rubbish. Take your MOOP with you – theme camps and toilets are not rubbish bins). Just because it’s organic, doesn’t mean it isn’t MOOP. If the food scraps and wood weren’t there when you arrived, they should be going home with you (if there were food scraps when you got there, ew. Maybe you want take them home anyway so they’re not there next time?).
If you want to de-MOOP like a pro, here’s a few other things you may want to do:
- Bring recycling bins or bags so you can pre-sort your rubbish.
- It can rain on pack-up day. A roll of rubbish bags or a set of plastic boxes can make the ride home less stinky.
- Keep a box aside during packup to collect things for Collexodus (see below).
- Do a final MOOP check of your site. Anything left? A rogue tent peg in the grass? String? Take it with you.
Need any more incentive to put your adult pants on? Our clean-up crew will be making a MOOP map. And if your site is on it, this may result in a stern talking to, public shaming, and/or affect your theme camp placement in future years. We don’t want our pristine paddock looking like some other festivals…
When it’s over, it’s over: leave on time
Kiwiburn is held on private land. No participants are allowed to remain on site after the event unless they are part of clean-up crew. Check the end time for the event, and make sure you’re packed up and on the road before then. Adhering to these rules is essential to our relationship with the landowners, and our ability to run Kiwiburn every year.
If you want to keep camping, have a look at campsites in the area, like Vinegar Hill or Mangaweka Camping Ground.
Love thy neighbour: recycling and waste disposal
You must dispose of your waste properly. Ideally, we’d recommend taking your waste home. But if you’re looking to drop off your rubbish and recycling, there are landfill/recycling sites in Hunterville, Marton, Bulls, and Taihape – but you’ll need to be quick! These are usually only open in the morning. Check out the hours here. A charge is made for waste disposal.
Collexodus
No, it’s not a cult, it’s just MPW (Ministry of Public Works). Our infrastructure and clean-up crew. These are the fabulous volunteers who set up and pack down the community infrastructure, clean up burn scars, and do a final MOOP check on site. They do this because they’re awesome, like Santa. And just like Santa, they love it when you leave them goodies. So if you’ve got food that’s still good to eat, beverages you can’t take on the plane, or you just want to recognise the superb work MPW do every year, you’ll find volunteers on the road out of Kiwiburn who will be taking a collections.
So spare a thought for these hard-working maniacs who delight in doing shit work in the hot sun for no pay for weeks every year just to make sure the festival can actually happen. When you’re packing up your camp, set aside any unopened food or beverages you no longer need, having shed your earthly attachments like a phoenix at the burn. MPW especially appreciate donations of tasty food in good condition as well as beers and spirits to help them carry on through the long lonely hours when you’re no longer gracing the Paddock with your presence.
