Modifyre is the regional ‘burn’ event for Queensland. This year was the second it’s run and organisers were forced to find a new location at the last minute.
The result was a smaller-scale Australian Burning Man event with the extra novelty of flushing toilets and hot showers as the location was a campground near Lake Moogerah.
It was a beautiful venue with many local birds and a flowing creek under a spectacular rock-faced peak.
It must’ve been a blow to the organisers that their effigy for the burn was unable to be transported in time for the event.
The show went on but it was with some sacrifices, such as shortening to a three-day event.
One outcome of the adjusted schedule was holding a scaled-down effigy burn on Friday night and the Temple burn on Saturday night.
It was interesting to see Police visit the site on Saturday night and find the crowd hushed for a quiet burn. They seemed to take a quick look around and drove out again.
I had a great time at Modifyre and appreciate many aspects of their approach to burning. I’ve heard that the missing effigy was again a bug, this time a bee. The Temple was designed as a hive and the insect theme follows the butterfly from last year.
Both burns featured fire-twirling and again it looked amazing.
Seeing the effigy lit with a flamethrower also looked spectacular.
The Dirty Birds theme camp also had a flamethrower on the paddock, which was shaped to resemble a flamingo.
As for theme camps, Detox’s Third Aid signs were parked in the middle of quiet camping. The whiskey bar with ducks in the name was popular at the quiet end and The Wonky Queenslander were blasting in the top paddock with a bigger sound system and another great line-up of DJs.
My contribution to the event was a few shifts as a ranger and another thing I like about Modifyre is that they have roles for junior rangers, as my sons enjoy the opportunity to get involved.
I was also impressed with the ‘green card’ system for showing which campers were leaving without a trace. It was also a parting gift with the homemade paper of the card holding seeds for a native plant. I had a similar idea a while ago, so it seems brilliant to me.
Modifyre might have stumbled thanks to a local authority tripping up organisers but the result was still a successful burn.
