On paper, spending New Years’ Eve on a farm roughly half an hour’s drive from Geelong doesn’t seem like the smartest idea. Thoughts of gridlocked traffic, unpredictable weather (Melbourne’s summer – scorching heat one day, buckets of rain the next), limited to no mobile phone reception and polystyrene cups full of instant coffee don’t exactly warm the heart – but how about if that farm features performances from some of the best international acts around – think The Dandy Warhols, The Shins, The Zutons – and some of the most interesting homegrown talents of 2005 – The Grates, Wolfmother, Dallas Crane, Dappled Cities Fly et al. Now we’re talking!

Driving down to Lorne on the morning of December 30, we’re acutely aware that we missed the previous night’s festivities including a reportedly sublime performance from former Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown but are determined to see a wide variety of bands. Queues everywhere mean that the tent is not pitched until mid-afternoon, which means it’s time to stroll over to the festival’s small stage to check out Sydney indie kids Dappled Cities Fly. A smallish but loyal crowd of punters turn out to watch one of the country’s most underrated bands perform another near flawless set. A bunch of new tracks – slated for the follow-up to 2004 debut A Smile - fit in alongside oldies such as Peach and Die In Your Eyes and closer The Birds remains one of the finest local tracks in a while.

Back at the main stage, the heat has many lying under shaded tents to check out a strong set from Sarah Blasko - who dons a straw hat which at $5 from the festival’s market quickly becomes the most popular fashion item of the weekend – followed by local three-piece The Vasco Era who throw Kings of Leon and Radiohead covers into an hour-long set full of tracks from debut EP Miles and their forthcoming longplayer.

Choosing to take some food back to the tent rather than watch Pete Murray, we return in time to catch the “first every Australian show” by Liverpudlians The Zutons. All brightly coloured shirts, beaming faces (singer Dave McCabe gives a heartfelt “thanks for watching us!” after every couple of songs) and a fine selection of tracks from Who Killed The Zutons?, (including awesome singles Zuton Fever, Pressure Point and You Will You Won’t), the band were a highlight of the weekend.

But as the sun sets, Wolfmother hit the stage and my my, haven’t they grown up so quickly? All of a sudden the boys from Sydney have hit their niche, and they come across as one of the most powerful rock groups in the land. Thousands sprint down the hill towards the stage as frontman Andrew Stockdale – dressed in his now standard festival attire of black stovepipe jeans and a white vest, afro perfectly sculpted – bursts into Colossal. With only one album’s worth of material to draw from, the band skip through most of their album tracks with the likes of Woman, Apple Tree, Mind’s Eye and White Unicorn all already sounding like stadium fillers. If the band are nervous about playing in front of such a huge crowd, they’re not letting it show – although Stockdale’s banter is kept to a minimum, his rock poses come from a man comfortable on stage and obviously adoring the adulation from the drunk and sweaty throng. After closing with a rollicking version of Dimension, the band retreats backstage while the masses part and head for refreshments. In addition, Wolfmother leave the crowd with the most-used phrase of the following day: “did you see Wolfmother last night? Fucking awesome.”

So it’s a somewhat smaller yet equally as excited crowd that greets the Hoodoo Gurus, who tear through a greatest hits set and manage to blow away most of the bands on the stage who are half their age.

New Years’ Eve arrives with a dull thud after some uneasy sleeping, and an early morning visit to the festival’s market sees punters stocking up on sunglasses, t-shirts, cigarette cases and jewellery. A trip into the Big Top sees FL catch the tail end of 67 Special’s set, the electrifying rock too much for some to handle so early in the day. US visitor Kelley Stoltz’s mellow indie-folk is a more appropriate vibe, and the tent accordingly fills up with punters lying on beanbags.

A change in main stage programming (rumoured to be because instruments and equipment have been held up at Melbourne Airport after arriving from Tasmania overnight) means that bands are taking to the stage later than expected. End of Fashion take up the spot which should belong to The Grates, End of Fashion’s summery keyboard pop not interesting enough to drag us away from the shade of the tent and the blandness of an overpriced vegie burger. The eventual arrival of The Grates however has many running down to the front. The crowd reflects the band’s growing popularity, but their enthusiasm never wanes, front woman Patience frequently exclaiming “this is so awesome to be here!” Triple J favourites Message, Trampoline and Sukkafish go down well, while live staples including Howl, 19 20 20 and Feels Like Pain all serve as a timely call to arms for the band’s yet-to-be-released, eagerly anticipated debut album due in early 2006. This writer has been singing the band’s praises for a long time, and should the band be able to capture just some of their live energy and enthusiasm on record, it’s a given that the album will feature in many end of year best of lists. For good measure, Patience ends the set with a series of forward rolls across the stage, for no particular reason. They’re that good.

Afterwards, Evermore deliver their FM-friendly tunes to a large crowd while bluesy US visitors The Rolling Blackouts come across like the lovechild of The Black Keys and The White Stripes with a super enthusiastic drummer – a very welcome sound on a warm Saturday afternoon.

The Shins are more in Australia than just “that band out of Garden State.” This is reflected in the massive crowd that greets them, and the fact that they’re the first band of the day to get the crowd moving and the large water hoses turned on. Their cute indie pop goes down a treat, with an even mix of tracks from Oh, Inverted World and Chutes Too Narrow getting an airing. The hour long set is over too soon, a rocky rendition of So Says I closing the set and whetting the crowd’s appetite for some more rock – a desire to be sated by homegrown heroes Dallas Crane.

It’s been a big year for the ‘Crane – their tour with The Mess Hall and Young Heart Attack earlier in 2005 saw them play – and sell out – some of the largest venues of their career and an early ‘06 tour with Tim Rogers and the Temperance Union promises to be one of the finest local tours of the year. So it’s a homecoming of sorts that sees the band close the year with a show in their home state, and as they open up with Ladybird it’s clear that we’re in for a good time. Dave Larkin is an impeccable frontman, his humility apparent as he graciously thanks the crowd for their support. Tracks from the latest album slot in nicely, the likes of Iodine and Can’t Work You Out gathering enthusiastic responses along older tunes such as No Through Road (which sees a bagful of Dallas Crane branded beach balls unleashed upon the moshpit), culminating in Numb All Over and Dirty Hearts back to back.

Refreshments and food are sought out in the backstage tent while The Cat Empire do their novelty hip-hop thing on the main stage (though the sound of 15,000-odd punters bellowing “hello, hello!” still makes it backstage) before heading back out for The Dandy Warhols. Any fears that the band would indulge in some pretentious guitar noodling for an hour and a half are quashed when Courtney Taylor-Taylor – decked out in a sailor’s hat – and his bandmates stroll on stage and break into Ride. What follows is the ultimate Dandys crowd-pleasing set – from Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth, to a mammoth Boys Better, to Bohemian Like You, Godless, We Used To Be Friends and You Were The Last High (which is stopped by Taylor-Taylor 30 seconds in and re-started, for reasons unknown to much of the crowd). Falls organiser Simon Daly is invited on stage by the band a couple of minutes before midnight, and Daly in turn brings his parents on stage for a public thank you with their support of the festival. The countdown to midnight begins and as couples kiss, drunken shirtless boys jump up and down and everyone has a grin on their faces, the band burst out Get Off and the place goes positively nuts. Tracks from latest album Odditorium or Warlords of Mars are kept to a minimum (bar singles Smoke It, All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey as well as scant more) and the set comes across as a gigantic Triple J Hottest 100 compilation.

As the Dandys finish, everyone is left with the option of hanging around for US hip-hop band Ugly Duckling, or getting some sleep before the drive home in a few hours. We opt for the latter, and head back to the tent with sunburnt arms and feet. The tent barely survives the night as heavy, howling wind steals any items not hammered to the ground and threatens to kick the tent into our faces several times. But it stands, and as thousands unzip their doors to be greeted by pelting rain come the morning, the only thing on people’s minds is to leave the muddy farm behind and head for the bright lights of Melbourne et al. Everything gets thrown into the car boot and we head home via Colac, via Geelong, via the freeway to nurse hangovers and sunburn.

We’ll do it all again in 12 months.