Nimmitabel's Steampunk Festival filled with colourful characters despite snow

The festival, which took place over the weekend on May 6 and 7, included music performances, Victorian-inspired outdoor games, and great conversations with people accepted for who they are without judgement.

There was even a heavy fall of snow in the mix.

"Lost navigator" Sanjex Seratti stood wearing a burgundy leather shoulder and armpiece adorned with brass fittings, a telescope, lighter for fires, and a map that rolled out from a small brass tube. A top hat crowned his head, with goggles resting on the brim.

His machine and mode of transport was parked against a white picket fence; a racing green custom penny farthing, which held further wooden, brass and Victorian details.

"You can't beat a weekend of whips, chains and leather," he said with a laugh, as tea duelling mistress Billie stood in a corset next to him.

Tiffin mistress Billie and brew mistress Avril, who were both wearing large Victorian dresses, ran the Capital Tea Duelling competition where opponents, the duellers, sat across the table from one another.

"They receive a cup of tea, and then they can choose to add milk or sugar, either to taste of as a strategic decision. Because the milk cools the tea but increases the volume...and then the duellers choose their weapons. A biscuit," Billie said.

"They hold it above the tea and on the count of three they dunk it for a count of about five. Then they draw and hold it upright. The person who eats their biscuit last wins."

Under a marquee close by, Skav the engineer from the Airship Sirius was surrounded by weapons, fabric bags that hold tea duelling kits, top hats, goggles, and other leather and accessories.

"Most of these start life as nerf guns or similar dart blasters, some are just lights and sounds, but the majority will fire a foam dart of some description," said Skav.

"I do some work to them, add some details, paint them all up, personalise them and make them a bit more steampunk with cogs and filigree detailing."

Steampunk music sounded through an antique gramophone horn, children and adults laughed simultaneously as their faces held smiles while playing outdoor games in Sanjex Seratti's Vintage Wonders and Entertainment, Steampunk Taiko Drummers performed enchanting beats, Surly Griffin Morris Dancers jingled with bells, and bags had keychains saying "In Cog We Trust."

Presented by the Nimmitabel Chamber of Commerce, the Steampunk at Altitude Festival was something else, it was futuristic yet vintage, held the aesthetic qualities of the Victorian era with handmade details, some even learning how to forge and create leatherwork without the need for plastic, but with modern elements blended in a harmonious way.

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