Fourteen artists. Three stages. One beach. Two days of wind and sound on the southern edge of Tasmania, where the weather is the headliner and the kelp line is the front row.
Adventure Bay sits on the eastern shore of Bruny Island — a ninety-minute drive and a twelve-minute ferry from Hobart. The beach faces the Tasman Sea. In February the water is cold enough to remind you it's real and the light lasts until almost nine.
Saltspray started in 2019 as eighteen people around a fire pit with a borrowed PA. Written on a napkin at the Bruny Island Hotel, changed every year since. Capacity is 640, and we have never sold more than that. The site is a crescent of shell-grit sand backed by she-oaks and a car park that becomes a campground.
There is no VIP area. There is no app. There is one bar, run by Georgie Talbot since year two, and a water station at each stage. The wind comes from the south-southwest at roughly 25 knots. Plan accordingly.
Ambient / field recordings · Hobart
Long-form drone built from hydrophone captures of the Derwent. Plays barefoot.
Post-punk / shoegaze · Naarm / Melbourne
Two EPs on Poison City. Reviewed by Tiny Mix Tapes before they closed.
Polynesian psych-soul · Ōtautahi / Christchurch
Six-piece band. Three-part harmony. One trombone. No setlist.
Minimal techno / dub · Berlin via Launceston
Resident at OHM Berlin. Returns to Tassie every summer. Vinyl only.
Folk / fingerstyle guitar · Cygnet
Third album out on Thirty Tigers. Plays a 1974 Martin D-28. Lives eleven minutes from the site.
Noise / industrial · Nipaluna / Hobart
Duo. Feedback and a broken Korg MS-20. Bring earplugs. Not a suggestion.
Experimental jazz / piano · Osaka → Sydney
Solo piano sets that last exactly 40 minutes. Not a second more.
Surf rock / garage · Byron Bay
Four friends, one van, a surfboard rack. Played every coastal festival south of Coffs since 2021.
Electronic / AV performance · Hobart
Generative visuals synced to a modular rig. Requires total darkness. Sunset set.
Post-rock / crescendo · Meanjin / Brisbane
Three guitars, no vocals. Twelve-minute songs. Patient music for patient people.
Singer-songwriter / lo-fi · Devonport
Records on a Tascam 424. Two cassettes out on Hobart's Rough Skies label.
Roots / dub / reggae · Nipaluna / Hobart
Selector. Deep crates. Will play until the generator runs out.
Spoken word / poetry · lutruwita / Tasmania
palawa woman. Language reclamation through performance. Opening both days.
Country / Americana · Huon Valley
Married. Harmonies that make strangers cry. Pedal steel. Closing set, Saturday night.
Main stage · beachfront
Open-air stage on the sand, facing south. The PA points at the ocean. You stand in the shallows if you want to. Capacity: 400. Built from recycled wharf timber by Marcus Dean and his crew from Kettering, same as every year.
Second stage · in the trees
Tucked forty metres back from the sand into a stand of Allocasuarina. Natural amphitheatre. The trees act as diffusion. Intimate sets, acoustic-forward. Capacity: 120. BYO blanket. The ground is soft needles and bark.
Night stage · concrete shed
A decommissioned water-treatment building at the northern end of the car park. Concrete floor, no windows, one door. Electronic and noise acts after 9 pm. Capacity: 80. It gets loud. The walls sweat. You've been warned.
Gates open 11:00 · Last set ends 01:00
Gates open 10:00 · Last set ends 23:30
Set times are approximate. The wind, the tide, and the artists themselves will decide. We've learned not to fight it.
Hot-smoked ocean trout rolls, wallaby jerky, cured salmon on rye. All fish sourced from Andrew at Get Shucked, Bruny Island. Wood from the shed out back.
$12–$22
Wood-fired from a trailer. Sourdough base, 72-hour ferment. Toppings change daily. Last year it was leek, Bruny Island cheese, and honey. No pepperoni. Don't ask.
$16–$20
Vegan / vegetarian. Kelp noodle bowls, tempeh wraps, mushroom broth. All foraged and local. Run by Pip and Taro from South Hobart's Tuesday market.
$10–$18
One bar. Bruny Island Premium Cider on tap. Four local wines — two from Home Hill, two from Derwent Estate. Tasmanian whisky (Lark, Overeem). No cocktails. No blender.
$8–$16
Espresso from 7 am both days. Beans roasted by Villino in Hobart. Single origin, no flavoured syrups. Batch brew available after 2 pm when Tessa gets tired of pulling shots.
$4.50–$6
Free. Filtered. Refill station at each stage. Bring a bottle. We don't sell bottled water. We have never sold bottled water.
$0
Two-day pass only. No single-day tickets. No refunds. No transfers after January 31. We have never run a discount. The fare is the fare.
On sale December 1, 2024 at 9:00 am AEDT. 640 tickets total. Last year sold out in 11 days.
Buy Tickets →Drive south from Hobart on the Huon Highway. Turn off at Kettering for the Bruny Island ferry — runs every half hour, $39 return per car. The crossing is twelve minutes. From the ferry, follow Bruny Island Main Road south for 38 km. The turn-off to Adventure Bay is signposted. Follow the gravel for the last 600 metres.
There is no public transport to the site. We run a shuttle bus from the Kettering ferry terminal — $15 return, bookable with your ticket. The bus runs four times a day. Driver is Martin Clay. He has opinions about music. You will hear them.
Camping: flat ground behind the car park. Composting toilets. No showers — the ocean is right there. No generators, no amplified music at camp. Fires in the communal pit only. Firewood provided. Quiet hours from 1 am.
Saltspray takes place on the unceded lands of the Nuenonne people of the South East Nation. We pay our deepest respect to Elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded. This always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.