Glastonbury 2011: Day 3 - From a Kiwi in the field

Glastonbury is a rollercoaster. A relentless, exhausting pit of doom one minute, a magical musical kingdom the next.

You can't really have one without the other. To reach the point where you're standing in a field on a perfectly sunny day, cold beer in hand, singing along to your favourite band in a prime spot - you need to put in some hard graft and the first mission is getting on site.

180,000 people descending on Worthy Farm in Somerset all at once can make this a slow process. Then there's the size of the place - 900 acres and the fact that you have to carry in everything you need.

This can sometimes mean walking for a good 45 minutes with heavy pack, tent, airbed etc to the campsite. Throw in some torrential rain and shin-deep mud and you have a recipe for grumpiness.

This Glastonbury, the mud and rain dominated all of Thursday and Friday. Bedraggled in a voluminous canary yellow poncho raincoat - gumboots and clothes destroyed by mud, there were certainly moments of wondering whether the effort was worth it.

But then the rain cleared and proper exploration of the site could begin. As well as the 16 or so music stages, Glastonbury is filled with all kinds of nooks and crannies. A tranquil area where you can relax in serene woods surrounded by hippies - Shangri-la, the futuristic "naughty corner" of performance - to art, a circus, cinema, kids entertainment area and other more secret areas.

This year at the top of the site, in a field called the Stone Circle, we found a very small Hobbiton-like place, accessed via a small tunnel.

Inside, was a Shakespearean style theatre with a band and a tiny bar where a black-toothed man who looked like he had been plucked out of the 15th century served Somerset cider.

The festival's big cheese, Michael Eavis turned up too, knocking back the peri ciders with gusto.

Sunday was super hot and sunny and in the evening Beyonce delivered what everyone said was a flawless performance of all her hits - I'll watch it on TV later.

Queens of the Stone Age were on at the same time, belting out a blistering and truly awesome set - plus I had the perfect view of the delightful Josh Homme in all his rock god glory - oh and a cold sauvignon.