A music festival at Ahipara at the weekend aimed to raise awareness of the oil exploration currently under way off Northland's west coast.
While the crowd fell well short of the 2000 people organisers Rueben Taipari Porter and Heeni Hoterene had hoped for, Mr Porter said everyone who attended Saturday's Stopstatoil Festival at the Kohanga/Shipwreck Bay campground went home happy.
![Herbs, House of Shem (pictured) and NRG Rising at the festival.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/RJ5Y7PSYIHN7G2LMOAY67KLR4E.jpg?auth=f35de9e0a3fc306d0ff148b171af90bd1d4861795faf9b87737e5e8024ebe01f&width=16&height=13&quality=70&smart=true)
The event was timed to coincide with the start of seismic testing about 100km offshore by the Norwegian company TGS on behalf of Statoil, another Norwegian firm which last year won a tender to explore about 10,000sq km of seabed in the Reinga Basin.
Mr Porter said the drug- and alcohol-free festival was part of a switch from fighting the oil company's plans with submissions to raising awareness among ordinary Kiwis.