This unique festival has Nutbush, dress-ups and the best of Oz music

I’m watching Tim Finn give his all to I See Red, my favourite Split Enz track. In front of me, a crowd of revellers dance and shimmy, unified in their love of this classic hit.

The twist? I’m not at the steps of the Opera House or in the stands of a packed stadium. I’m in far-flung western NSW, with no reception, surrounded by flat, red desert that stretches to the horizon.

Nutbush and campers … the Mundi Mundi Bash crowd.

I’m on the Mundi Mundi Plains, 30 minutes from Broken Hill, the annual location of what I’d argue is Australia’s most unique music festival, the Mundi Mundi Bash.

Held each year in August, the Mundi Mundi Bash is not the kind of festival where you’ll find the latest TikTok-viral pop star or up-and-coming EDM artist. Instead of Gen Z crowds, I’m surrounded by an eclectic mix of grey nomads and adventurers, most of whom roll onto the site in decked-out campervans and filthy 4WDs with rooftop tents.

Yes, this is a music festival. But unlike most, the experience surpasses witnessing a stellar line-up of Australian talent. That line-up is worth mentioning, though. Consistently littered with big-name nostalgia, 2024’s edition included Australian Crawl’s James Reyne, Noiseworks’ Jon Stevens, Vanessa Amorosi, Ian Moss, and, of course, the aforementioned Tim Finn.

Tim Finn sees red.

Spending time at Mundi Mundi Bash quickly reveals the real reason the event has grown exponentially since it began in 2021, following the success of its sister event, the Big Red Bash, held in Birdsville in remote western Queensland.

Arrive one day before the music kicks off, and you’ll be met with a winding snake of caravans and campervans rolling into “Mundiville”, the name affectionately given to the temporary township that forms around the festival. Settling into small neighbourhoods complete with street names, the effect is a utopia where neighbours quickly become friends.

No shortage of things to do: the Mundi Undie Run.

This is largely because attendees consider the journey part of the experience. One scroll through the popular Facebook group “Travelling To Mundi Mundi Bash” (27,000 members and counting), and you’ll find travellers sharing complex caravan setups, asking for advice on travel routes to maximise their journeys, and announcing road hazards worth avoiding. With people driving from all over Australia, the Mundi Mundi Bash experience can start weeks before the event, and your rollicking journey there becomes a hot topic of conversation. I lost count of how often I was asked, “How did you get to the Bash?”

Vanessa Amorosi takes centre stage.

Even at the festival, the main stage is just one part of the experience. Stretching back for hundreds of metres is a wide semicircle of camping chairs, packed snack trolleys and punters coming together to enjoy the day, whatever that may look like. With the kind of idyllic community atmosphere you’d find in a fantasy commune, attending the Mundi Mundi Bash solo is not a lonely experience. I make several friends in the merchandise queue while swaying together to Daryl Braithwaite’s Horses, including three friends in their 60s who have made the pilgrimage to the bash every year since 2022. “We all live in different cities now,” one woman explains, her breath hot in my ear as she yells over the music. “It’s a great excuse to come together.”

Going nuts to break a Nutbush record.

This sense of community is fuelled by an extensive line-up of activities that don’t involve the music stage. There’s an attempt to break the Nutbush line-dance world record, a yearly occurrence where rows of boot-clad fans dance to Tina Turner’s iconic Nutbush City Limits (the record has passed between Mundi Mundi Bash and Big Red Bash for years). At the Mundi Undi Run, 1500 attendees race in their underwear to raise funds for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Under a large canopy to protect from the soaring desert temperatures, kids and amateur artists paint portable toilet doors (“Dunny Door Painting”). Back at the campsites, old friends catch up, caravans parked back-to-back, and new friends are made around crackling campfires that dot the landscape as night falls.

People love Mundi Mundi so much they co-ordinate milestone events around it, like Rob, who chose to celebrate his 70th birthday with friends and family at the festival, complete with professionally made birthday shirts. “My local butcher did the graphics,” he tells me, showing off the cartoon design on a checked shirt. I spot three others in Rob’s party nearby, but when I ask Rob for a photo, a further 20 pop up throughout the seating area, like rabbits from burrows. This is a common sight at Mundi Mundi. From lurid Hawaiian shirts to colourful beanies, big groups celebrating together roam the festival, clearly identifiable by their creative communal outfits.

Beauty and the bash … red skies over the camp site on the edge of the desert.

The long snake of caravans forms again when the festival wraps as travellers head to their next destination. Many will stick around in Broken Hill, exploring the historic mining town at the edge of the Australian desert. Others will take the opportunity to cross the border to South Australia. Then the Mundi Mundi Plains returns to its quiet, barren existence for another year.

THE DETAILS

Visit

The 2025 Mundi Mundi Bash runs from August 21 to 25, with tickets from $759 a person. Tickets cover entry to the three-day festival, plus on-site camping for up to seven nights, depending on which vehicle entry pass you buy. If travelling with a vehicle, you will also need to purchase a vehicle entry pass.

Drive

Most attendees drive to the festival, which is about 1000 kilometres from Sydney, 750 kilometres from Melbourne, 420 kilometres from Adelaide and 1235 kilometres from Brisbane. Road conditions are suitable for 2WD vehicles, but it’s always worth checking Live Traffic NSW, as recent rains can cause flooding. Broken Hill is also accessible by bus, train and plane, and there is a transfer bus that runs between Broken Hill and the Mundi Mundi Bash for non-camping attendees for $45 return per day.

Stay

Camping is available for caravans, campervans and tents and included in your ticket cost. If you are planning to drive into the festival daily or use the transfer bus, Broken Hill has plenty of accommodation options. See visitbrokenhill.com

More

mundimundibash.com.au

This writer attended the 2024 event as a guest of the Mundi Mundi Bash.