Surreal surrounds at the Big Red Bash

“Surreal”, my husband kept saying. Until we overheard someone describe the experience as bizarre. After that he kept saying it was “surreally bizarre”.

And there is no doubt it is strange, encouraging 10,000 people to pack up their 4WD and campers to make the long trek to the dust at the edge of the Simpson Desert to hear three days of loud music.

This July Chris and I, along with my brother and sister-in-law, joined the queue for the Big Red Bash, billed as the World’s Remotest Music Festival.

The most amazing thing about the Big Red Bash, apart from Big Red, the dune which overshadows the event, is its logistics. It’s held only 35k out of Birdsville, but Birdsville is a long way from anywhere – in our case 1400k from Townsville, but it’s 1600 from Brisbane. Even Mt Isa and Longreach are 700k away.

You need to provide your own accommodation, which means either a swag, a camper or a caravan. There is no power, and it’s the desert. It gets cold at night – cue the campfires.

^{Approaching the queue to enter the bash, which extended many kilometres back towards Birdsville.}

We took the two-day early entry option for 2022, along with about 60 per cent of the attendees. That meant a two-hour queue of vehicles to get into the campsite which rings the main arena.

The music acts were well varied – there was a little bit of country, a lot of last-century rock and some blues. Jimmy Barnes is the headline act, but Casey Chambers, Missy Higgins and ABBA tribute band Bjorn Again were my faves.

^{A bit of bash bling. The starting point up the dune can be seen in the background. This attractive dragster was a winner in the costume category for the second year in a row. His over-the-top headpiece was loved by the onlookers.}

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But the Bash is about more than the music.

There is the drag race – of the queen variety. Starting from the top of Big Red, almost 800 crazily dressed runners poured down the dune and through the throng of excited onlookers.

An air-guitar competition, sand-surfing on the dune, and a sucessful Guiness-world record attempt at having the most people doing The Nutbush at a time meant there was always something to see or do.

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A puff-inducing daily trek up Big Red was part of the experience, as was watching the sun go down behind it, silhouetting those on top of the dune, while the music blared on stage.

When you get to the top of Big Red, there is little to see except more dunes.

Overlooking the bash from the dune

Campsite to concert haul through the dust

Mark Gable

Early on, the dust isn’t so bad. But as more people pour in, and feet trample ever-deepening paths, the dust starts to hang like a permanent pall. Dusting the solar panels was a daily activity.

Leisure pants were the fashion must-have at the Bash this year

The trick to staying warm, don’t let any skin show once once you get into your sleeping bag

A campfire every night meant a warm warm-down after returning from the music

We were among the last to leave the Bash, and watched as the arena and campground slowly disappeared, once again becoming a parched, expansive plain framed by a big, red dune.

^{ABOVE: We spend a few nights at Lara Wetlands and then at Carnarvon Gorge on our way home to Townsville.}