GETTING THERE:  Early entry started from 8am, but being in no rush we joined the looooong convoy of cars round 9.30 (unlike the eager beavers rolling out round 4.30am!). It took us 10 minutes to do the first 10km out of Broken Hill and a further 4.5 hours the do the remaining 30k to Mundi Plains. A test for all our bladders- one of our party (me) could hold on no longer. With nowhere to hide I opted for loud and proud – opened the two side doors and tried  to position myself so I wouldn’t become you tube fodder. No  internet at the bash so Im yet to find our if I was successful or not.

In the spirit of ‘what happens on tour stays on tour’ the six of us (N, D, J,A, J&J) reflected on the highlights for our ‘bash’. Our thoughts below.

Number one by far- being together with family (Cuz’s and sibs) in this awesome location.- with all the usual ribbing that goes with it.  And yes Hax tribe – we did talk about all of you!!!

Number two:  participating in the world record breaking Nutbush with 6200 plus other souls. I do have to admit sustaining the Nutbush for 5.5 minutes isn’t as easy as it was in  my 20s but we stuck it out to the very last star jump (photographic evidence below)

Equal number 2 – the music. 

Three days straight of live performances and an absolutely fabulous line up. – mostly 80s bands.  Some of the all round favourites  were Icehouse and The Angels (who certainly still have their mojo), Furnace and the Fundamentals (who re-mix iconic hits into amazing medleys –  warning- leads to uncontrollable foot tapping, singing and random dance moves.

Number 3, just the sheer size of the event. Ten thousand people watching a concert under the outback sky is almost a spiritual experience, and the logistics and coordination required to get them there is hard to fathom.

GETTING OUT

For the Hax/Bennet sleeperinerers it only took us about  35 minutes to roll out to the main road (plus the two hours to pack up all our junk). For the super organised dawn risers (Jim and Janet) it took  approximately 5 hours. The moral is- sleep in and never do today what can be put off until tomorrow!

We are now sitting outside our tents at the Mr Gipps sheep station- 7000 sheep (black faced dorpers – a meat sheep that look like goats to us- but we didn’t want to offend the farmer). Just had our first shower in 6 days (or 7 for Andrew) and are now ready for bed (at the very late hour of 8.10!).