While Australia’s party roster was savaged by some big name cancellations this year, there are still plenty of unique awesome music festivals to visit while you’re bouncing round Oz:
Splendor in the Grass (NSW)
Usually boasting the best line of acts, Splendour in the Grass is a three day muddy, musical mess in Byron Bay. It’s camping and heaps of stages for all tastes, from massive international stars, to smaller Aussie startups, and comedians in case you got lost and found yourself at a music festival. Some call it the best party in Oz.
Southbound Music Festival (WA)
“Splendour of the west,” they call it – and with a regularly impressive line up to match, it must be the pristine views to be taken in on the patch of land Southbound Music Festival calls home.
Let Them Eat Cake (VIC)
There’s no better way to start the New Year than on the opulent gardens of a mansion set in one of Melbourne’s leafier suburbs. Let Them Eat Cake is a NYD music festival that takes place in Werribee Mansion, a 40-room enclave that for one day plays host to a huge, majestic electronic garden party.
Strawberry Fields (VIC/NSW border)
Promising the “greatest weekend of your life,” Strawberry Fields promises you will gather new friends and old, leave the urban mundane behind, and get covered with a thick layer of dust that somehow also manages to line your throat.
Party in the Paddock (TAS)
Get as rollicking as the hills that surround Tasmania’s standout music festival, Party in the Paddock. Nestled the beautiful grand ravines of Tassie’s lush green surrounds, the absolute killer bonus: BYO alcohol. Go nuts responsibly, kids.
St Jerome’s Laneway Festival (VIC)
Laneway has now grown to a national festival, but travellers ought to come see experience the magic in the cramped lanes of its home city Melbourne. There’s nothing like the squeeze of a million other revellers to make you really appreciate music.
Festival of the Sun (NSW)
You came to Australia for the beaches and the sun, now you’re hunting out music festivals while you’re here – why not combine all three and come for the Festival of the Sun, a boutique 3000-limited party set in the picturesque surrounds of the Port Macquarie seaside. This one’s BYO as well.
Peninsula Picnic (VIC)
Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula recently won an award from National Geographic for its appeal to international tourists. It’s also a culinary delight, with Peninsula Picnic the most extensive food, wine and music festival ever presented on the Peninsula, combining gourmet food, wine and a chilled out soundtrack performed live by Australia’s best music acts.
Nannup Music Festival (WA)
Recently celebrating its 25th anniversary milestone, Nannup has celebrated a quarter of a century of musical, cultural, artistic and Indigenous celebrations over plenty of good times at this affordable family-friendly festival.
ConFest (NSW)
ConFest is a volunteer run non-profit music, arts, lifestyle and workshop event held in the bush of NSW, Australia that’s mostly known for the layers of mud the punters usually find themselves covered in while singing chants with incense. It’s that kind of festival, and it runs in summer and autumn.
All you need now is some ear plugs – but here in Oz, we call them ‘ear wooly wuzzauwuckers’.You can get them at any pharmacy simply by asking. (Just mind the drop bears.)
(Feature images: ‘Future Music Festival 2013’ by Eva Rinaldi available at flickr.com/photos/evarinaldiphotography under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.
