9 Of Australia's Weirdest Festivals and Races

Australia’s dry sense of humour blossoms when anyone mentions festival and charity in the same sentence.

Here are some of the craziest ways that Aussies have found to raise money and/or community spirit.

1. The Parkes Elvis Festival

It’s not the subject of this festival so much as where it takes place that makes Parkes Elvis Festival unique.

Elvis impersonator in a car — The festival attracts 15,000-plus Elvis fans and voyeurs annually.

Imagine a sleepy country town almost five hours’ drive west of Sydney (population 10,000) inundated by 15,000-plus Elvis fans and voyeurs for a few days in one of the hottest months of the year – that’s why it’s one of Australia’s quirkiest events.

Elvis impersonators and crowds gather at the annua Street Parade in Parkes. — Elvis impersonators and crowds gather at the annual Street Parade in Parkes.

2. Henly-on-Todd Regatta, Alice Springs

This Alice Springs perennial has been going on so long that many Australians probably think it’s quite normal, but put this annual mockery of the UK’s terribly posh Henly Royal Regatta back into context and you see that it is unadulterated lunacy.

participants and spectators at the Henley on Todd Regatta in Alice Springs — It’s the most fun you can have without water. (Image: Tourism NT/Imparja Creative)

A boat race, where teams of participants (rowers) run down a dry, sandy riverbed, Fred Flintstone-style, carrying a mock-up yacht – and it’s held around 1500km from any body of water of any consequence. Ironically it was once cancelled due to bad weather – too much rain!

Henley on Todd Regatta — Henley-on-Todd Regatta is the world’s only dry river boating event in Alice Springs. (Image: Tourism NT/Imparja Creative)

3. Shitbox Rally

Quirky because it celebrates the underdog – in this case the clapped-out Australian car – and then proceeds to put it through a distinctly Australian torture test.

In the Redex-trail spirit, entrants in the Shitbox Rally must drive their under-$1500 ‘shitbox’ in one of three annual routes to raise money for the Cancer Council: Adelaide to Perth via the Northern Territory in autumn, Melbourne to Alice Springs passing through NSW and Queensland in winter, and Bendigo to Townsville with a dip over the border into South Australia en route in spring.

Every route features roads the cars would have struggled with even in their younger years, but of course, it only adds to the sense of adventure.

The quirky rally celebrates the underdog!

4. Tunarama

Our weirdness tends to swim upstream on Australia Day, so it’s no coincidence that the South Australian fishing city Port Lincoln holds its “world famous" Tunarama to coincide with it.

The festival celebrates all things relating to the city’s most lucrative fish resource, highlighted by, naturally, the World Championship Tuna Toss. The festival was cancelled in 2024 but will be resurrected under new ownership with some changes, likely to incorporate more of a focus on food and wine and local music. The iconic tuna toss is set to remain.

What’s weirder than the world-famous Tuna toss?

5. Boorowa’s Running of the Sheep

Not quite the gore and frenetic activity of the similarly named Running of the Bulls in Spain.

Boorowa streetscape — Farmers guide a flock of sheep down the town’s main street at the annual festival. (Image: Holly Bradford; Capital Country Tourism)

In fact, the pinnacle of the action is a farmer on a quadbike and some dogs guiding a flock of sheep down the town’s main street, which lies about an hour north of Canberra. It’s the grand finale of the Boorowa Hotel’s Irish Woolfest .

Sheep shearing in Boorowa, Capital Country — (Image: Holly Bradford; Capital Country Tourism)

6. Dunny Races

The dunny race surely embodies the pinnacle of Australian festival toilet humour.

The Sunshine Coast is home to the Great Australian Dunny Race. It started as an Australia Day race outside the Ettamogah Pub; the road transformed into a thunderbox drag strip with the athletes acting as human horses as they endeavour to pull their loo the quickest and be declared Dunny Race Champion of the World.

Now in its 34th year, the race is part of the Sunshine Coast Chilli & Chocolate Festival held annually in March with an entry fee that goes towards Mates in the Bush via Rural Aid. Other towns, such as Werribee, Victoria, and Quilton in Outback Queensland, have also dabbled in dunny races.

7. Maslin Beach Nude Games

Somewhat less patronised, but equally energetic is the primo sporting event on the South Australian nudists/naturalist’s sporting calendar.

The marquee events at the Pilwarren Maslin Beach Nude Games , held on the banks of the Murray River, are the three-legged race, the sack race and the tug of war. Unlike the competitors, clothes are optional for spectators at this summertime festival.

The event, which is currently on hold, has over 30 years of history and attracts over 300 participants annually. Hopefully, a resurrection is in the works.

8. Tully Golden Gumboot

Tully in Queensland scores the award for conjuring up the most obscure reason for a festival: celebrating its reputation for rain and being “a pretty wet place".

The symbol of this annual event, the Golden Gumboot, stands proud over a festival full of small-town energy with the mandatory float parade and, of course, gumboot throwing on the schedule.

The competition sees the Far North Queensland towns of Tully, Innisfail, and Babinda in Australia battle it out for the title of the wettest town in Australia with the winner of the competition awarded, rather fittingly, a rubber boot.

The Golden Gumboot in Tully Queensland — The township of Tully is home to the Golden Gumboot. (Image: Tourism Events Queensland)

9. Deni Ute Muster

A devastating drought in the late nineties inspired a small group of Deniliquin locals to start a rural-themed festival to bring visitors (and much-needed income) to the small country town. What followed was a mass gathering of ute devotees openly celebrating their sub-culture: bumper stickers, ‘circle work’, big, big aerials, and blue singlets.

The Deni Ute Muster now attracts over 20,000 people of all ages to the festival annually, with a mosaicked vintage ute and an erected ute on a pole two of the headline attractions.

TransmUTE is a celebration of arts and the ute culture in Deniliquin. — The mosaic vintage ute paints Deniliquin as the ute capital of the free world. (Image: Destination NSW)

The nightly concerts feature performances by Australian and International rock and country musicians (think Amy Shark, Kip Moore and Tyler Hubbard), and the day is full of entertainment for all ages.

Crowds enjoying the Deni Ute Muster — The evening entertainment features some of the country’s best musicians. (Image: Destination NSW)

There were 9,736 examples of the classic Aussie transport at the 2013 Deni Ute Muster , leading to claims that Deniliquin is indeed the ute capital of the free world.

Woman posing with three costumed kangaroos at the Deni Ute Muster 2015, Deniliquin. — The annual event attracts over 20,000 ute devotees. (Image: The Art of Zowie Photography)

A town charmingly paused in time has become a hot mountain biking destination.

There’s a forest reserve full of eucalyptus and pines surrounding town – when you combine all the greenery with a main street of grand old buildings still standing from the Victorian Gold Rush, Creswick looks more period movie set than a 21st-century town.

old gold bank Victoria — Grand buildings from the Victorian gold rush. (Image: Visit Victoria)

This entire region of Victoria – the Central Goldfields – is as pretty-as-a-picture, but there’s something extra-special about Creswick. I used to live 30 minutes north; I’d drive in some evenings to cruise its main street at dusk, and pretend I was travelling back in time.

It was sleepy back then, but that’s changed. Where I used to walk through its forest, now I’m hurtling down the state’s best new mountain bike trails. There’s a 60-kilometre network of mountain bike trails – dubbed Djuwang Baring – which make Creswick the state’s hottest new mountain biking destination.

Meet Victoria’s new mountain biking capital

Creswick bike trail — This historic town has become a mountain biking hotspot.

Victoria has a habit of turning quiet country towns into mountain biking hotspots. I was there in the mid-2000s when the tiny Otways village of Forrest embarked on an ambitious plan to save itself (after the death of its timber cutting industry) courtesy of some of the world’s best mountain bike trails. A screaming success it proved to be, and soon mountain bike trails began popping up all over Victoria.

I’m no expert, so I like that a lot of Creswick’s trails are as scenic as they are challenging. I prefer intermediate trails, such as Down Martuk, with its flowing berms and a view round every corner. Everyone from outright beginners to experts can be happy here. There’s trails that take me down technical rock sections with plenty of bumps. But there’s enough on offer to appeal to day-trippers, as much as hard-core mountain-bikers.

I love that the trails empty onto that grand old main street. There’s bars still standing from the Gold Rush of the 1850s I can refuel at. Like the award-winning Farmers Arms, not to be confused with the pub sharing its name in Daylesford. It’s stood since 1857. And The American Creswick built two years later, or Odessa Wine Bar, part of Leaver’s Hotel in an 1856-built former gold exchange bank.

The Woodlands is set on a large bushland property. (Image: Vanessa Smith Photography)

Creswick is also full of great cafes and restaurants, many of them set in the same old buildings that have stood for 170 years. So whether you’re here for the rush of the trails or the calm of town life, Creswick provides.

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

Inside the Woodlands, a chic 1970s log cabin. (Image: Vanessa Smith Photography)

RACV Goldfields Resort is a contemporary stay with a restaurant, swimming pool and golf course. The Woodlands in nearby Lal Lal comprises a chic log cabin set on a 16-hectare property abundant in native wildlife.

Eating there

Le Peche Gourmand makes for the perfect pitstop for carb and sugar-loading.

The menu at Odessa at Leaver’s Hotel includes some Thai-inspired fare. Fuel up for your ride on baguettes and pastries from French patisserie Le Peche Gourmand . The Farmers Arms has been a much-loved local institution since 1857.

Playing there

Creswick State Forest has a variety of hiking trails, including a section of the 210-kilometre-long Goldfields Track. Miss Northcotts Garden is a quaint garden store with tea room.

9 of Australia’s weirdest festivals and races