The events that earn a permanent place in your year
Kyle Reid and Lauren were both 18 when they first started going to the Deni Ute Muster, each with their own group of friends.
Despite living just 20 minutes apart back home, it wasn’t until the 2007 Muster — a couple of years into their separate annual trips — that they met. They’ve returned together almost every year since.
Back then, it was all about the utes. They camped in the Feral Ute Paddock and threw themselves into the weekend from jelly wrestling to joining the world-record singlet count. There was even dancing on the back of a ute for country star Lee Kernaghan’s music video.
Over time, the annual weekend with mates turned into a family tradition.
These days, they’ve swapped the Ute Paddock for a caravan in the family-friendly Edward River Flat section, alongside families they recognise from year to year. Their seven-year-old daughter, Deni, who’s named after the place where it all began, is heading to her fifth Muster this year. She enters her child-sized pink ute in the kids’ ute competition and calls it “her Ute Muster”.
An annual event gives you a ready-made reason to put a Murray holiday in the calendar. Pick your weekend, round up your people and make it yours year after year, whether it’s music festivals in Echuca Moama, the Deni Ute Muster, desert racing at Hattah or country race days in Wakool.
Take the quiz to find a Murray holiday worth making a regular thing.
