New York [US], August 23: It's taken troubadour Tom Busby and his family almost six months to wind their way to the Mundi Mundi Festival in outback NSW.
Busby, one half of Queensland duo Busby Marou, has been travelling Australia in a large caravan with his wife, Huma, and their Winifred, 10, Marigold, nine, Henrietta, seven, and Herbie, almost five.
After 20 years of hard work and stellar success with Busby Marou, Busby decided to take a break to focus on his solo career and spend time with his family.
They travelled to Austin, Texas, where he recorded his debut solo album, Rockhampton Hangover, with "one of my favourite artists of all time, Ben Kweller", on a ranch in Dripping Springs.
"My wife's from there, and so the kids hadn't even gone over to meet their grandparents or their cousins. She's Pakistani as well, so they got to experience that culture that they'd missed out on growing up," Busby said.
"So it was a combination of recording my dream album, but actually doing something very important for the kids and very healing for my wife.
"That was like two months on the road without us both working and leaving, constantly."
When they returned to Australia, something was missing.
"My wife was leaving for work, and I was like, 'this is not fun'," Busby said.
"We had this dream home, we thought it was supposed to be, and it's like it sucks. We don't get to spend any time together."
So the Busbys hit the road with a caravan that sleeps six - and dad's new solo album.
After winding their way from gig to gig, they're among the happy campers braving the red mud at this year's Mundi Mundi Bash.
"It's a good set-up, yeah," Busby told AAP.
"The big on-the-move caravan we've got - it's huge. It sleeps all of us.
"We've got a big drop-down bed and a big club lounge. It's so good"
Their campground neighbours include fellow wandering minstrel Kasey Chambers and her family, while Josh Teskey of the Teskey Brothers and his family are camped just down the road.
"We're sitting around sharing feeds. My daughters were singing with Kasey," Busby said.
The children, homeschooled on the road, have eagerly adapted to nomadic living.
In addition to singalongs around the campfire, Winifred and Marigold are sharing the stage with dad and entered this year's Mundi's Got Talent contest.
Busby said the family listed their Gold Coast home for sale on Thursday and while they're not done with van life yet, will eventually need to settle.
But for now at least, they couldn't feel any more at home than they do at the bash.
"There is something extremely encouraging about the positivity of the people that come out here," Busby said.
"I don't know whether it's because of where they are in their lives or whether it's this event's positivity, but it's like they just let everything go."
Busby Marou resume their 20 Years 20 Gigs tour in Townsville on August 28.
The Mundi Mundi Festival runs until Saturday with acts including Wendy Matthews and Tim Finn on Friday and Baby Animals and Jon Butler on Saturday.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
