The Big Red Bash music festival has started, with 8,000 people travelling to Birdsville on the edge of the Simpson Desert.
Rain in the days leading up the festival created challenges for organisers for the second year in a row.
Clear skies are forecast for the next couple of days but more wet weather is forecast towards the end of the week.
Unseasonal mid-winter rain has made for a soggy start to Australia's most remote music festival for the second year in a row.
Big Red Bash kicked off today just outside Birdsville — more than 1,500km west of Brisbane.
It doesn't take much rain to turn the red dirt roads of the region to mud, and 12.4 millimetres of rain on Sunday cost the festival a day of set-up time, according to founder and organiser Greg Donovan.
"It did rain pretty much on the exact same day last year … I think the odds of that must be a million to one," he said.
"Rain in the desert, it's really unusual in winter.
"Those sorts of challenges are just part and parcel with running a festival in the outdoors."
But with the sun now shining, the muddy ground has not dampened the spirits of those who have made the trek to the edge of the desert.
Leeanne Rotondo travelled from Ryde, just north of Sydney, to attend the festival for the first time.
She had planned on attending in previous years with her husband Nick, before he died in November last year.
"This year I know he can't make it, but we're doing it for him," she said.
Ms Rotondo said the trip was a chance to visit the remote music festival and tick that item off the bucket list.
Unconcerned with the weather forecast ahead, she'll be staying for the entire festival.
"There's no adventure without water," ...
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