BASSINTHEGRASS 3-day itinerary

Now in its 21st year, BASSINTHEGRASS brings the biggest names in contemporary music to Mindil Beach on Larrakia Country for a day of dead-set bangers under the baking tropical sun.

Viewed by Territorians as a rite-of-passage that’s more than a music festival, BASSINTHEGRASS continues to break crowd records as young visitors flood in from the colder capital cities of Australia seeking refuge from their dreary southern winters.

Kick off your trip to the Top End with breakfast at the Darwin Waterfront. Somewhere among the al fresco restaurants and casual cafés you’ll be able to find a good Bloody Mary with just enough pepper to get you fired up for the days ahead. Make sure you have your bathers on under that safari suit because you’re never too far from an opportunity to paddle, swim, or surf up here. Yes. We did say surf.

If diving into the deep end is your thing, your next stop has to be Crocosaurus Cove in the heart of Darwin’s CBD. Just a 15-minute walk from the Waterfront Precinct, here you will meet a fully-grown saltwater crocodile in a 200,000 litre aquarium filled with the natural fish and reptiles from around our Darwin’s unique ecosystem. There’s an experience called “the cage of death” where people willingly choose to swim with a big salty… but we’re sure the name is purely hyperbolic.

Keep your blood pumping in the afternoon with a jet ski tour of Darwin’s beautiful coastline. The ultimate form of marine personal transportation, the jet ski gives you unprecedented access to magnificent marine life, famous WWII wrecks, and even some sand between your toes on a deserted sandbar.

Rise and shine (and then hydrate) you’ve got a big day ahead. Depending on where you laid your head last night, getting to BASSINTHEGRASS will be a literal walk-in-the-park, or as easy as flashing your festival tickets at a bus driver for free public transport to Mindil Beach. While a coffee might do for breakfast normally, today is not a ‘normal’ day. An injection of B and C vitamins as well as protein and fibre will ensure you’re still jumping, and bumping, and scream-singing late into the night with the headline acts on stage. We suggest a big, icy, liquid breakfast with all the vitamin things from one of the many (and excellent) juice, acai, and salad haunts in the downtown area.

Remember to pack your ID if you’re looking to consume anything from the various bar areas dotted across the festival grounds and feel safe in the knowledge that free sunscreen is available on site. Armed with a marker to circle your must-see shows, the rest of your day is a choose-your-own adventure between the main stage, the beach markets, and the sunset and silent discos.

Those in the know will have signed up for the VIP version of BASSINTHEGRASS via La Coco. Billed as a sort of meta-festival, La Coco is an oasis within a festival with a cocktail bar, views of the stage, exclusive bathroom facilities, and $15 to spend at the Mindil Beach Sunset Market food stalls. With dinner sorted and plenty of hydration across the day, you’ll be holding down the fort and possibly holding your friend up on your shoulders late into the night.

Rise early. Or don’t. Either way it’s time for some peace and quiet and hydration of the whole-body kind. Drive 120km south-east of Darwin along sealed roads and plunge your delicate self into the waterholes at Litchfield National Park.

Float in lush waterholes and let your mind drift to the sound of misty waterfalls cascading over the Northern Territory’s famous, chiseled landscape. In contrast to the fashion-forward and downright weird and wonderful culture on display yesterday, Litchfield National Park will connect you to a sense of deep time and verdant bushland; a powerful and humbling experience just 60 minutes from Darwin.

Having done little else but bathe and make everyone back home hate-love your posts on socials, the best way to cap off the day is to head back to the Mindil Beach Sunset Market and tick off all the delicious things you saw yesterday but didn’t have time to taste. These markets are pure Darwin and feature a congregation of more than 200 vendors representing cultures ancient, modern, local, and from almost everywhere in the world. Mindil Beach Sunset Market is a place to eat and shop until you finally, and deservedly, drop.