National audience

‘‘Our team had such a good time here a couple of years ago that they wanted us to come back out,’’ Mr Kennedy said.

‘‘The team at Destination NSW and here at the Deni Ute Muster bent over backwards to be so accommodating, so we wanted to go a bit bigger this year.

‘‘We did three live crosses on Friday morning.

‘‘At one stage they paused the actual competition and did some circle work for us so we had a backdrop, so thank you to everyone watching who let us do that.’’

It was not only Studio 10 audiences who got a glimpse of the Ute Muster in action, with reports from Mr Kennedy also featuring on the Network 10’s 5pm and WIN News.

Another feature story on the event as a whole was aired yesterday.

Mr Kennedy, cameraman Owen Wynne and ‘satellite guy’ Blaed McKee all enjoyed their first Muster.

‘‘It’s been great; it’s my first Deni Ute Muster and has been on my bucket list as a country music fan,’’ Mr Kennedy said.

‘‘I wasn’t sure what to expect but I’ve got to say it’s been really good, everyone laughing and having a good time.

‘‘Everyone who’s been asked to have a chat has been more than helpful.’’

Mr Wynne said his perspective of the event was an interesting one, through the lens of his camera.

‘‘Everything here is my highlight,’’ he said.

‘‘The people are so cool and so receptive; everyone’s so lovely.

‘‘I just really love the circle work. I’d love to come back and enter next year, maybe get a Holden ute and get amongst the fun.

‘‘It’s a beautiful place to film; the landscape and colourful characters, you can’t beat that — it’s like a postcard.’’

Mr Kennedy said it seemed like the Studio 10 live Sydney audience also really enjoyed what they saw of the event.

‘‘One of the joys about Studio 10 is that we have a live audience, so I can hear them react to things as we are doing them. I could hear them clap and cheer,’’ he said.

‘‘We also did live segment (Friday) where I thought we were just going to have a chat to one whipcracker and instead they brought about 20 whipcrackers who did this impromptu performance of Mary Had A Little Lamb which our studio audience loved, and we got a lot of good feedback from that.

‘‘Getting that immediate reception has been good.

‘‘We’re also hearing from our editors that some of the pictures that we sent back have been really well received.

‘‘Our satellite guy Blaed has got some really great drone footage, the big crowds were just amazing.

‘‘Let’s hope we can get back for Ute Muster 2020!’’

Mr Wynne said the Deni Ute Muster would have to be among one of the best festivals they have ever covered, and encouraged more people to attend.

‘‘For those who are attending, it’s really special getting to meet a lot of like-minded people who might be a little isolated, who might have a lot of issues going through the drought, getting to come together to get their mind off it and have fun,’’ Mr Wynne said.

‘‘The reality is there’s a lot of people out there doing it tough and this is a great opportunity for people to let their hair down for a weekend and just forget about that’s going on at home.

‘‘On the flip side, we need people from the city to come out to regional New South Wales and this is a great opportunity to do it.’’