Meredith Music Festival 2026: Dates, Lineup, Tickets and Travel Guide

Meredith Music Festival 2026, the 34th edition, runs from Friday 11 December to Sunday 13 December 2026 at the Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre in the Shire of Golden Plains, Victoria ^{1 20}. That makes three days and two nights of camping, with the stage set in a grove of giant gum trees and a natural bowl rising around it ^{1 20}.

Gates open from 8am on Friday and close at 4:30pm on Sunday, and there is no camping on Sunday night, so Sunday afternoon is a packing-up deadline as much as a party ¹⁰. Roadblocks go up on Thursday night, which means arriving in the small hours of Friday gains you nothing, because you cannot camp on the side of the road ¹⁰.

Meredith Music Festival 2026 sits in the usual slot: the festival is held in December, on the first or second weekend, and it first ran in 1991 as a self-funded, non-commercial event ¹⁹. It was not held in 2020 or 2021 because of COVID-19 ¹⁹. The same site later gave rise to Golden Plains, which runs over the Labour Day long weekend in March ¹⁹.

The dates at a glance:

• Friday 11 December 2026: gates open from 8am, Supernatural Express buses from Melbourne run from 7am ^{10 8}

• Saturday 12 December 2026: the full day of music, with the Pink Flamingo Bar open from 8am ¹⁶

• Sunday 13 December 2026: the Meredith Gift at about 2pm and gates closing at 4:30pm ^{14 10}

Tip: Treat 8am Friday as the earliest useful arrival. Thursday night roadblocks mean an overnight wait on the verge does not work, so book your bus or your Geelong or Ballarat bed for Thursday instead ¹⁰.

Meredith sells most of its tickets through the Subscriber Ticket Ballot, and the 34th edition is now sold out ^{2 1}. There is only one type of ticket, and it covers Friday, Saturday and Sunday; the wristband is the ticket, so keep it on at all times while you are at the Sup' ^{2 12}.

The ballot has used the same logic since 2007, and for Meredith 34 it ran in two rounds, one in mid-August and one a week later ³. The first round was open only to existing subscribers, the second to new and existing subscribers, and anyone not drawn in round one was entered into round two automatically ³. If you were drawn, a unique alphanumeric Meredith Key arrived by email and could be used once, within a window of 5 or 6 days ³. Each entry can buy up to 3 tickets, paid by Visa or Mastercard only ³.

Online sales follow the ballot, with a limit of 3 tickets per customer and a minimum age of 18 unless you are with a legal guardian ⁴. Ballot and online tickets are mailed from around mid-November, which is why a bus QR code, not a wristband, is the only paperwork you carry on the way in ^{2 8}.

The ticket price covers camping, parking and BYO, and the organiser's press line describes the festival as the same size and shape as before ²⁰. The ticket pages quoted here print no dollar figure, so check the official ticketing page for the price at the next release.

What to do now that it has sold out:

• Join Aunty's Waitlist through the official "Buying or Selling Your Ticket" page ^{2 1}Use Aunty's Ticket Resale Service, which handles returns from people who cannot attend ²

• Watch for Aunty's Last Chance, a small release with applications open for a very short time ²

Tip: Buy only through the organiser's own waitlist and resale service. Because each wristband is a single three-day pass with no day tickets, an unofficial seller cannot split one for you ².

The Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre lies about 13 km along Meredith-Mount Mercer Road from the town of Meredith, roughly 90 km due west of Melbourne, at 37°50′48″S 143°55′55″E ^{6 19}. The town sits on the Midland Highway (A300) about 40 km from both Geelong and Ballarat ⁶.

By car from Melbourne for Meredith Music Festival 2026, take the Princes Freeway (M1) toward Geelong, keep right onto the Geelong Bypass, leave at the Ballarat exit (A300) after about 10 km, and drive about 40 km along the Midland Highway to Meredith before turning onto Meredith-Mount Mercer Road ⁶. The drive from the Melbourne CBD takes 110 minutes in light traffic, but the organiser says to allow up to 3.5 hours on the Friday ^{6 7}. First-day estimates are 2 hours from Geelong or Ballarat, 2.5 hours from Avalon Airport and 3.5 hours from Melbourne Airport ⁷.

Your options without a car:

• Supernatural Express from Southern Cross Station, Bay 56: AUD 50 each way, about 2 hours, first bus 7am on Friday 11 December ⁸

• Thornbury Supernatural Express: AUD 50 each way, about 2.5 hours, first bus 6:30am ⁸

• Geelong or Ballarat Supernatural Express: AUD 25 each way, about 45 minutes, leaving at 8am ⁸

• V/Line train to Geelong (about 1 hour), bus to Meredith Town (about 40 minutes), then a free shuttle of about 20 minutes ⁹

Sunday buses run from the Reception Bus Stop, with Melbourne departures from 10am to 4pm, and the organiser suggests adding 30 minutes for traffic ⁸. Online bus sales close at 9pm on Saturday ⁸.

Tip: Luggage is limited to one bag, one tent and one cooler with no ice on the Express, so pack a swag that fits a car boot, not a double ⁸.

A Meredith weekend starts when the gates open at 8am on Friday and ends when they close at 4:30pm on Sunday, with the music built around the one stage in the Amphitheatre ¹⁰. The lineup for Meredith 34 has 28 acts, announced in August, and the organiser's blurbs place several of them on specific days ¹.

On the lineup page, Fat Dog is listed for Friday night, Hiatus Kaiyote for Saturday at sunset, and underscores and Fcukers for Saturday night ¹. D Train and Mondo Freaks, Twisted Teens and Killing Heidi are tagged for Saturday arvo, while DJ Seinfeld plays the post-Sky Show party ¹.

The Meredith Gift is the fixed point of the weekend. It is a free footrace in the Amphitheatre where entrants must be nude or wearing as little as they feel comfortable in, with registration from 1:30pm and the race at about 2pm on Sunday 13 December 2026 ¹⁴. Since 2025 entrants can run, walk, hop or tumble, there are three heats, and golden robes go to the Speediest, Best Finish and Best in Show ¹⁴. It began in 1993 when a band arrived late on a Sunday and organisers improvised a race with cold beer as the prize ¹⁴. Racing spikes and carbon-plated shoes are banned ¹⁴.

Between sets there is plenty to do:

• Pink Flamingo Bar: Friday 2pm to 3am, Saturday 8am to 4:30am, Sunday 8am to 2pm, cocktails only, card or tap payment ¹⁶

• Ecoplex Cinema in Bush Camp: a 6m x 6m screen between two old eucalypts, 16mm projection from a 1978 Jayco caravan, Friday and Saturday from 9pm ¹⁷

• Bloody Meredith at the Pink Flamingo, a Sunday-morning cocktail with a roast chicken in the recipe ¹⁶

Tip: At the Ecoplex many films are shorts, so you can sit on a log for a short or long while without timing your arrival to a feature ¹⁷.

December nights near Meredith drop to a mean minimum of 9.4°C, while the mean maximum is 23.4°C, according to the Ballarat Aerodrome climate table, a long-term station near Ballarat at 435 m elevation ¹⁸. December averages 46.2 mm of rain over 10.4 rain days, and the record high is 43.5°C, so a weekend can swing from cold nights to extreme heat ¹⁸.

The organiser echoes the swing: nights get very cold even when days are hot, and the Meredith Music Festival 2026 site is under a total fire ban all day and night, which covers campfires, flares, sparklers, candles and smoke machines ^{12 13}. If the weather turns, rain-ready kit matters more than a second outfit, because the organiser advises gumboots when rain is likely ¹².

What to pack, based on the organiser's own list:

• Waterproof boots or gumboots and plenty of socks, because thongs and sandals do not work ¹²

• A hooded waterproof raincoat plus warm, waterproof layers for the night ¹²

• Sleeping bag, camping mattress, long tent pegs, a mallet and a tarp or mesh ground sheet ¹²

• A torch or headlamp with fresh batteries ¹²

• Photo ID, which is required even for older attendees ¹²

• Sunglasses, a hat, sunscreen, long sleeves and long pants ¹²

• Earplugs and an eye mask for camp noise ¹²

• A refillable non-glass bottle, since free drinking water is available at all campgrounds and the Amphitheatre ¹²

Leave baby wipes at home, as the organiser asks, and decant sauces from glass jars into reusable containers ^{12 13}.

Tip: Tents must be waterproof and in good repair, and shade structures, pergolas and tarp structures are allowed in campgrounds but not in the Amphitheatre where they block views ^{12 13}.

You cannot reserve a campsite at Meredith: pitches are first come, first served, and the organiser's phrase is "first in best camped" ¹². Arrive in a convoy if you want to camp with friends, and you can park your car beside your tent, which is how most people set up ^{12 11}.

The site has several campgrounds. Top Camp sits at the back of the Amphitheatre near the Pink Flamingo Bar and the International Food Court, while Bush Camp holds the Ecoplex Cinema in a corner known as Africa ^{16 17}. Caravans and motorhomes are welcome, and gear hire can be booked in advance with pick-up and return on site ¹².

Four timing rules decide your first hour:

• Gates open from 8am Friday, and Thursday night roadblocks block early arrivals ¹⁰

• Late-arrival car parks at N9 and S10 open at 6pm on the first day, and Reception directs you there after that time ¹¹

• Anyone who may need to leave early should use the Public Parking area near Reception, grid reference i8 ¹¹

• There is no camping on Sunday night ¹⁰

Off-site, Geelong and Ballarat are the practical bases, because both sit about 40 km from Meredith along the Midland Highway and both have their own Supernatural Express services on Friday morning and Sunday afternoon ^{6 8}. The Geelong buses leave at 8am and 11am from Fenwick Street opposite the train station, and the Ballarat bus leaves at 8am from Lydiard Street North ⁸. A bed in either city also gives you somewhere to shower before the long Sunday trip home.

Tip: Speed limit on site is 5km/h, roughly walking pace, and free breath testing runs all weekend next to the Ferris wheel ¹¹.

Both major mobile providers cover the Meredith site, but the organiser warns that coverage may be patchy on festival weekend ¹². A public phone is available in Meredith town, and phone charging is offered at the booth to the left of the main Community Tucker Tent building ¹².

For Meredith Music Festival 2026 the sensible plan is to treat the phone as a tool you ration. Before the Supernatural Express leaves Southern Cross Station on 11 December 2026, download the QR code, the official directions and the Sunday return times ^{8 6}. A short-term Australia eSIM can be installed at home before you fly, so the data plan is active when you land and not queued behind everyone else on a festival-weekend network ¹².

Money works the same way. Many places are card only, including all bars, the showers, Heaven Eleven and the Gift Shoppe, while the Community Tucker Tent, massage and some food vendors take card and cash ¹². There is no ATM on site, so bring cash only if you plan to use it ¹².

Rules to keep your phone out of trouble:

• Photography with detachable-lens cameras needs written approval, and drones are banned before, during and after the weekend ¹³

• AI glasses are banned unless used for accessibility ¹³

• Under-18s carry a signed Legal Guardian Consent Form, so keep a photo of it on your phone ⁵

• Take photo ID, because it is required and a copy on a dead phone does not help ¹²

Tip: Keep a power bank in your day bag, and check the lithium battery guidelines the organiser links for power banks before packing one ¹².