Inside rock-mad family's chaotic 7,300-mile trek to Download Festival

14 June 2024 , 11:44

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Heavy-metal fans have flown thousands of miles to the UK to attend (Image: Getty Images)

A rock festival attracting more than 100,000 guests and big names like Slipknot and Metallica has seen fans travel thousands of miles across the world attend.

The Download Festival is held annually at the Donington Park in Leicestershire, England, but amongst its visitors are heavy-metal fans flying in from the US, and one family who trekked 7,300 miles (11,765km) from a remote mountain in Indonesia to attend this year's event.

Daniel and Carina and their children Leroy, nine, and Darcy, two, set off on Monday and travelled by plane, train and a military tank to arrive in time for the festival on June 14.

They live 6,000ft (1,828m) up a mountain in the Indonesian gold-mining town of Tembagapura, and said they arrived tired but excited - with their two young children among the 75,000 metalheads due to descend on Donington Park in Leicestershire this afternoon.

The family travelled from a mountain in Tembagapura, Indonesia (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Dad Daniel, who works as an Australian miner, said: "We're glad to be here but we're knackered. We live up in the middle of nowhere. It's a cagey spot. There's all sorts of tribal warfare going on so the first three or four hours was a ride down the mountain in an armoured vehicle."

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Once they were down, they took a first flight to Indonesia's capital Jakarta and a second 10-hour flight from Doha, Qatar to London Gatwick. Daniel, 35, added: "It's been a bit of a blur. For some reason we thought it was a good idea to catch a train from London [to Nottingham] in the rush hour. It was crazy.

"Luckily there was a plain-clothed policeman who was kind enough to guide us where we needed to go. We always wanted to do a European festival and it aligned with Leroy's school holidays - so we thought why not?"

Up to 130,000 people descended on Donington Park last year (Getty Images)

Their two-year-old daughter Darcy took a nap on the floor of an armoured bus as the family rode down the mountain in Indonesia. Mum Carina, 35, said: "It's been quite a trip but I'm a big heavy metal fan so it was an easy sell for me."

The family, who kept two days free to go sightseeing in London, stayed in Nottingham and will head to the festival this afternoon. They are especially excited to see Silverstein and Corey Taylor perform.

Leroy, nine, said he wanted to see US metalcore outfit Bad Omens, but they stood down from the event last month. He said: "I'm a bit disappointed about that, but I'm still looking forward to it."

Zahra Khaliq