At some point it went from being an annual event to biennial, a wise move given the scale the festivities and the fact it was being run on mostly volunteer labour.

That means that prior to the weekend, there has only been one Outback Festival in the three and a half years I've been in North West Queensland.

And I missed that festival in September 2017 as I was away on annual leave.

I was keen to rectify that and attend at least some part of this year's festival.

So despite having travelled down to Sydney earlier in the week for News Media newspaper awards, I hopped in the car again on Friday and did the five hour trip down to Winton.

I was not disappointed. I love that almost wild west scenery 70km north of Winton, so beloved of film-makers and it is a nice entree for the town itself.

The Festival was already in full flow when I got there having started on Tuesday.

The main street - Elderslie St with its imposing art deco North Gregory Hotel front and centre - was closed off to traffic with a stage set up for music and other entertainment.

The North Gregory and the other pubs were doing good business and the award-winning Waltzing Matilda Centre was packed with visitors too.

The centrepiece of Friday's fun was the dunny derby and I only semi apologise for the deluge of "crap" puns I threw into my story on the event which ran on Tuesday's front page.

It was a lot of fun and an event like no other, quintessentially Australia. Teams went to great effort to dress up their loos for the race and wear imaginative costumes and the event even attracted international interest with Icelandic TV present.

It was clear the crowd loved the fun and pageantry. The derby was followed by a concert and there was more fun and concerts on the Saturday, though I needed to head home after the street parade.

It's no wonder Winton remains an Outback tourist mecca with some of the best festivals in the west.