Family makes epic 7,300-mile trip to rock festival

A family of heavy metal fans have made a 7,300 mile (11,765km) journey from Indonesia on planes, trains and an armoured bus to get to the Download Festival.

Daniel and Carina began their rock odyssey at home, 6,000ft (1,828m) up a mountain in the Indonesian gold-mining town of Tembagapura, on Monday.

They arrived, tired but excited, with their sons Leroy, nine, and Darcy, two, on Thursday ready to join 75,000 other metalheads for the festival at Donington Park in Leicestershire.

"We're glad to be here but we're knackered," said Australian miner Daniel.

"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."

From there, the family flew to Indonesia's capital Jakarta and took a connection to Doha, Qatar, before a 10-hour flight to 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?"

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 spent two nights sightseeing in London, are staying in Nottingham and plan to head to the festival later on Friday.

They said they were particularly looking forward to seeing Silverstein and Corey Taylor perform.

Leroy, nine, said he had been looking forward to seeing US metalcore outfit Bad Omens though they withdrew from the event last month.

"I'm a bit disappointed about that," he said. "But I'm still looking forward to it."

Follow BBC Leicester on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.