This is not about the UK's National, sadly absent this year, but a report back from the Australian NFF in Canberra, 13-17 April.

I was bowled over but what the Aussies put together over 5 days for a ticket of £63 (£33 for teenagers, £9 for 5-12, free for toddlers) plus £24 for camping (£9 for teenagers, £6 for 5-12). Admittedly, they have the benefit of EPIC, the Exhibition Park In Canberra, a fantastic facility with a dozen big (I mean BIG) buildings and plenty of space for parking and camping, permanent shower/toilet/watering point facilities, good access and security, shopping within walking distance and all at (my guess) a subsidised or in any case reasonable cost. But the success of the NFF is owed to much more than that:

a)A programme that included concurrently 9 stages for concerts (capacity ranging from a few hundred to 2 stages of 1800+ and one of 3200); 5 venues for workshops; 4 for dancing; 4 for sessions; and another 3-4 for storytelling and whatever turned up (one was a permanent aborigine camp, showing their life and ways).

b)The best arts & crafts & food fair I've seen at any festival, free of tat, with interested and knowledgeable stall-holders.

c)Hundreds of performers representing every aspect and component of what makes up Aussie culture today (and that is a lot more than you might think at first) - a truly representative "national" festival. As for the quality of those performers, from what I saw the least of them would deserve to fill any UK club venue.

d) Dozens of international performers from the US, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, UK, Greece (no, that wasn't me), China, Philippines, heck I lost count.

e) The most courteous, helpful and professional set of volunteers I have ever met. On arrival, tired and flustered, I snapped at one of them for some small administrative error - her courteous response floored me and caused me to apologise to her from the stage later.

f) Artists' facilities included a 20-hour open, guarded lockup for gear (so you don't have to cart it around between gigs); and a free shuttle every half hour all day to your billet, wherever that might be (after midnight the shuttle was still available till 3am, you just had to phone a number and they'd pick you up - again run by volunteers).

g) Great sound at every venue, from experienced engineers handling quality gear.

But the one thing that made the festival such a great experience for me was the 45,000 punters there: Audience demographics that we could only dream of in the UK; a feeling of immediacy and contact normally achieved only in the smallest acoustic venues; and a participative atmosphere and attitude (from the programme makers) that had me stopping every 10 yards on the street to listen to some obscure fiddle quartet or harmony trio that I would gladly have booked for one of our clubs.

Highlights there were many. For emotional impact, the highest for me was the showing of a 1920s silent movie of the emigration of Italians to Australia, with live music and singing from Kavisha Mazella, watched by hundreds of Queenslanders of Italian descent - not a dry eye in the house. And there were a few personal highlights too: Impromptu jamming on stage with the Greek Rebetica group; singing as a trio with Cloudstreet; sitting next to Colum Sands at the Songwriters' Round-Robin (I am not worthy!); and best of all, hearing 3,000 voices belt "Friends like these" back at me from the first chorus (thanks, Roy!).

Clearly, many of the parameters of the NFF cannot be emulated in the UK. But I remain convinced that there is still much to learn from festivals abroad, and would urge the Association of Festival Organisers to sponsor one or two members to attend such festivals. At the very least, treat it as a well-deserved "jolly"; and you never know what ideas they might come back with...