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Men ride on the back of a truck driving through mud on the final night of the Deni Ute Muster in Deniliquin, New South Wales, Australia, October 1, 2016. In the small rural town of Deniliquin, on the edge of Australia's vast outback, around 20,000 “ute” lovers gathered in the mud to champion a national treasure deemed surplus to requirements by the big car manufacturers. Part car, part pickup truck, the Australian-made utility vehicle has become synonymous with farmers Down Under and is the centrepiece of the annual Deni Ute Muster festival, a two-day alcohol-fuelled celebration of all things rural Australia. Now in its 18th year, the festival has grown to include country music performances from Grammy award-winning artist Keith Urban, a rodeo, whip-cracking championship and gallery of artwork created with chainsaws. But it's the “utes” that keep the revellers coming back, even though a deluge of rain turned the usually dusty New South Wales state venue, some 300 km north of Melbourne, into a mud pit. (Photo by Jason Reed/Reuters)
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