Aussies are being hurt and even killed at these parties, so why do they keep going back?

Like schoolies on steroids, Thailand’s Full Moon is the biggest beach party on the planet.

The infamous parties are a no rules dance, drugs and drinking-fest, where more than two dozen people have died in just six years - three of whom were Australian.

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The full moon is historically associated with madness, and is where we get the terms ‘lunacy’ and ‘lunatics’. But on a stretch of beach in Thailand every month, there is a totally different kind of madness – alcohol-fuelled madness.

Trudy McGowan is Australia's Consul to Thailand. She heads up the largest consular section of any Australian diplomatic mission in the world. Her main job is to keep Australians safe and out of jail, so she meets Thai police to head off any problems.

Full Moon parties pose the biggest headache for Trudy and her staff. “I think unfortunately Australian kids are just excited by the party, and they're often thinking they're invincible, and not worried about what can go wrong," she said.

Koh Samui is Thailand's third-largest island. Located about 700 kilometres from Bangkok, it is a tourist Mecca. Local tradition says its name means ‘safe haven’, but it's also the staging point for the world's biggest monthly party, and the Full Moon gathering on a nearby island is anything but safe.

Thousands of people jet in from around the world for an event that began in 1985 as a low-key birthday bash. However there's nothing low-key about it now and ferries run around the clock taking people to nearby Koh Phangan - party central with no rules.

Tourists range in age from teens to those in their early 30s, and older revellers. Well before the sun goes down, street vendors set up hundreds of makeshift stalls, selling alcohol by the bucket load - literally. The buckets, filled with scotch, vodka and hard liquor, a splash of soft drink and an energy drink sell for between $3 and $6. Ironically the legal drinking age here is meant to be 20, but no one checks or cares.

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As darkness falls, the crowds surge in, with the biggest party goers from Australia, Britain and New Zealand.

In fact more Australian tourists die in Thailand than any other country on earth – a sobering statistic.

As the night rolls on, the beach becomes a packed mass of writhing, drinking bodies. Almost everyone is covered in fluorescent paint - it's like a primitive tribal ritual. There are no safety rules here, and firework tubes blast into the sky just metres from revellers. Sometimes things go wrong.

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Burns are the most common injury here, and clinics dotted around the beach deal with a constant stream of people burnt - most often by the infamous fire rope, and mostly self-inflicted.

Jesuit Father Michael Kelly is a fierce critic of the Full Moon parties, having helped hurt Aussies before.

"If this were Australia, there would be cops all over the place. There'd be community groups, and all sorts of people, not just botherers and bores, who would be saying that this is an irresponsible thing to do, and it's an exploitative thing to do, and there should be some sanction, some regulation," Father Kelly said.

Joe Welch an all Australian rugby union footballer who drowned at the party this time last year - the third Australian death in six years. Father Kelly helped the family through the terrible crisis.

Come morning, the massive quantities of alcohol take their toll, and fights break out. Bodies lie where they have collapsed, a girl worries her friend isn't breathing. Hopefully for all these party goers, the worst experience they will have is just a nasty hangover, but that’s not always the case.

Clinical psychologist Simon Kinsella believes it's the no rules lifestyle that attracts young Australians to these parties, but says they must be warned.

“The classic line from most young people is ‘it won't happen to me’. The more awareness there is, the better, because it will ultimately reduce the risk. There may still be problems that occur, but the more people are aware, the more they can do to protect themselves," Kinsella said.