*itches and gays

Yo Yo Yo,

G’day to you all and especially to our mums on this Mothering Sunday. Happy Mothers Day!  Well next to report is our night at the theatre to watch a performance of Wicked.  T’was Wicked, he he he!! (Chris groans).  It was on at the Capitol Threatre in Haymarket.  The theatre itself was not looking too bad for 100 years old and the glowing green cocktails were selling by the dozen – plus we got free chocolate!  (Live feed – Laura’s tired and taken to playing peak-a-boo with me at this point) (Chris slaps Laura) (She slaps him back)

An evening with some witches at the Capitol Theatre

…Anyway…the next day (Saturday) we took the ferry to Manly.  The ferry took about half an hour and was a nice trip in itself.  A short walk from Manly Wharf along the Corso (lots of surf shops-mmm laura’s favourite) took us to the main beach, which was very touristy and the water was a bit dingy, but the promenade walk and Cabbage Tree Bay (paradise) made up someway for that.

On the beach by Manly Whalf

After a good lunch at a beachside Mexican, we did some shopping and Chris got some groovy icons-of-Aussie swim shorts (much to a foreign womans annoyance as they were the last pair).  We jumped on the ferry home to catch the Mardi Gras festival, but decided we’d definately go back and hire bikes at some point.

Cabbage Tree Bay

The Mardi Gras was just crazy.  Absolutely mental.  As I’m sure you all know the Mardi Gras is the world’s premier gay and lesbian cultural festival (yes, that was a cut and paste job from their website!).  Being our first experience of such an event we didn’t really know what to expect – and it certainly left a lasting impression, both good and scarring!!  The main focus of the festival that night was the parade down Oxford Street.  We’d arrived just as it was ready to kick-off, expecting to be able to find an okish viewing spot.  However, we’d underestimated the interest there would be, by the time we arrived the crowds all along the parade route were around ten deep, all stranding on these plastic crates.

The ad hoc market that had developed with the crates was something in itself.  There were venders every ten meters, selling them for $10 each.  The result was this:  the first row (on their feet) and the second row (on the crates) could see, but anyone else behind them had to get a box just to avoid seeing bottoms for the whole parade.  By the 9th row people were buying two boxes each.  So unless we fancied getting three boxes (for Laura it would be around 5 by now) there was no hope there.  We eventually managed to squeeze our way into a good spot near the start and watched the parade unfold from there.  We were entertained by groups such as Latin Lords, George Michael tribute, Queens Beats a Straight, Hardcore Heaven, Gay and Lesbian Catholics, Asian Marching Boys and Thai’d Together, as well as with slogans such as “Tigers Woods jealous wife apologise”, “Gay is out there – God is not – Genetics 1:1” and “Bravearse”.  They certainly know how to throw a party and pulled no punches, although some groups were also keen to promote more serious issues such as the “Gays, Lesbians & Queers for Renewable Energy”.

Thai'd together

Sunday brought us the Chinese dragonboat races, still celebrating the Chinese New Year.  This was held at Darling Harbour.  It inlvolved various teams of around 16 people competing against each other. The boats themselves were slim with a dragon head on the end.  It was really busy, obviously a popular event, however we did not stay for too long as it was so humid.  So, we went to buy Chris a gay bag. I think the Mardi Gras the previous night influenced him a little and he was rather excited about the whole purchase, even though the tag did say “womens accessories” on it! (Chris would like to point out in his defence that it isn’t a poncy little bag, it is a normal full sized GAY bag).

Dragon boat racing at Darling Harbour

That’s it for now.   We got drowned in Melbourne last weekend so that will be our next post.

Stay tuned!