seederney mardee grah (Part 1)

Okay so I’ve been a bit slack with the update from Sydney Mardi Gras and my annual pilgimage to the southern hemisphere. What can I say – even Dave managed to get his account up before me this year!
I’ll have to get him back for the Stimpy comments somehow…

I have managed to upload a whole heap of pics though – so peruse them at your leisure. Not so many of things this year as there really are only so many Opera House and Harbour Bridge pics you can take ;o)

So here goes as much as I can remember from what was possibly the most drunken debauched three weeks of my life so far since last time.

Northy and I started the trip with some beers at London’s Heathrow Airport bar and a bit of bluetooth mayhem. We flew our seperate ways (long story) to arrive sydney 07:00 friday morning minutes apart. Met Jo and Northy and do the introductions.
The three of us head back to Jo’s house in Darlinghurst for a shower and a change before brunch on Oxford Street at Cafe Comity.
Wandered around and caught up before going for more beers and then home for a quick disco nap. Jason (Northy) and I ended up at my spiritual home The Colombian for a beer early evening before heading to the shift. we ended up in the club instead of the bar by mistake but this turned out to be very good. we stayed out until 5am and hoped this would counter any jetlag!

azure harbour party

Saturday was shop yourself stupid (name change) and then yet more beers. we ended up at what the sydneysiders have nicknamed the rsl because of it being so cheap! it’s palms. I met a nice boy in the toilet and then it turns out he knew Jo. small world. I was very very drunk and left the party early! Sadly not early enough. Felt awful the following day and that was sunday which meant it was time for… Harbour Party

Excellent as ever. lots of beautiful people. Bumped into half the world both outside and inside the party. There are only 5,000 people but it feels like much more.
Saw lots of people from London too.
Neither Northy nor I made it to any of the after parties as jetlag and the partying hard the night before prevented us being chirpy. We did however decide we should become club promoters and launch River Party on the banks of the Thames by the London Eye. But erm then we drank more and forgot about it.

recovery at the opera bar

So the following day was inevitably going to be a quiet one. Northy and I got up slightly earlier than Jo (who had stayed to party) and meandered through Pitt Street shopping heading down to circular quay for the Opera Bar for some brunch. We met Jo there and after a couple of beers a bottle or two of fizz and wine we all felt much better. In fact then we went for champagne tea at the QVB. So much for recovery then. More like starting all over again.
That evening was also less than subdued with more drinking and much more dancing involved. Various bars spring to mind but to be honest by this point I think we didn’t care where we were.

Tuesday was also a drinking day (can you spot a theme here?)

Wednesday morning bright and way too early the lovely Dave arrived from Wellington bearing gifts of Gold, Frank Rasberri Absolut, Apple Sours and Krispy Kreme Donuts. Yay! We then dragged him down the coast to the lovely Husky.

More to come…

*LONG UPDATE ALERT* (from Sydney)

*LONG UPDATE ALERT*
My eyes started to feel much better by Tuesday night so I put my glasses on and went into Oxford St to meet Brad and the gang at The Albury to watch Pam Ann. Unfortunately the rest of sydney’s gay population seem to have had the same idea so there was already a line at 9pm and they where not letting anyone else in. So Brad and I decided to go for drinks in the bar next door – soon it too was packed and we went for a wander with the others in search of pizza.
Brad gave me a lift back to Redfern where I am staying which was nice – he really is much better off now he has moved back to Oz than he ever was in London.
Wednesday was mostly a shopping day – with an outfit to find for the Mardi Gras float we trolled up and down Oxford Street. We had already seen some trousers in Daily Male which are a bit sparkly [and very silver] but had to go check out the competition. An awful lot of the shops look like all they seel is outfits for Mardi Gras – either that or the Sydney scene is normally much camper than the London scene
After all that shopping we ended up at Cafe Comity for a well earned rest and drink – this country is so civilised – not quite so much as Singapore but…
In order that we did not spend the entire day shopping I dragged scally up the AMP Centrepoint Tower for some tourist sight seeing – he is too wuss to do the harbour bridge walk with me :o( something about being scared of heights. So as part of our centrepoint ticket – bearing in mind all we anted to do was go up and have a look at Sydney we got a ‘skytour’ thrown in. Talk about tourist trap aghhhhh. Okay so how many little films can you watch about australian history before you become tempted to throw yourself off the tower – should you ever make it up there.
We wandered around this ‘guided’ tour for what seemed like hours before we finally made it up the tower itself. The views though where well worth it – and I recommend anyone visiting makes a trip up. Sort of like the twin trade towers or the empire state in New York really.
Wednesday night was Barbeque night *lol* no really though Bettina, Linda and Margy had the barbie all fired up and raring to go – the steak was fantastic and the beers went down a treat too. Ice Poles for desert and hey presto I could have been a local [except when I went to the bottle shop for beers he automatically handed me Fosters]
Thursday was one of those mornings – well actually it stretched into the afternoon but in general we all sat and watched trashy daytime TV [which is as bad in Oz as anywhere else] and then watched the channel seven daytime movie – really trashy one about a ranger searching for some lost kid with the woman from terminator showing as little acting skill as possible yet again. Scarily it had the same terminatoresque voice overs too.
Okay so then we spray painted the $13 trainers silver to match the sparkly trousers and went off to do some more touristy stuff! I dragged scally to the Opera House which was looking a bit jaded actually. Looks fantastic from afar but when you get up close it reminds me of the Civic Centre where I grew up in Crosby. You know the sort of thing a concrete communal space with a concert hal and library with unfinished concrete walls and stairwells and dark wooden finishings here and there for effect. Allegedly the Opera House is due for a refurbishment which will be good. I never realised though that the entire thing is tiled!
So a bit more shopping followed this tourist extravaganza and we picked up a sparkly black shirt to go with the sparkly silver trousers. Oh and lots of body glitter and a couple of stetsons. In for a penny and al that! Oh and then suprise suprise it was time for yet another party. Thursday night being the Arrivals Party – a good excuse to get all the foreigners in one place. We met up at the Oxford first and then went to flag a taxi to Fox studios [seems to be the place to have all your Lesbian & Gay events] were we met Daniel a rather nice American whom we chatted to for most of the evening. The music was pants but that didn’t stop me having fun and it was after 4am before I knew it – so staggered back home around 5am this morning.
Off now into town to go and see if I can change my flights and stop over in Singapore for a couple of days on my way back – my neice is missing me already!
Also caught up with a few people today – chatted with Adam a friend of Spencer’s whom I am meeting tonight for a meal with his partner and also Jo my friend who moved out here recently and chatted to Andre who works for AOL out here – I realy want a job out here [No Sheena I am not joking]. So erm the next update will no doubt be after the parade and party so Happy Mardi Gras 2001 and look out for the Albion Street Centre 2001 a safe sex oddessey float and the two sparkly english boys handing out packs of condoms and lube 😉
*/LONG UPDATE ALERT*