Day 169-175: Sydney Mardi Gras (Week 20)
Trip Start
Sep 12, 2004
1
31
57
Trip End
Jan 05, 2006
Sydney,
Australia
Sunday, March 6, 2005
Last Monday at work, last Monday morning feeling for a little while. Went to Myer at lunch and took the trousers back from the concert, no questions asked which was marvellous. Was tracking my Ray Bans and looks like they'll be delivered today, Niki is still off work so I'm hoping that she'll be around when they're delivered. Walked to Park St gym after work and stopped off at the Sunglass Hut in the Mid City Centre, they had the sunnies I liked at the store in Paddo so thought I'd see if they'd exchange them for the Oakleys. Didn't even bat an eyelid even though I was over the 14 days which is marvellous. So i'll have two pairs, one fancy for going out and the other for sports and really sunny days...so cosmopolitan.
Had a 20 min run, 20 min cycle, then worked on lower body. After that I went to the 6.30 Combat class, my legs didn't really want to by then but did it anyway. It was a new release - no.23 - and Gabby and David presented, they never even acknowledge me now which is charming, who'd have thought combat would be so cut throat! Went to the supermarket after the gym and bussed it home. The sunnies had arrived when I got home....they're the right shape but the lenses still look slightly different, not as orangey, anyway, can't be arsed to send them back so they'll have to do.
Decided to have a night in as the rest of the week is gonna be pretty busy, just vegged and watched telly, flicking between the Oscars and an interview with the Prince and Princess of Denmark - it's an aussie thing because Princess Mary is an aussie woman who met the Prince whilst he was holidaying over here so it's all a bit fairytale and they're all over the tv and papers coz they're touring Oz at the mo - guess it's the Oz Charles and Diana. Also watched a DVD of the film that was made in next doors flat a couple of months ago - wasn't very good which I guess is why it didn't make it into the top ten at Tropfest. Plus the Ad agency sent me a DVD with all the versions of the Frontline ad so watched those too...it's a nice memento of the event.
Tuesday 01/03/05:
Last day at work....yay! Passed by pretty uneventfully, various people dropped out of leaving drinks after work so in the end didn't bother with them, went and got my hair cut instead. Also picked up the Mardi Gras party tickets in the city whilst I was out. Picked up a bargain Rough Guide to Australia from the Kinokinuya book shop, should have been $40 but they had a couple of copies which still had $19.95 stickers on them so obviously bought one of those instead, now I'll be able to have a flick through and plan my trips for the coming months. Didn't bother with the gym either, decided to have a nap instead, must of got a good couple of hours sleep between 6 and 8 which helped give me some energy for the night ahead.
Tonight was the Bear Maximus IX welcome party at the Oxford, met Chris there about 10pm, the place was absolutely heaving, way too hot inside so hung out on the new terracey bit. Lots of tourists from all over the world, germans, americans, kiwis, canadians....got chatting to a canadian guy called Travis who was on hols for Mardi Gras, his first one and he was travelling solo too. We stayed at the Oxford for a good couple of hours, they had a sort of Malebox type thing going on but it was too busy and the guy was calling out numbers rather them having them displayed on a screen so you never knew if you got one anyway...I'm sure I must have just missed the numerous ones which were written to me.
For some reason the rest of the evening is a bit of a blur, I'm sure we went to the Shift and Manacle at some point but in what order I have no idea. Chris was working so he headed home about 1am leaving me to it again, I think I went to Stonewall and bumped into the German guy, Jan, who I met a some time last week, just chatted for a little while. Eventually the night ended in Bodyline which was really busy and I had a fantastic time, left there at 5 in the morning....with Lisa due to be arriving at the aiport around 7 or 8, meaning about 2 hours sleep before having to get up again! :O(
Wednesday 02/03/05:
I'd left my phone on so that when Lisa sent her text to let me know she was on the way to th airport it would wake me up, that came through about half 7 so had managed about 2 hours sleep....thank god I had the nap before going out last night otherwise I would have been a complete wreck. Just chucked some clothes on and walked to Oxford St to catch one of the buses which runs straight through to Central Station...so my first day not at work and I'm still up early...*yawn*. Waited about half an hour in the Railway Square area and she eventually appeared after wandering around for ages trying to work out where I was. It was really weird to see someone I know from the UK over here.
We went to get some brekkie, at this point I was starving so we went to Oporto's and I had a bacon and egg burger thing with some orange juice, almost woke me up but not quite. Just spent ages catching up, chatting about her trip in Thailand, whilst we were chatting a big storm rolled over the top of us...and it was only 9ish in the morning, weird time to have a storm, but it disappeared as quickly as it arrived. After spending a couple of hours chilling and chatting we wandered over to Gloria Jean's for a coffee, well I had a cup of tea and we shared a chocolate muffin...great healthy start to the day; bacon and egg and a choc muffin...tsk! Lisa needed to head up to Cheltenham to meet her friends/family that she's staying with - actually they're the family of one of her friends from Norwich but she met them last time she was over here. So I wandered back to the station with her and left her there.
I wandered down to the net cafe near central to catch up on email and messages and update the diary - awful not having all day net access now! Only spent half an hour there before wandering home - stuck the eye mask on and the ear plugs in and spent the afternoon catching up on some well needed sleep. Think I got up about half four, felt much more awake so decided to jog to the gym for the 5.30 combat class. Only had 30 mins to get ready once I got home as I was meeting King and Chris at the Green Park pub as King had invited us to go see a play at The Stables with him in Kings Cross - he had bought a load of tickets for 'Strangers In Between' so there was also Heiko, Elizabeth, Neil and Jean-Claude with us too. The Stables is a tiny theatre, probably seats about 100, King likes it coz it's initmate and we sat on the front row which is practically on top of the stage....I felt a bit self concious coz we were so close the actors could see us and I didn't want to make eye contact so I didn't look at them....lol. The play itself was pretty good, some aussie jokes I didn't get, some of it was a little too intense with lots of screaming and shouting and crying, but overall enjoyed it. King wouldn't take any money for the tickets so got to see it for nothing which is cool.
Chris and I were gonna go to the Underbear party at the Shift tonight...he wimped out and coz he didn't I didn't really want to go on my own so we went to Stonewall instead, there was a huge queue outside and we could barely be bothered to go in, luckily Carlos was already in there so asked him to get us in with his VIP card so we queue jumped. It had been so busy that they'd already run out of numbers for Malebox. Carlos didn't have much to say for himself really, he'd been working every hour god sends as usual and he only stuck around for half an hour coz he was too tired. Chris didn't last much longer either as he had to go to work in the morning, I only had one more drink at Stonewall, stopped off in a couple of other bars but didn't stay out very late really, fancied a proper nights sleep.
Thursday 03/03/05:
Layed in until about half ten, chucked some brekkie down my neck and decided to do a little photo project of Oxford St during Mardi Gras. Wandered up and down the street for an hour and a half taking pics of the street, shops, shop windows, displays, etc, just trying to capture the vibe of the place to remember it. Had a dentist appointment at 12.15 at Darlo Dental on Oxford, just for a check up and clean up, was only in the chair about 15 mins and cost me $160, teeth felt better tho after it and he also filed down the cap on my front tooth as it had a tiny chip and was annoying me a bit, he said I should get it redone soone tho coz it's becoming discoloured, however I think I'll wait till I'm back in the UK and can use the NHS rather than paying a fortune for it here. Took a few more pics after the dentist until my battery ran out and I wandered home.
Decided to go to the gym and do an upper body weights work out, Lisa had sent a text saying that she's hanging around the Rocks and the Royal Botanical Gardens to arranged to meet her at 5 on the Opera House steps which is only about a 15 min walk from the Bond St gym. Got to the gym around 2 so had plenty of time to do the workout. It had been a pretty dull cloudy day and by the time I met Lisa on the steps it wasn't looking to good. Whilst we sat there you could see lightning in the distance and the odd rumble, there was no rain tho so it was kinda cool just hanging out there watching the storm. Started to spit a bit so got the bus back to mine so she could see my place, dumped my stuff off, got changed and wandered down Victoria St to get something to eat. We ended up in Una's Restaurant which I'd heard quite a lot about, well known for it's big portions, value for money and bavarian menu I hadn't eaten there before but wanted to give it a go. The food was lovely, Lisa had the chicken schnitzel and there was tons of it, I had beef croquettes which was slightly less of a plateful....but really nice tho.
Afterwards we crossed the street to Gelatomessina where I had a gelato for dessert...choc chip & rum and raisin......mmmmmm. Was raining on and off now and lightning in all corners of the sky, it was great to watch. We wandered up to Kinselas and had a couple of drinks there before Lisa left to go get her train home about half 9. I went home to dump off the umbrella and wandered out to a few bars. Went to Manacle and bumped into Heiko and friend there, chatted to them for a bit, Aaron was also there with his mate Brett so caught up with them too. Manacle had some 'entertainmen' on in the loosest sense of the word - some crappy boyband type thing but dressed in leather....awful! So I left and went to the Oxford which was ridculously busy....in fact every bar is really busy at the mo which is kinda to be expected, didn't stay out too late and was home around 2.
Friday 04/03/05:
Had arranged to meet Lisa to do some tourist stuff today, plus got the parasail in the afternoon. Met her down at Circular Quay at 11 and then we wandered up to the Pylon Lookout. You can walk up one of the pylons at the harbour bridge and get a really good view of the city and north Sydney, and it's much cheaper than doing the Bridge Climb, $8.50 compared to $160! Bit of a warm day so not ideal to be walking up to the bridge via loads of steps and then walking up even more steps in the pylon. But the view at the top was great and there was a lovely breeze up there too which helped cool me down. Lisa enjoyed it too, she didn't even know you could climb one of the pylons, plus it was one of the things I wanted to do before leaving so good to get that ticked off the list. Took some piccies and then wandered down.
Needed to catch the ferry to Manly about 1 to make sure we were over in time for the 2pm parasail which I booked last week. It's the leaving present I got from the One Account and I finally got round to booking it, wanted to wait for summer but didn't want to do it whilst I was working, so now I've finished I decided it was as good a time as any, plus having Lisa there meant I was guaranteed some photos of the experience. Arrived on time, there were 7 other people going out on the boat, 3 couples and a single guy. The boat guys said that it's best if you do a tandem flight with someone coz it's more fun and it's easier for them to dunk you in the harbour and get you wet, which apparently adds to the fun...well I was prepared for getting wet coz I brought a change of clothes with me. After much thought and contemplation Lisa decided to do a tandem with me and pay the extra. We let a couple of others go first so we could see what it was like, then decided to give it a go. We asked a couple of people to take photos for us and then we were strapped in and launched off the back of the boat. It was fantastic, slowly rising up into the air, the height was a little scary at first but soon settled in, Lisa was shitting herself about getting wet, think she thought they'd try to drown us! We floated in the air for a couple of mins, it was so peaceful up there, you could see Manly wharf and across to the beach too, couldn't see any of Sydney tho coz we were too far away. Then the boat slowed down a bit and we started to drop toward the water, then we were dragged along for a few seconds just on the top getting absolutely soaked....it was great fun, Lisa was screaming despite having instructions to close her mouth so she swallowed half the harbour, then we were back up in the air again.....floated around again for a few mins, one more dunk, back up and then winched back down to the boat...think we were in the air for about 10 mins altogether which was long enough coz it was freezing floating around once we were wet.
The pics that one guy took for me were great and I was really pleased I had a record of the sail. A couple of others went up after us and then we went back to the wharf, guess we were on the boat for about an hour. Lisa was feeling a little bit rough, probably motion sickness so we went to the chemist to get some drugs and chilled out by Manly beach for a little while so she could dry off too. There was a guy making a fantastic sandcastle/sculpture on the beach so took some pics of that, weather was lovely too tho the surf was a little rough so the water was closed to swimmers. Hung out there till about 5 and caught the ferry back to Circular Quay, left Lisa there to catch her train home whilst I caught a bus down to the net cafe so I could take a look at the days pics and catch up on messages.
Tonight was Aqua - the bears pool party at Cook and Phillip Park, hooked up with a guy who I've been chatting with for a couple of weeks online - Stephen - beforehand and he gave me a lift down there with a mate of his. We got there just after 7 and it was pretty busy already, the main pool was still open to the public but the leisure pool and hydrotherapy pool were closed off for the party, there were inflatables and balls in the water and they were being chucked around all over the place. It was a really fantastic vibe, loads of friendly people and certainly something different to do rather than just going out for a drink again. It was the first time Stephen and I had met so hung out with him for a bit, he had quite a few friends there too so didn't wanna hog his time, met some of them and they were all cool and friendly, also bumped into Bobby who I'd met at the Oxford a couple of weeks ago. Stayed there till about 10 in the end, having something to eat whilst we were there. After we left Stephen drove up to the Oxford and gave me a lift too. I went home to get changed and met him and his mates at the Oxford. It was too busy really, you could literally hardly move and were being continually knocked around as people bumped into you. I only lasted an hour by which time I'd had enough, thought about going to another bar but there were queues for everything - it is the night before the parade after all - so wandered home, quite and early one really, in bed by 1.
Saturday 05/03/05 - Parade Day:
Had a really lazy morning coz I wanted to conserve as much energy as possible coz it was gonna be a long evening and night. Got up around lunch time and the weather looked pretty good, mainly blue sky with a few clouds here and there so decided to spend the afternoon at La Perouse...jumped on the bus about 1, unfortunately by the time I got there after a 30 min bus journey the sky had pretty much clouded over and there was no sun to be seen, it was still warm tho and I thought that since I'd made the journey I might as well sit on the beach and relax for little while anyway. There was quite a few people around too, chilled out for a couple of hours before the clouds got darker and it looked like rain. Had only been on the bus for 5 mins and the rain came, perfect timing. Got a text from Lisa to say that she'd be arriving into the city around 5.30 so arranged to meet in Taylor Square at 6. When the bus arrived Oxford St was starting to get busier with people starting to arrive for the parade.
By the time I went to meet Lisa the place was starting to pack out, Oxford St was really busy and the whole parade route had been closed off already. There were big screens in 3 locations so those that didn't have a very good view could still see stuff. We wandered up and down the street just to see what was going on, the bars were pumping out music onto the street and the alcohol was flowing already. We walked down Flinders St stopping at the Flinders Bar to get some booze and then just picked a spot to drink and chill for a bit before moving on to the Glamstand - you can't take your own booze in you see. Got to the stand about 7 and the queue for it was huge.....so that wasn't a great start, $65 and you still have to queue to get in, luckily it moved pretty quickly and we were in within 10 mins. Once inside there were food stalls and bars available, but surprise suprise there were long queues for those too so we just found some seats on the stands and stayed there. We got right at the back so we were high up and could get a good view of the street, what we later realised as it got dark and the parade started was that it was difficult to get good pics from up there coz the flash had no chance of lighting them up. So we ended up moving down toward the front nearer the parade. In all honesty we could have stood in exactly the same place further up the street and not paid $65 for the privilege, the only good thing was that the money went to a good cause.
The parade got to us at about 8.15 kicking off as always with the Dykes on Bikes, it went on for a couple of hours with some pretty spectacular costumes and floats tho it was a mixture of big and brash, and small and subtle. There was obviously a political message as well and many political floats and marchers, it was a great feeling to be there and see it first hand, tho I can also understand why if you're a local you're not that bothered about going, I guess if I lived here it's not something I'd have to see every year. So as soon as it finished everyone disbanded and we wandered back up Flinders St toward Taylor Sq....it was absolute carnage in the street, rubbish, bottles, paper, milk crates, people...strewn everywhere - it was chaos, it's a huge clean up operation, god knows how they'll do it. At this point we were feeling hungry, no point going down Oxford as the whole street will be way too busy so we wandered towards the Cross and stopped off at Oporto on Victoria St, then I walked Lisa to Kings Cross station and headed home to get showered and changed ready to go out to the Mardi Gras Party at Fox Studios.
Fox is only a 20 min walk from mine and there was no chance of getting a bus or taxi there anyway as the street was closed. I'd bought a disposable camera earlier in the day so I could take pics without worrying about losing my digicam, had read that they were doing random searches at the entrance for cameras and camera phones for some reason - god knows why, so anyway, stuck my phone and camera down my pants so they didn't get detected...lol. Didn't get searched anyway but no way I wanted to have them taken off me. Once I got in I wandered around checking out the various venues, there were about 7 altogether playing different music, the weather had been very kind and it was dry if a little cool but still a perfect night really. So the places if full of thousands of people, and who should I bump into but Al - great! - unbelieveable, he said he wasn't even going to go to the party but turns out Rob and Nick bought a ticket for him...they were in one of the halls dancing when I bumped into him. He acted as if nothing had happened, asking me how I was and what I'd been up to, didn't even mention the night we argued. I was polite enough but didn't really want to speak to him, he said I was quiet and I just said that I wasn't expecting to see him and didn't have much to say.
Anyway, Chris and Gavin arrived within 10 mins and I went off to meet them, told Al to say hi to the boys for me and left him - didn't see him again for the rest of the night. Wandered around with Chris and Gavin for a bit and went into the dome for a dance. I couldn't really find a venue which was playing the sort of music I like to dance to, some of the venues were fantastic tho, huge spaces with amazing light displays. But it wasn't enought really, by 3.30 I'd had enough and wandered home - it was definately worth giving it a go but I kinda knew that I'm not really a big dance party kinda bloke, but it's something else I can add to the list of stuff I've done.
Sunday 06/03/05:
Had another long lay in this morning, and the weather was beautiful when I finally got up and took a look out of the window, clear blue sky and really warm - tho the wind was cool, maybe autumn isn't far around the corner! Anyway, it was so nice I thought I'd try a more successful attempt at the beach so jumped on the bus to La Perouse again, this time arriving there in blazing sunshine and blue sky. The beach still wasn't very busy, most people probably still recovering from the party which finished at 10am, or even moving on to the after party at Luna Park which is going all day....I just don't have the stamina for that, nor the chemical assistance either. Got to the beach about 2 and vegged there till about 5, topped up the tan, went for a swim - tho it was freezing when I got out coz of the cold wind. Went for a wander around the rocks and up the hill where the view across the water and the bay is gorgeous. Jumped on the bus about half 5 stopping off at Ken's of Kensington on the way home for a couple of hours.
Got home about 8 in the end, Niki was in cooking dinner so we caught up. A couple of days ago she mentioned that she'd picked someone for the room, they don't want the furniture so I've still got to get rid of that - it's on eBay at the mo - and that this person can't move in until the 19th so I'm gonna stay at the flat for one more week, it's convenient for both of us really. Had a couple of vodkas and then wandered down to Sushi Train for dinner - had one of their set weekend special meals, very nice. Stumbled into the Shift on the way home where I ended up staying until 2am...lol. Stephen - the guy from the pool party - was there so said a brief hello to him, he was with all his friends, tho it turns out they're actually over here for mardi gras and are going home soon so he said we'll be able to hook up properly once they've gone. Also got chatting to a bloke called Scott who recognised me from the SGLC concert, he used to sing with them too so we got chatting about the choir, spent the rest of the night with him and his friends, after chatting with him for abou half an hour he introduced me to his boyfriend....dammit! Guess he was too good looking to be single...ah well, got his number anyway and we might go out for a coffee sometime, nice to meet someone with similar interests.
So that was Mardi Gras week, I've written most of this weeks diary in one go and it's taken bloody ages so you better have read the lot! lol....well at least I can say I've done a Sydney Mardi Gras, it's been a great week, loads to do and lots of parties, met some great people too.
