Page 70 - Off the Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 1 of 2)

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PARTIES

FESTIVALS AND Lesbian Mardi Gras

Sydney Gay &

Love Parade in Dortmund, Germany

FORGET THE LOVE
vs the Love Parade ABOVE Bored-looking spectators missing the point of the
PARADE?
When it comes to flamboyance, flesh, and full-on partying, Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi THE BUILD-UP The Love Parade draws hard-
Gras is the reigning queen, leaving the Love Parade tottering in its sequinned wake core hedonists from all over to worship at the
shrine of electronic music. Each float has a DJ
and a sound system blasting out a techno beat,
with painted ravers dancing wildly alongside.
NEED TO KNOW family-friendly Fair Day, and a pooch parade par The party was started in 1989 when German
excellence known as Doggywood. But for most DJ Dr Mott decided to hold a free, moveable
LOCATION Sydney lies */%0/&4*" people, the highlight of the three-week period is the
on the east coast of Australia acid-house street party in Berlin. Only 150
and is the capital of the state *OEJBO %BSXJO main parade and its notorious after-party, which has people turned up for the original event, but by
0DFBO
of New South Wales $PSBM 1999, it had exploded to 1.4 million people to
4FB hosted everyone from Chaka Khan to Rupert Everett
WHEN under its pulsing lights. One airline even stages a become the world’s biggest dance festival.
From mid-February "6453"-*"
for three weeks #SJTCBOF special “pink flight” to carry muscled merrymakers
VISITORS PER YEAR 1FSUI from San Francisco to Sydney for the big day. THE LETDOWN The Love Parade’s original
Mardi Gras parade: 10,000 4:%/&: Leading the parade is the Dykes on Bikes message of using music as a means of spreading
participants and 500,000 4PVUIFSO $BOCFSSB peace and love has long been lost in a surge of
spectators; final party: 20,000 0DFBO motorcycle group, which is followed by 150 floats drug-fueled antics, property damage, sporadic
manned by every kind of costumed dancer under
injuries from flying bottles, and general street
the sun. Some 10,000 partygoers strap on soaring chaos, prompting the Berlin authorities to ban
Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, unlike Germany’s stilettos, technicolor outfits, diabolical wigs, the event. There’s little room to flail independently
Love Parade, is not merely a one-day party – it’s an infinitesimal shorts, codpieces, and lashings of in the dense crowds, and the high-pitched
out-and-out revelry blitz. The same-sex season kicks leather for this wild event, leaving a 2-mile (4-km) sound of whistles is constant and deafening.
off in mid-February with a series of art exhibitions, trail of glitter behind them. Police officers and military Also, ticket prices to clubs rocket at this time.
film viewings, theater performances, and live personnel keep step with dancing drag queens
concerts that take place three weeks before the in flying-saucer-shaped dresses in what has been GOING ANYWAY? Now dubbed the Loveparade
main Mardi Gras events – an infamous parade hailed as one of the world’s top ten costume parties. Metropole Ruhr, the event is touring different
cities in the German region of North Rhine-
along Oxford Street in Sydney’s Darlinghurst Some 500,000 onlookers line the streets to take
Westphalia, after which it’s hoped it might get a
neighborhood and a raucous, glitzy final party. in the spectacle, cheering and waving rainbow-
permit to return to Berlin. There’s no avoiding
This global gay event, which began more than patterned flags as the parade sashays towards
the crowds, so just go with the flow.
30 years ago when a handful of pioneers took to the Royal Hall of Industries in Moore Park. Here, a
the streets demanding their rights, has both a star-studded line-up of live performers and DJs get
political and a playful message – acceptance, the party started at 10pm and keep it pumping
tolerance, and diversity go hand in manicured until 8am for the more enthusiastic revelers.
hand with tinsel, tulle, and toned bodies. It is also
a very eclectic affair, unlike the Love Parade, which PRACTICAL INFORMATION
moves to a samey thumping techno beat. Events
in Sydney include the Sol y Luna Harbour Party, Getting There and Around dishes and fantastic views
Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport of Bondi Beach.
known for its cool cocktails and live sounds, the
is 5 miles (8 km) from the city
Where to Stay
centre. The Airport Link train Try the elegant and contemporary
takes you directly from the Kirketon Hotel (www.kirketon.
airport into the city, where taxis com.au), located just moments
are plentiful. The best way to get from Oxford Street.
around Sydney is on foot.
Daytime Temperature
Where to Eat 72°F (22°C) during Mardi Gras.
Sydney has a fantastic dining
scene, as multicultural and Budget per Day for Two
distinctive as the city itself. Try Around US$200 including food,
Icebergs Dining Room and Bar lodging, and transportation.
(www.idrb.com), with its fresh Website
seafood and Italian-influenced www.mardigras.org.au
ABOVE Rupert Everett with a costumed reveler, Sydney Mardi Gras

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