Mardi Gras 2001
12 March 2001
3 March 2001: Our friend Ken was helping organize a group for the Mardi Gras parade this year. "Brides of Mardi Gras" was a group of brides demonstrating for recognition of same-sex relationships. Ken had been in it last year and had a great time. I agreed to join the group before thinking about just how much was going to be involved in being in Sydney in a wedding dress on a Saturday night. Ken's so shy his photo (above) ended up on the Sydney Morning Herald site.
Robert and I each designed our own dresses which were made for us by Helen Navarre. The process involved a lot of visits to Spotlight Fabrics for bits and pieces for the headpieces and bouquet. Our wigs were from House of Priscilla in Oxford Street and the makeup was done by Nathan.
The group was part of the crowd warm-up but Robert and I were still having makeup done at that time. We arrived in time for the marshalling next to Hyde Park. Ken was already very excited after the crowd warm-up. We had time to have a look at some of the other groups (over 200 in all). Fortunately we were the eighth group and so we didn't have to wait for hours in the marshalling area. This photo shows my headpiece and veil with little duck flying above to good advantage.
Robert unexpectedly found his friend Scott who had decided to march with Sydney Leather Pride. Scott didn't recognize us with the makeup but relaxed a bit once we had revealed who we were. I was already getting tired of walking in heels and the leather pride costumes looked a lot more comfortable.
The parade itself was a lot of fun. The crowd was very receptive and vocal with a lot of photos being taken. We had some rice to throw into the crowd. My leg which had been operated on six weeks previously to remove the metal plate began to get sore from running towards the crowd to throw the rice. I took it a bit easier from Taylor Square on. This picture is from the official Mardi Gras coverage of the parade. Behind Robert you can see Phil and Marius.
These pictures show the toll taken by the parade itself. The one on the left is from the marshalling area when I was still full of enthusiasm. On the right an hour or so later I am exhausted with blistered feet (shoes off) and slightly matted hair. It was a very long walk up the aisle indeed. Luckily the Mardi Gras Workshop float gave me a ride on the back of their ute for the last few hundred metres.
We took a few group photos at the end. Ken has taken his wig off here and his five o'clock shadow seems to have darkened during the length of the parade. though we had finished, there were so many groups in the parade that by the time we had hailed a taxi and driven back to the city there were still floats waiting to leave the marshalling area. We went to the hotel for a shower and change of outfit before returning to the party.
The parade was covered on TV and our appearance can be seen at the end of this clip.
7 March 2001: After Mardi Gras we went to Noosa for a few days to recover before returning to work. Ken came with us and took this picture of me sitting on the beach at Alexandra Bay. The beach is "clothing optional", but I opted in. Noosa was warm but overcast much of the time.
8 March 2001: This is Robert at the same beach, taken by me the following day. We went to the Oasis party at Noosa on the Thursday while we were there. It was well-organized but the attendance was somewhat poor.
10 March 2001: We flew in and out of Brisbane, so on the way home we had an afternoon at the artificial beach at the old Expo '88 site in Brisbane. We also visited Robert's childhood home in Clayfield. I took this picture of Ken and Robert at the beach with the Brisbane River in the background.
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