Mardi Gras!
Mardi Gras day! We started somewhat early getting ready for Mardi Gras. The girls upstairs made breakfast and Dana, Rachel, and I headed up there to hang out with them. We decided to leave around 1:30-2pm to get there and save a spot for the parade.
Before I continue, I should probably explain a little bit about Mardi Gras here in Sydney. The big parade is at the end of a two-week festival that is put on/supported by the Gay and Lesbian communities of Australia. The festival began as a political statement and in recent years has been more of just a festival. This year, according to their website, the aim was to make it once again a political statement. The motto was “Nations United” and the parade was to begin at 7:45pm with ‘foreplay’ at 5:30pm.
We got down there around 3ish and wandered over to Oxford Street to find a place to sit. I was surprised at how much room there still was to sit. We ended up sitting on the shady side of the road (thank goodness) in front of the Columbian Hotel, which included a gay bar.
The people next to us were gay and a hoot. They seemed to know everyone. So we popped a squat. We ended up sitting there for about three hours before anything really started happening. We moved the barricade forward, more into the street, and then waited. Then, suddenly, there were very few people pressed in very close. There were probably only five layers of people but during the parade it felt as though the whole universe was pressing me against the barricade.
Something else that may have inhibited my experience was the presence of smokers all around me. I probably smoked two whole cigarettes just from second hand smoke. There were these two girls behind us that would roll one about every ten minutes and with the wind blowing in my direction, I thought I might die of smoke inhalation.
The floats were not that amazing. There were some impressive ones with drag queens in extravagant costumes and the lifeguards of Bondi did a good dance number. Overall, the floats were nothing like what we would normally see in the rose parade or something similar.
I did like how there was a political message and how coordinated it was. There were tons of volunteers and they all had really cool t-shirts that were different colours to tell you exactly what type of volunteer they were.
About an hour and a half into the parade, we decided to leave and start heading home. I have never seen so many people on the streets. We literally had to push through this group of about 150 people on this one sidewalk. I was glad there was a somewhat larger group of us to kind of push through and hold on to. We finally made it away from the parade route and found the QVB (Queen Victoria Building). From here, we knew both where our bus stop was and the McDonalds. We ate dinner at 10pm at McDonalds. I had six chicken McNuggets, small fry, and a 30 cent ice cream cone. It was great!
We then all got on the bus and headed home. I am forever grateful that there is a bus stop right outside of our flat. It makes coming home that much easier. We then got home and ate Oreos and went to bed. One more exciting day in Sydney!