Viva Bris-Vegas!

Every now and then a Sydneysider has to leave Sydney for some reason or another.
I often find myself in unusual, delightful and even sometimes hideous places throughout the world as my other job takes me travelling quite a bit.
I find myself in sunny Brisbane at the moment. Now don’t get me wrong, Brisbane is fantastic – I am just finding it a bit odd and I am very grateful that I will be safely home in my own bed in less that four sleeps.
The reason I am writing about Brisbane is that I get blatantly stared at here whenever I venture out of my hotel room.
At first I was only just aware of it – like you feel like you must have food on your shirt or parsley in your teeth. You can understand why I am mildly paranoid.
Of course I get stared at in Sydney, but it is the lingering stare I have been receiving here in Bris-Vegas that I am having trouble with – and it’s making me homesick after only four days here.
I find Brisbane to be like a really big country town and most of the people here are very friendly, if not a little wary of the shaved head and tattooed Sydneysider.
I really think it is more a curiosity thing than anything else.
Fortunately I was able to venture out to the good old Wickham after work on Saturday night and I was excited to do so. I only wish I wasn’t so tired and could have stayed longer.
What surprised me was the diversity of the heaving crowd – and the fact that the lesbians didn’t all look like clones of Shane from The L Word. A friend of my sums up that phenomenon quite simply – it is the lesbian version of the Jennifer Aniston haircut that swept the hetero community in the 90s.
Anyway I meet some wonderful people who were out at the Red Party to raise funds for World AIDS Day.
I was sad I couldn’t make it to Queens Park in Brisbane or Hyde Park North in Sydney to pay tribute to those who have fallen victim to HIV. If you are in the same category and couldn’t make it along, please buy a red ribbon or make a donation to the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation.
Anyway, time for me to venture back onto the streets of Brisbane. And while I might be the subject of many stares and comments as I strut my way down the road, at least it is balanced out by the bevy of sexy Swedish backpackers in bikinis who seem to be lingering in this hot sexy city a little longer than they do elsewhere.
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