Vicky does Sydney (30 March 2002)

And so, after what seemed like months of planning (largely because it was months of planning) I finally arrived in Sydney, Australia, home of the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and probably one of the most friendly, free and easy-going social attitudes on the planet. My hotel, the Oxford Koala was situated just off Oxford Street, which is the heart of 'gay Sydney'. My first job was to get to grips with the locale, suss out where the top night-spots were, where I could find a burger and fries at 5 in the morning (to come in very handy later on) and most of all, where the nearest bottle shop was so I could sink into a comfy chair and relax with a nice Shiraz. Now I'm no advertising genius, but the advert on the right, which proudly adorns the top of the Oxford Hotel on the corner of Taylor Square, seems a little pointless to me. I mean, presumably gay women already know about Wonderbras and as for gay men… well maybe this would appeal to those who wear frocks! Still, nice poster all the same. Yes, yes, enough of this nonsense Vicky, what's up girl? You got a job with the New South Wales tourist association or something? OK then, to business. I'd been in town for 2 days and with another 3 to go before the big night out planned with some of the local t*girls, I couldn't wait any longer. I donned my best sparkly top and went to join Katya (who was en homme) and Miss Cyanne at the Stonewall Hotel, a smart gay bar and lounge just up the road. I'd climbed the Harbour Bridge that morning and let me tell you, it makes your legs go all wobbly. That and wearing 5 inch heels all night left my calf muscles aching until Saturday - the day of our big girls night out. Pandora de Pledge would (I hope) have been proud of me. Her make-up lessons had me looking pretty fine. I was due to meet the other girls at 11 pm which left me ages to get ready (and devour a half a bottle of Aussy red wine to get in the spirit and quell any remaining nerves). Here I am on the right all trannied up and just about to hit the town. The weather had been rather odd the past few days. Overcast in the mornings, a quick shower around lunchtime then hot sticky sunshine in the afternoon. Even by 11 pm it was still rather humid and warm. Would my make-up last the night out? Lets see… Here are (from left to right) Me, Alison and Katya at the start of the evening, relaxing in Gingers, which is a lovely little bar on the top floor of the Oxford Hotel (which oddly means we were directly underneath the Wonderbra ad from earlier!) There seems to be an awful lot of hand-holding going on!

Our plan for the evening was to check out some of the gay (and thus tranny friendly) venues on and around Oxford Street and Taylor Square rather than spend too much time at Sydney's most famous transvestite venue, the Taxi Club. The Taxi Club was apparently beginning to fall out of favour as a few too many of the girls there were 'for sale' which means unwanted attention from the admirers and other male types who frequeny it was getting a little too common. So after drinks at Gingers, we headed to The Stonewall Hotel, just across the road, which had a drag show at 11 pm, 12 am and 1am on a Saturday night. We tottered across the road at about ten to one to catch the show which was the usual stuff - a bit of miming to various camp songs, some smutty humour and over the top make-up - but it was a bit of a laugh and cheerful enough. Despite it's diminishing reputation, Alison and Kat figured that I couldn't come all the way to Sydney without paying a visit to the Taxi Club and so we headed off around the corner to check it out. One very good thing about the area around Oxford Street is that there are so many places to go and all within about 200 metres of each other so even in high-heels, it's not too far for a tranny to walk. Here's Alison, me and Katya at the Taxi club. Bit of an extreme close-up this one! By now it was approaching 3 am but if you're astute you will have noticed that by now the date was Sunday 31 March (the last Sunday in March) which was the day of the clock change from summer to winter time and Down-Under with everything being back-to-front (water going the wrong way down the plug-hole and all) the clocks went back an hour. So, refreshed with an extra hour to re-live, we headed back to the Oxford Hotel, to Gilligans cocktail lounge this time for one last drink. Well, there's no such thing as one last drink and it was nearer 4.30 am by the time we eventually left. Poor young Alison who was driving and thus not as 'inspired' as the rest of us was beginning to flag though from the picture on the left (taken at the end of the night) you'd hardly know. With everyone else gone, I headed back down Oxford Street to my hotel and called in at Burger King for some chips to soak up the excess alcohol before finally retiring to bed (well, after polishing off the remaining half a bottle of wine left over from earlier). I had a fantastic time, made all the better for the welcome I received from the locals. BIG THANKS to Miss Cyanne, Katya and Alison (pictured on the right) who were perfect hosts. Anyone going to Sydney should certainly get in touch with them (links to their web pages are in the friends section). Oh, and just to complete the collection of pictures, here's the Sydney Harbour Bridge! Obviously, I'm not a particularly nervous type when it comes to dressing and heading out to unknown places, but many trannies are. The only advice I can offer you is to just go for it. Once you have decided to go ahead, don't get scared and press on with your plans. No matter what butterflies you get, keep going as the rewards of meeting with others and sharing a girlie night out far outweigh any negativity you may feel.

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