Mardi Gras 2006 I knew that it was going to be big. But I didn't realise how big. The whole city seems to stop for the parade and thousands of people liine the streets to watch. The parade doesn't start until about 7:45, so it's dark and the photos don't do much justice. But the atmosphere is fantastic and everybody is happy, cheering and joining in the fun. It starts with cavalcade of 'Dykes on Bikes' and then there are over 150 floats of all varieties many with extravagant costumes or scantily clad guys and gals. Afterwards we went to the official after party which takes place at Fox Studios. This was used to film things like Matrix Reloaded. The massive studios are converted to dance floors and thousands of people pack the venue. It's spread over a huge area with 5 halls or studios so it doesn't feel overcrowded and we had passes to get to a quiet area which was great. We saw Jimmy Somerville who emerged on stage from a twelve foot heart wearing angel wings and surrounded by about 30 go go boys to cheers from about 3 or 4 thousand people. The party carries on until 10am the next day, but we didn't make it that far. Apparently, there's even after parties in Thailand! We head to Hamilton Island on Monday for a week of chilling out by the pool to recover and then I will be going to Tasmania for a week or so. I probably won't have much to report for a while.