Sydney Mardi Gras Parade

Sydney's famous gay Mardi Gras Parade was what we came all this way to see. So I am posting some pics. The parade was at night with tens of thousands of participants, and over 500,000 parade watchers.

The street is closed to traffic early in the day. At 6 PM, the street is closed completely and no one can cross. The parade starts at 7 PM.

Some costumes marchers up close.

This was the line to get into the grandstand area where we had tickets.

The parade starts with motorcyclists. Women first....

And then the men.

Unlike the New Orleans Mardi Gras Parade, the floats were not as elaborate or impressive, but the number of people marching behind each one was greater.

Many of the floats were sponsored by organizations promoting tolerance and equality. Of course.

There were some spectacular light shows.

But no one threw beads. Some plastic bracelets with messages were handed to people standing at the barrier.

And on they came.

A whole section of the parade was composed of religious organizations. These were the Catholics.

You can do some amazing things with balloons!

And flags.

And of course there were several floats with drag queens lip-synching pop songs.

The whole area felt very safe and calm thanks to these guys.

And by 8 AM the next morning, it all looks like this! Amazing parade, and amazingly fast clean up!