It's Gael here, web producer for The Great Outdoors . I am so excited to be writing this blog as I want to share with you the craziest and most fun experience I think I have ever had. It was being part of the Sydney Diva Tours story . I arrived at Kinselas Darlinghurst with my trusty digital camera. I chatted to the production crew and Shelley Craft about what to expect, and then I saw her, a vision in platforms, Diva team leader, Portia Turbo. Portia is an award winning professional diva, having appeared in the movie "Priscilla" and worked with Madonna and Rupert Everett.
Being a professional diva, I soon realised that Portia had a lot to teach us. I learned the first rule of divadom when I tried to take a picture of her: Always ensure that you are in your best, most flattering pose before you allow your photo to be taken!
Righto! As we hop on board the bus, we notice that Portia's coat is actually a street map of Sydney. She explains that when she catches a cab after a big night, it's easier to point to where home is on her coat!
On the bus, Portia gives us our drag queen names. Mine was "Cherry DeLight" but "Maude Boat" and "Sugar Hit" gives us all the giggles! We were then given our most important piece of equipment for the tour; our drag queen wigs of course! Social inhibitions are left at the door when one wears a wig so I recommend that you give it a whirl sometime! Tours by Diva was voted number 20 in Australian Traveller Magazine's "100 Great Things to do in Australia that you've never heard of"'(March 2007 edition) and with good reason. I have lived my entire life in Sydney but I have never experienced my city quite like this before.
Portia has a "unique"; perspective on old and new Sydney icons and is a natural comic. One term I picked up from Portia, the style icon, was "vegemite stripes". You know how when you use the same knife for vegemite and margarine how sometimes streaks of each can get mixed together? Well this term refers to blonde hairstyles that have a bit of brown regrowth showing! Boy was I lucky I had a wig to cover mine up otherwise I think Portia would have made me go straight to the hairdresser!
The most important rule of divadom, however, is not to let anything get in the way of a good time. The things I will never forget are Portia graciously posing for photos with overseas tourists, the beautiful view from Mrs Macquarie?s chair where we stopped for champagne and sushi and finding the courage to dance to "I love the nightlife" on national television! So that none of us forget these memories, Shelley has uploaded our photos of the day into her flickr account, so be sure to check it out!
Have you had a great Australian tour experience? We would love to hear about it. Feel free to add a comment to this post or send us an email
