Raduga Tourism – Gay tourism

Last weekend our new LGBT group went camping to Bloomfield. It took me 4.5 hours by car to get there. I made a couple of stops on the road to have a rest. The other members of the group had arrived before me, but we, of course, found each other. We were 5 gays, and one girl, 21 yo, who is cousin to one of the guys and who came from England on a working holiday visa for several months. The girl said that she is straight, but we classified her as queer because of the lilac color of her hair, alternative behavior and complete tolerance for LGBT people. In addition, we had periodic company of the parents of one of the guys, who can be considered as LGBT allies. We chatted, had meals together, played table games, walked with three dogs, had a 2-hour outing at night to the beach where we made a bonfire under the stars and where the girl, the object of jokes, was periodically flashing the shore with a torch to detect the moment when a crocodile comes ashore from the water (she was scared of the prospect, but still did not want to leave our company).

The people packed up on Sunday morning and left, whereas I stayed for a while in the camp waiting for my tent to dry out completely (there was some rain during the night). I also wanted to go to the waterfall, which the others had already visited. After the trip to the waterfall, I decided to go to Cooktown, since it is not far off, and although I had been there several times before, I felt like visiting it again. It is a small (10,000 people), quiet city with beautiful views. It was named in honor of Captain Cook, who was repairing there his ship Endeavor, stuck a few days before on a reef for some frightful hours. In these places, his team, incidentally, first saw the kangaroo, studied other Australian animals, and plants, and had a contact with local aborigines. The river carries the name of its ship – Endeavor. The town has several monuments in honor of his expedition, and once a year a costume re-anactment of the landing is organised.

I spent a little more than two hours in Cooktown, did not stay more as there was a long way back and I did not want to drive most of the time in the dark.

In conclusion, I must say that the trip was a success: I met new people, visited beautiful places and had a good relaxing short holiday. Here are some photos.

Adam Rippón (DOB: 11.11.1989) is an outstanding American figure skater. He is openly gay. He won lots of medals at national and international competitions. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea, Adam won a bronze medal in the figure skating team event. Also, this year, he won season 26 of Dancing with the Stars (with Jenna Johnson), and became the first openly gay celebrity to win the competition.

Adam is also a gay rights activist. And I think he is a classy guy! Here are some photos (from Instagram).

And here is a link to one of his performances.

The day before yesterday our gay center QuAC hosted a party. We were invited to watch the finale of an American drag queen contest. A barbecue was organised, people were talking, and, when watching the show, were chewing popcorn. At the end (what a coincidence!) we came out of the building to watch fireworks coming from Cairns Showgrounds located nearby. Here are some photos of the party.

Two weeks ago, on Saturday April 16, our gay resort Turtle Cove hosted Locals’ Day. It was a good opportunity to catch up with friends and meet visiting guests of the resort-hotel. Here are some photos.

Last weekend, our gay group was camping at Hull Heads – 2 hours south of Cairns. Here are some photos.

A message from Adam Rippon and Gus Kenworthy on Pride Month