Glittering pride for Alice Springs
WHEN MITZI, FELICIA and Bernadette drove a big silver-turned-pink bus through the Australian outback towards Alice Springs’ Lasseters Hotel Casino Resort in the 1994 movie The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, noone could have known the iconic status it would hold. Now, Priscilla’s legacy lives on at FABalice, a rainbow festival inspired by the movie that had everyone’s lipsticked lips celebrating the raw glitz and glamour of Australian drag.
After a week travelling through the Northern Territory’s Red Centre, I arrive in Alice Springs late Thursday evening. The bus that’s brought me here is a far cry from the glamorous Priscilla, but a fitting start to a weekend that proves “a cock in a frock on a rock” is exactly what this country needs.
A breeze whispers through the air, its warmth forcing the hairs on my arms to stand and then quickly flatten as beads of sweat trail their way over my skin. It’s my first time in the Aussie outback town and I’m astonished by the multifariousness of it all–culturally, geologically and environmentally.
