The following hotels (and more) have availability for the Sydney gay and lesbian Mardi Gras Parade and Party weekend as follows:

3 Nights (Friday 2nd to Monday 5th March)
(based on two people price for 3 nights including GST)

Grace Hotel – From A$870
77 York St, Sydney
(Near Pitt St Mall and the centre of town, short walk to Hyde Park and Oxford St)

Quest World Square Serviced Apartments – From $A870
2 Cunningham St, Sydney
(Short 5 minute walk to Oxford St, in Chinatown)

Metro Hotel on Pitt St – From A$600
300 Pitt St, Sydney
(In the city short walk to Hyde park)
Standard Rooms to Superior Rooms

The Macleay Serviced Apartments Potts Point – From A$550
28 Macleay St, Potts Point
(10 to 15 minute walk to Oxford St)
Standard Rooms to Harbour View Rooms available

Y Hyde Park – Standard Room with Shared Facilities – A$550
(Right next to Oxford St and Hyde Park)

The above prices are subject to availability – please contact us asap to confirm your booking. If you have a particular hotel or budget please tell us in your email.

The above are some examples – you can view more hotel options here or here.

Contact us for the best price on hotels this Mardi Gras season.

Read more about Mardi Gras 2012 here.

Sydney’s famous performer Vicki Vegas returns to Turtle Cove and transforms herself into Bette Midler, Cher, Tina Turner, Liza Minnelli, Shirley Bassey, Dolly Parton, Joan Rivers and others.

Dress up as your favorite Vegas star to win great prizes including a weekend for 2 at Turtle Cove during 2012.

Dinner & show available to outside guests and 2-night accommodation packages are available.

This year’s theme, “Aspen Through the Years,” celebrates the 35-year history of this event that brings lesbian and gay skiers and boarders together in Colorado’s most famous ski resort.

If you enjoy skiing, snowboarding, dining, shopping, music, comedy and more, you will love Aspen Gay Ski Week set for January 15-22, 2012.

Each day includes evets on the four featured mountains led by a local guide. All levels of experience will be accommodated so don’t be intimidated – hit the slopes and meet some fellow gay snow bunnies!

More information:

•  Aspen Gay Ski Week 2012
• Aspen Gay Ski Week Facebook

Here are some of India’s top luxury vacation hotels:

Amanresorts Amanbagh, Alwar

Listed as the number one chain in the 2009 Zagat Survey of World’s Top Hotels, Resorts and Spas, Amanresorts presents the Amanbagh as one of its premiere locations. This magnificent resort is an oasis of verdant greenery, surrounded by sandy plains, intermingled with craggy hills and the historical remains of grand architectural ruins. Travel time from Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, is approximately two hours. The Amanbagh offers an intimate and discreet experience in a natural location with outstanding facilities.

Amanresorts Amanbagh, Alwar

Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur

Rising in splendor above the historic City Palace in Udaipur, the heart of Rajasthan, the Oberoi Udaivilas adorns the banks of Lake Pichola. With rippling fountains, rambling courtyards and verdant gardens enclosing a selection of reflective pools, this grand resort displays the architecture of a traditional Indian palace. While staying here, be sure to visit the ancient Aravalli Mountains that surround the City of Dawn. Expect also to enjoy boat rides, rooms with terraces and a casual stroll along the narrow lanes that flank the city.

Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai

In accordance with the vision of Jamsetji Tata, construction on The Taj Mahal Palace began in 1898. Located in Bangalore, this resort has been a popular playground for Princes, leaders of Pakistan, and the President of the Indian National Congress. Considered the flagship of the Taj Hotels, this 560-room gateway into Mumbai’s prime historical and commercial hub classifies among the leading resorts in the world.

Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai

Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur

Situated on 32 acres, The Oberoi Rajvilas stands with Jaipur as its backdrop. This resort establishes a fort setting to incorporate the beauty, elegance and luxury of tents, villas and private pools. Four-post beds, sunken marble baths and private courtyards provide a sense of peace, comfort and harmonious spaces. Local activities include an elephant safari into the ancient forts and monuments that make Jaipur a must experience.

Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra

Made popular by a setting that offers terrific views of the domed mausoleum of the Taj Mahal, the Amarvilas features Moorish and Moghul architecture, 103 rooms and terraced gardens. This is a place to experience the architectural majesty of the Mughal era. Find it on your map in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra

Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur

Constructed from white marble, the Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur rises above a four-acre island pedestal amid the waters of Lake Pichola. This resort is one of the 93 luxury spots owned and operated by Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces. Construction dating back to 1746, the Taj Lake Palace is a place for moonlight picnics, romance and relaxation.

The Four Seasons, Mumbai

Set amidst the sleek downtown hospitality of the India city once known as Bombay, the Four Seasons offers central access to an area that thrives upon the Arabian Sea. Local attractions include:

• Mumbai’s famous Thieves’ Market, an antiques lover’s delight
• Elephanta Caves, accessible by boat and believed first excavated in the 8th century
• Dhobi Ghats, a traditional open-air laundry site unique to Mumbai
• Gateway of India, Kanheri Caves and much more.

The Imperial, New Delhi

Constructed in 1936, the Imperial, New Delhi showcases marble floors, high ceilings, and teak furnishings. In 1911, King Emperor George V declared New Delhi as the capital of India. Designed to reflect the Capital City’s original master plan, the Imperial incorporates a blend of Victorian, Old Colonial and Art Deco styles.

The Imperial, New Delhi

The Leela Palace Kempinski, Bangalore

Rated as one of the best business hotels in Bangalore, The Leela Palace Kempinski provides superior conference facilities and a chance to come face to face with Kiran Maxumdar-Shaw, India’s richest woman. While staying at The Leela, be sure to visit Vidhana Soudha, the pride of Bangalore that houses both the Legislative Chambers and the State Goverment.

The Leela Palace Kempinski, Bangalore

Devigarh, Delwara Near Udaipur

It may be a place for camel rides and spa treatments, but the Devigarh is nestled amid green fields and mountains on three sides. Designed in the 18th century, this quality resort assumes the external appearance of a Rajput palace fort. However, the inside reflects a totally reinvented décor. Complete with original carvings and gemstones, this 39-suite traveler’s paradise includes a lotus water maze made of marble.

These are not cheap hotels; they are luxury resorts for folks who like to travel in style. So get started and take care to book reservation online today and make your trip to India the best you’ll ever have.

This guest post article was written by freelance writer and traveler Erica Gustafson who also does consulting for Expedia.

More information on India will be added shortly on the new Rainbow Tourism India website.

It’s the mid-seventies – and satin baggies and chunky platforms reign supreme. Jethro Tull does battle with glam-rock for the airwaves. It’s a universal story, based in the mid ’70s, when the author, Tim Conigrave, fell in love with the captain of the all-boy school footy team.

This multi-award winning play explores the highs and lows of a remarkable partnership that speaks across generations, sexual preferences and cultures.

The Tommy Murphy play is based on Tim Conigrave’s autobiographical novel.

Holding the Man is on from 21 October to 13 November, Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide.

More information:

• State Theatre Company Information and booking details
• Adelaide Now Preview
• Adelaide Accommodation

CMI’s 16th Annual LGBT Travel Study is now online and should take about 10-12 minutes to complete.

Everyone who completes the survey by October 31, 2011 will be entered into a drawing to win one of five US $100 cash prizes from CMI.

Click HERE to start the survey.

Or copy and paste this URL into your browser:

http://survey.communitymarketinginc.com/se.ashx?s=359D342B29540E10&CMID=CMI

Auckland Musuem is the venue for a debat about New Zealanders’ attitudes towards difference and conformity.

Who is being marginalised in today’s society and how much more open are New Zealanders?

Curated by Public Address founder and Media7 host Russell Brown, October’s LATE at the Museum will look at Life in the Margins: Otherness in New Zealand.

“The journey from Pearson’s New Zealand to the one we live in today fascinates me,” says Brown. “Pearson died without ever feeling able to be publicly open about his sexuality, yet now Cabinet ministers are out and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is prohibited in law. So where are the margins now? And how is life there?”

The LATE line-up for October is ‘gay, disabled, vegetarian, comedian’ Philip Patston, founder of DiversityWorks, a consulting business that creates innovative ways to work with diversity, journalist and author David Cohen who has written of his early life on the wrong side of the tracks and his experience of being father to his profoundly autistic son, Stacey Kerapa Huata who began her teen years living life on Auckland’s K’Rd and now works as an advocate for victims of domestic violence and Labour MP Jacinda Ardern who says this country’s youth unemployment rates are at crisis point.

After the panel, an incredible live performance created for LATE at the Museum will bring to life the history of Auckland’s premier house of drag, featuring Tess Tickle and Buckwheat.

Event details are below – if you can’t make this event do take the time on your next visit to explore Auckland’s Musuem.

• Doors open 6.30pm
• Thursday, October 6
• LATE at the Museum
• Auckland Museum
• For more information or to book tickets visit http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/?t=1640

More information:

• Facebook
• Public Address
• Phillip Patston – Youtube
• Christoph El Truento – Soundtrack
• Isaac Aesili – Facebook

Bali hosts its first GLTA Sanctioned Tennis Tournament from 21-24 September, with doubles and singles events for beginners through open levels.

• For information on the venues (Westin Resort Nusa Dua and Nikko Bali Resort), events and registration, contact the local club, Bali Family Tennis Association.
• Bali G-Slam Tournament
• GLTA World Tour 
• Places to Stay

A hot mix of films about gay life will excite Vancouverites and visitors at this month’s Queer Film Festival, held around Vancouver cinemas from 11-21 August.

• Festival Films
• Places to Stay
• Between flicks: See Vancouver’s waterfront sights on a relaxing one-hour cruise through Vancouver Harbor.

Using rivers to explore a destination is a quieter and more relaxing affair than the usual transport of planes, trains and automobiles.

Among the finest waterways of the world to float down or up are two that are downunder in Australia and New Zealand.

Though Tasmania’s Franklin River isn’t far from the city of Hobart, it remains among the world’s most remote and pristine rafting waterways. Blanketed by the impenetrable forest of the Word Heritage-listed Tasmanian Wilderness, the journey morphs from a gentle watercourse at the put in to the challenging and rewarding section downstream, untamed as ever.

Leave Queenstown, Tasmania behind and head for Queenstown on New Zealand’s South Island for another of the Top 10 River Trips cited by Lonely Planet.

Jetboating the Shotover River through steep-sided canyons is described as feeling like “a drug-induced dance on water.” The wild ride offers the mighty Middle-earth scenery of the Southern Alps.

• Shotover River Whitewater Rafting
• World Heritage Cruise on Franklin and Gordon Rivers
• Places to Stay in Tasmania’s Wilderness Coast
• Places to Stay in Queenstown, New Zealand