From Friday, 07 September 2007 - 1:00pm To Sunday, 09 September 2007 - 10:00am Every day
A weekend away with the Sapphic Trampers. Friday 7th -9th September, 2007.
Stay in a cottage for one or two nights. Walk or mountain bike the numerous beautiful easy trails & enjoy the wildflowers! Children are welcome.
The September trampers event is a weekend at Dryandra Village, about 2 hours east of Perth in beautiful wandoo forests. The village is made up of renovated, self contained workers huts. There are great opportunities for cycling, bushwalking, wildflower spotting, and just hanging out.
Cost: $25 pp per night / $10 children.
What to bring: Participants will need to bring bedding (sheets and blankets), towel, toiletries and food supplies. (Beds - are all single bunk beds, 3 sets of bunks to a room)
What's happening: On the Friday night we'll have a chance to see native mammals (including bilbys, bandicoots and bettongs ... bewdyful!!) at the Barna Mia animal sanctuary (near to the village). Admission to this wonderful experience is $13 adults ($7 children, $35 families). The lecture / tour starts at 6.30pm sharp.
Lesley has booked and paid a deposit on two cottages ‘Possum' and ‘Wallaby' from 1pm Friday 7th September to 10am Sunday 9th September. The weekend is being organised by Lesley and Sabena.
Get in quick to book for one night or both.Please note we particularly need a quick indication of numbers of women/children who will be wanting to stay on the Friday night. If we want to keep adult costs down to $25/per head we need to be assured of a minimum of 8 for Friday night to keep both cottages. The cottage caretakers want to know if we are cancelling one of the Friday night cottage bookings by Monday 13 August - so some definite replies/bookings this week would be very much appreciated.
Also please confirm if you would like to take part in Friday's tour of the animal sanctuary.
Past participants said:
"Wonderful weekend with wonderful women ... fun times, shared meals, and a lot of laughs!"
"Great opportunity to get away! Some women were very active cycling and walking, others of us were quieter ... there was something for everyone"
RSVP to Sabena ASAP if you want to stay both nights or only Friday 7th. We can take bookings for Saturday night until 24th August. Contact Sabena on 9337 5025 or
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.
Contact: Contact Lesley e:
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or t: 0335 8869, OR Sabena m: 0427 324 766 e:
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The 2008 Pride Parade may have been among the smallest, and certainly
the fastest in Pride's 19 years, but it remains a relevant and
important event according to this year's convenor, Charles Denham.
Gay favourite Rachel Berger is among the headliners this year as the Wild West Comedy Fest returns
to Perth for 26 days of hilarity and hijinks. Other Australian comedy
stars on the bill include Bob Franklin, Tom Gleeson, Fiona O’Loughlin
and Scared Little Weird
Guys.
Rebuilding trust was the key to the success of this year's Pride events
according to festival convenor, Kieran Bycroft. While some events did
less well than expected, many attracted good crowds and some film and
theatre sessions were sold out.
African-American and Latino voters were a powerful force in electing Barack Obama and also in passing Proposition 8 to ban same-sex marriage. Exit polls
showed 70 percent of black voters, and a majority of Latino
voters, voted yes to the ban. More here.
Three US states ban marriage
Three US states passed amendments banning same-sex marriage in the historic vote that also saw the election of the nation's first black president. Voters in California, Arizona and Florida approved proposals to outlaw same-sex
marriage. More here (free registration retired)and here.
California's marriage war rages on
Having failed to save same-sex marriage, GLBT Californians are taking their fight to court. City attorneys from San Francisco, Los Angeles and Santa Clara will seek to invalidate Proposition 8 on the grounds that it conflicts with the equal
protection pillars of the state Constitution. More here, here, here and here.
Caught with their pants down in Malaysia
Malaysian police raided four gay "parties" on the weekend and arrested some 70 people after finding DVDs, gay magazines, lubricants and boxes of condom. A small reminder to be cautious in Malaysia and Singapore, where the aptly named Straits Times gleefully prints your photo. Details here.
Burning in hell on Earth
God Hates Fags! posters have become one of the symbols of the great divide in America. Now the son of
vile and crazy Rev Fred Phelps speaks out for the first time about the violent abuse he
suffered at the hands of his father. Read it here, along with
the response from his delightful sister, Shirley.
Circumcision HIV benefits in doubt
US analysis of data on 53,567 men who have sex with other men has
found that circumcision is ineffective in reducing HIV rates.
African trials have shown circumcision cuts the likelihood of male to female HIV transmission by up to 60 per cent. More here and here.
Only gay in the village proud but sad
Australian Olympic gold medalist, Matthew Mitcham, is proud but also sad to have been the only gay in the village at Beijing. The champion diver says his decision to come out before the games was a vital part of the gold medal performance that denied China a clean sweep. More here.
Lover cooked and served with herbs
A plague of gay cannibals threatens to overrun the planet, with the latest outbreak reported in Leeds, where a former Mr Gay UK is on trial for killing a former lover and attempting to eat part of his thigh. Anthony Morley, 36, is accused of murdering Damian Oldfield and cooking parts of his flesh. More here.
Big HIV rise among China's gay men
HIV infections have increased alarmingly among gay and bisexual men in parts of
China according to new data. There were an estimated 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases in China as of
October 2007, up 8 percent from 2006. Cases among gay and bisexual men jumped to 3.3 percent in 2007 from 0.4 percent in 2005. More here.
Dancing in a circle with your friends, it's quickly becoming the
perfect night out. However amid the fifth round of drinks and
renditions of I Kissed a Girl, you can't help but feel a rift over the
dance floor.
From the Pride theatre and film seasons through to the Great Gay &
Lesbian Debate, Parade and Party, I thoroughly enjoyed this year's
Pride Festival. View footage from the debate and Parade and read about my festival highlights and the challenges I think Pride faces next year.
In winning today’s Presidential election, Barack Obama has provided the
world with the opportunity for a new beginning and his country with the
opportunity to put the disastrous Bush years behind it.
For some time now it's been popular among members of Generation Y to
declare that something is "so gay" to indicate that it's dumb, silly,
bad, ugly, unattractive, geeky, embarrassing, gaudy or even just plain
dull. That’s so gay. That’s so gay.
That’s so gay. It's the dull that hurts the most.
While I may not be the first person to go out on a limb and declare
that Barack Obama will win this year's Presidential election, I may be
among the first to declare that Sarah Palin will win the Republican
nomination and challenge him in 2012. That is, if she hasn't
bankrupted the Republicans with her wardrobe expenses first.
The global financial meltdown and impending economic Armageddon may
have an unexpected upside. For the first time in half a generation,
there may finally be a pool of people with the time on their
hands necessary to build exciting Parade floats.