My very first Mardi Gras as an adult gay man

As a born and raised Sydneysider, I can’t imagine a world without the Mardi Gras.

My earliest memory (also one of the clearest, given it was long before I discovered my now-boyfriend: wine) was watching it on tiptoe from the edge of my Dad's balcony in his old apartment in The Connaught.

He would have a party each year there, and I would run through the legs of his friends in a sequined dress (borrowed from the daughter of one of his girlfriend's) and a feather bower he purchased for me from the Hot Dollar.

I always loved the energy.