Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
February/early March, is a high point
on the city's calendar.
In rural areas of Australia, you may
still encounter a little conservative
resistance to gays and lesbians, but
Australians everywhere are generally
tolerant. Noosa, on Queensland's Sun-
shine Coast, was a favored destination
for revelers after the 2002 Mardi Gras,
and there are a couple of resorts in
north Queensland catering to gay and
lesbian travelers.
Liberty Resort
at Kuranda near
Cairns (
&
1300/650 464
in Aus-
tralia, or 07/4093 7556; www.liberty
resort.com.au), opened in late 2002,
billing itself as the world's most luxu-
rious gay and lesbian resort. It has 56
villas, 8 apartments, and an 80-bed
backpacker hostel set on 3.2 hectares
(8 acres) of tropical rainforest. By the
time you get to Australia, there may be
more resorts in the Liberty chain,
including possibly one in the Blue
Mountains, west of Sydney.
Turtle Cove Resort
(
&
1300/727
979
in Australia, or 07/4059 1800;
www.turtlecove.com.au), located on a
private beach between Cairns and Port
Douglas, is another well-known resort
for lesbians and gay men.
Some services you may find useful
are the
Gay & Lesbian Counselling
Service
of NSW (
&
02/9207 2888
for the administration office), which
runs a hot line from 4pm to midnight
daily (
&
1800/805 379
in Australia,
or 02/9207 2800). In Sydney, the
Albion Street Centre
(
&
02/9332
9600
for administration, or 1800/451
600 in Australia outside Sydney and
02/9332 9700 in Sydney for the infor-
mation line) is an AIDS clinic and
information service.
The International Gay & Lesbian
Travel Association (IGLTA)
(
&
800/
448-8550
or 954/776-2626; www.
iglta.org) is the trade association for
the gay and lesbian travel industry,
and offers an online directory of gay
and lesbian-friendly travel businesses;
go to their website and click on
“Members.”
Many agencies offer tours and
travel itineraries specifically for gay
and lesbian travelers.
JMS Global
Travel,
263 Liverpool St., Dar-
linghurst, NSW 2010 (
&
1800/672
120
in Australia, or 02/9360 9611), is
one of the biggest travel agencies spe-
cializing in gay travel in Australia.
Above and Beyond Tours
(
&
800/
397-2681;
www.abovebeyondtours.
com) is the exclusive gay and lesbian
tour operator for United Airlines.
Now, Voyager
(
&
800/255-6951;
www.nowvoyager.com) is a well-
known San Francisco-based gay-
owned and -operated travel service.
Fellow Traveller
(
&
03/9429
6110
), Australia's only free gay and
lesbian accommodations guide, is pro-
duced annually by Melbourne's
weekly gay and lesbian newspaper
MCV.
It is distributed nationally. The
following travel guides are available at
most travel bookstores and gay and
lesbian bookstores, or you can order
them from
Giovanni's Room
book-
store, 1145 Pine St., Philadelphia, PA
19107 (
&
215/923-2960;
www.
giovannisroom.com):
Out and About
(
&
800/929-2268
or 415/644-8044;
www.outandabout.com), which offers
guidebooks and a newsletter 10 times
a year packed with solid information
on the global gay and lesbian scene;
Spartacus International Gay Guide
and
Odysseus,
both good, annual
English-language guidebooks focused
on gay men; and
Gay Travel A to Z:
The World of Gay & Lesbian Travel
Options at Your Fingertips,
by Mar-
ianne Ferrari (Ferrari Publications;
Box 35575, Phoenix, AZ 85069), a
very good gay and lesbian guidebook
series.
SENIOR TRAVEL
Mention the fact that you're a senior
when you make your travel reserva-
tions. Although all of the major U.S.
