About The Rainbow Connection
This dream first burst into reality on 6th April, 1999. I moved from Sydney to Alice Springs back in 1993 and it didn’t take long before I realsied what a magical place this was. The people, country, spirit, essence….all very accommodating and supportive. A fabulous gay/lesbian community to be part of and grow with. Monthly dances, a great social network and I was soon thinking - gee - wouldn’t it be great to get to share some of this with LGBT travellers, tourists, visitors and the like. I mean, this IS Alice Springs and people come here from all over the world, don’t they? How hard can this be??
The first plan was to buy a small 20 room hotel that a few of us local mob could have co-owned in some kind of consortium, worked in and on to get it into some shape. Unfortunately, the price was too high and the place needed loads of work. Plan B took effect - find a property that would work as a B&B. Smaller in size and ultimately more manageable from a financial and operational viewpoint. That way, I could just rely on my own resources and capital. I was in the throws of selling my home in Erskineville in Sydney and buying #22 Raggatt Street by private treaty when #24 (adjacent) came on the market at the same time. Idea - I’ll buy both!! I moved into #22 Raggatt Street on settlement day (Friday 29th January, 1999) and then I bought next door (#24) the day after at auction!! I was the only real bidder so I scored a good deal. A very busy 24 hours between being a single-home owner in Alice to a double!! That saw the beginning of the dream - pulled down the adjoining fence, developed it into one large property and off I went!! Building a strong working relationship and partnership with the (then) NT Tourist Commission (now) Tourism NT and the (then) Central Australian Tourism Industry Association - CATIA and (now) Tourism Central Australia along with several other genuinely g/l friendly operators in town and the region meant that I could confidently market the Wonderland experience to the LGBT tourists nationally and globally. Having some good mates in Tourism Australia also helped. I joined Gay & Lesbian Tourism Australia www.galta.com.au in 2001 and have served as the NT Regional Director (and subsequently Company Secretary) since that time. Having such a great cohort of other g/l owned/operated or friendly peopel to work with to help build the profile has also been of outstanding
benefit.
It’s all been a most wonderful journey at so many levels. Even won this web-site in the annual (2008) Hidden Jewel Awards run by www.om4tourism.com. My partner, Glenn, came to town in mid 2000 and we met on New Years Eve. Six months later, in July 2001, we had become ‘an item’. His tremendous support, encouragement, love and hard work has helped turn the place into something we like to think of as quite special. Now in its 10th year of operation, we continue to grow as a result of the many wonderful guests we’ve been fortunate enough to be able to host along the way and the support we’ve recived from so many around us both inside and outside the tourism industry. Just so glad that others could relate to my passion and be such a remarkable part of the tourism history of the NT. Glenn and I both work in other areas (have to have ‘real jobs’) as well as operating the B&B so it’s a pretty busy life in many respects. Never too busy though to make sure we take time out to ’smell the roses’ here in stunningly beautiful Central Australia under clear blue six billion star skies!! There are so many things to experience here so whether you come for a few days or a few years (people do!!), we’ll be delighted to welcome you.
2008 Central Australian Tourism Industry Achiever
