backpacking Australia

[minx]

miss backpacker competition

 

some excerpts:

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - It's a long way from diamante tiaras, satin sashes and a heartfelt desire for world peace, but competition at Miss Backpacker 2004 is hot. At the KingsX Hotel in Sydney's notorious red light district, around 200 mainly British backpackers lured by the promise of "ravishing bosomed beauties" crowd the low-lit bar to see four girls battle it out in the latest heat of Miss Backpacker and the chance to win A$1,000 ($781).

 

"My mum's a big feminist, if she knew I was doing this, she'd kill me," said Fernandez, who lists her hobbies as drinking and soccer.

 

Huge cheers erupt when statuesque British blonde Vix Stevens, fresh from a wet T-shirt contest in Queensland, takes the swimwear section by storm as she rips off her black bikini top and springs into a topless handstand.

 

"Goddamit, you're a pretty cow aren't you, just stay a meter and a half from me, you're making me look like a truck driver," boomed Miss Penny, wearing a red sequined dress, as while introducing nervous 18-year-old Philippa Craig from Reading.

 

As the market gets more picky, the backpacker industry has been forced to raise its standards. And many businesses have found there's plenty of money to be made.

 

The Wake Up! hostel near Sydney's central station, one of Australia's biggest, is packed with 500 backpackers paying a minimum of A$25 a night to stay in the hostel with its seven themed levels and its own range of smiley face merchandise.