Location: Fizzy Fernery

In the early 90s, they discovered cruising as a teenager, but didn’t explore it until they turned 18. Back then, the internet was not yet developed. They called a youth support hotline about being gay and were introduced to a community of people closer to their own age. 

One day, they talked about a local park where they had hooked up with people. As they were curious, they asked if they could show them. It was a late summer/early autumn afternoon, and they “built up enough courage to walk in the men’s facilities nervous and shaking.”

However, another person was in there cruising, and they promptly told them that “this is their territory and they need their permission before cruising in this area,” which scared them off for quite a while. 

Despite this, they encountered cruising occasionally while playing sports at local parks, but it took some alone time to overcome their initial fears.

Over time, cruising became a place to explore in transit from place to place, and the thrill of the “are they or aren’t they” became fun to play with. 

They also shared a bad experience they had in a public park in Sydney before the era of mobile phones. They met someone at a cruising ground and went with him in his car to a secluded area on the beach. However, the driver left them there after the experience turned sour during the contact. They joked that “you remember the first time you have sex, and every other time you have trauma.”