On the road: Dragged in for a date with Destiny

By TONY WALL

"Well, I'm not dumb but I don't understand why she walks like a woman and talks like a man ... "

The words from the Kinks' song Lola were the furthest thing from my mind when I saw her across the smoke-filled room.

Our eyes met, and I worked my way through the twisting, gyrating bodies on the dancefloor towards her. She was beautiful in her platinum curls and stark-white PVC dress.

She walked up to me and she asked me to dance. I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said ... Destiny.

It was about this time that I realised my mistake.

I was in Wellington's only gay nightclub, Pound, one of the few stops on our road trip from Bluff to Cape Reinga where people can feel comfortable being themselves without fear of attack from the redneck element.

It was one of several stops on a busy night out that included a cheap meal at a good Malaysian restaurant (Wellington has several), a party on the top floor of an apartment building full of the city's beautiful people, and a stroll down vibrant Cuba Mall.

Wellington, or Wellywood as it has become known after the Lord of the Rings filming, has a real village feel.

Hollywood talks of six degrees of separation - here it's about one and a half. Everyone knows everyone, or at least someone who knows them.

You can't walk down the street without bumping into a friend or acquaintance. And it's scary how much people know about each other's lives.

After a night out with a group of gossip-mongering Wellingtonians, I know more about the sexual preferences of a bloke who's a minor celebrity here than, quite frankly, I care to know.

The other thing you notice about people in Wellington is how well dressed they are, the men in their Armani suits or Workshop shirts, the women in their Lisa Ho dresses or Scotties outfits.

The city has been boasting lately about its high number of sunshine hours, but don't believe the hype. This is by far the coldest stop on our trip, with a wind-chill factor that must be below zero. It is hard to believe this is summer.

After my embarrassment of the night before, I met Destiny (real name Corey Adam) on the top of Mt Victoria.

The 18-year-old drag queen makes good money performing in shows at Pound - around $150 a night. But that's peanuts compared with what she made in Auckland.

"Auckland's far more competitive because you can make $600 for one show.

"But there's more catfighting. Down here it's very happy-go-lucky and the queens share their stuff - you'd never do that in Auckland."

Destiny was born in Palmerston North. Her day-job, as a gay man, is training horses and doing dressage and showjumping.

She started cross-dressing when she was about 16. She spent some years in Auckland but decided to move to Wellington for a change.

She says drag queens are generally well accepted in the capital. If she does get hassled, three years of judo training see her right.

"I knee-capped someone once. He tried to trip me up so I kicked my heel into the side of his knee and he dropped to the ground."

Destiny is a Jack, or perhaps Jill, of all trades. She sewed her spectacular dress herself, she can cook and dance, and has taken acting lessons.

As we sit chatting before a drive up to Taihape for some gumboot throwing, an elderly woman walks up, open-mouthed, and asks, "Are you a girl?"

"No, a drag queen, honey," is the reply.

As Kinks songwriter Ray Davies would say, it's a mixed-up, muddled-up, shook-up world, except for Lola.

Feature: On the road with Tony and Mark