Participants in the Boobs on Bikes parade. Photo / Kenny Rodger
An extremely well-proportioned crowd packed downtown Auckland to watch the annual Boobs on Bikes parade early this afternoon.
Porn stars, erotic dancers and models - and a few drag queens - exposed their breasts down Auckland's main streets on a grey day.
Observers felt the crowd was not
quite as large as last year's event, possibly due to the parade being rerouted to Albert St and away from lower Queen St due to prolonged road construction work.
However, it still attracted thousands of Aucklanders, mostly men, seeking some titillation as they once again thumbed their noses - and mobile phone cameras - at those who called for the parade to be stopped as it was "morally repugnant".
The controversial parade, which this year had council approval, was organised by Auckland mayoral candidate Steve Crow to promote the Erotica Expo, an event running from Friday to Sunday which organisers described as "not only about live stage shows and jelly wrestling".
Among the bike riders this year was Lisa Lewis, who earned her first 15 minutes of fame last year after a bikini-clad run at an All Blacks rugby test and then selling the bikini for up to $4000 on Trade Me, a website from which she was later banned.
She was seeking a second 15 minutes of fame today, though there will be no possibility of selling a bikini top from today's parade.
Businesses at Auckland's other premier retail area, Newmarket, this year put on an alternative, running a competition to determine "Auckland's most fashionable female shopper" with a $3000 prize in an attempt at "celebrating Auckland's most stylish contemporary women".
Judging by the turnout at Queen St, the crowd was probably somewhat smaller.
- NZPA
