With all 18,500 tickets long since sold out (the first time in recent history that this has happened), spare tickets for the Sydney Mardi Gras main party were appearing on eBay for an astonishing $5,000 each as people clamoured to join the fun.

One last release of tickets was made the day before the event and - though people started queueing from 4am to be at the front of the line when they went on sale at noon - they were sold out within two minutes. In a queue of a few hundred people at one particular Ticketek shop only the first two people in the line were able to buy a ticket before all the tickets were gone.

The party, held at Fox Studios, has nine unique spaces within the ticketed perimeter with a huge variety of dance areas, live music, bars, chill-out areas, big name DJs and other entertainment.

Highlights for us - well there was something in every area that floated our boat so it's hard to pick the best bits... The Laser Man in the Horden Pavilion at 1am was utterly breathtaking - manipulating rods of green laser and hurling them over the crowd. Incredible. Over in Hot Rock at the Forum we beat the rain and caught The Potbelleez who blew us all away with a storming set at around 5am. Obviously we should also mention Olivia Newton-John and Cyndi Lauper who were on stage with a gaggle of gorgeous dancers to perform for the hungry crowd in the RHI. Jack Chang was amongst the DJs keeping the Zootopia crowd dancing in the Dome, the girls were kept happy in Fuse Bar with a great line-up of talented DJs and the members even had their own 1,000 capacity marquee complete with bar and DJs throughout the night. There's SO much that we haven't said... the place was alive with fabulous things to do and see - not least all the gorgeous people that had turned up, post-parade, in their sparkly costumes and skimpy shorts.

The 2008 Mardi Gras party was truly a night to remember. We hope that our photos will bring a smile to your face in the long months you'll have to wait before the next one!