GayNZ.com sent non-drinker Bain Divine around Auckland's gay bar/club venues to have a sober and unbiased view of just where venues are at, as we enter 2006. After a drought of venues a couple of years ago, the scene has got a bit of choice going again and the centre of activity has moved uptown for a casual drink, a wink at a twink or a bump and grind that's good for your mind. To get an idea of prices and music styles Bain took along a 23 year old drink slut from Real Groovy Records and bought him a Heineken in each venue, so you can compare. (All prices are from actual purchases, hours were provided by staff members but may vary). FAMILY The name says it all. You will find anyone and sometimes everyone there. A pub-club that's open almost 24/7. Slow during the day but on busy weekend nights it becomes a cavernous concoction of drag queens and drunkards, lesbians playing pool, smoking trannies, twinks and cruising party boys. Bawdy and basic, there sure is GLBT variety here. A cleverly designed smoking porch, open to the street, has become a daytime and early evening hang out for K-Rd types and the few gamblers who disappear into the pokie machine enclave inside. At night the smoking porch is a bottle neck, ironically smokier than any bar I've been into pre-prohibition. Weekend shows at 12.30am-1.30am feature drag artistes, and the larger than life Miss Ribena comperes to the sweating crowds on the dancefloor and the crush of the bar. Address: Karangahape Rd, Uptown (west of the K Rd and Pitt St intersection) Hours: Monday-Thursday 9am - 5am Friday ñ Saturday 9am - 6 am Music: Top 40 and pop, mega mixes, dancefloor anthems, Diva and R