A busload of men in stilettos, outrageous dresses, giant wigs and wild theatrical make-up has been recreating an outback journey.

The Priscilla, Queen of the Desert bus is back and has been creating a wave of acceptance and appreciation among outback and regional residents of South Australia.

With celebrities such as Toni Collette in tow, the team has been retracing the trail taken in the 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

The drag queens have also been stopping to film episodes of a reality TV show.

On the journey from Sydney to Alice Springs via South Australia, the crew has passed through Port Augusta, caused a furore at the Quorn outback races and doused Coober Pedy in drag.

Writer and director of the original Priscilla film, Stephan Elliot, is part of the troupe, which includes a crew of 120, four buses and 10 drag queens.

"We're just an extraordinary moving production number that is going from town to town," Mr Elliot said.

"The original advertising line of the film Priscilla was: If aliens landed in your town what would you do, what would you say and most importantly what would you wear?

"I think that sums up exactly what's happening here."

Looking to add the seaside to the original trail, the crew dropped in on the SA coastal town of Port Germein.

"The story was so land-bound and as we got further into it I thought it would have been really nice to have started with the sea, so this was the decision," Mr Elliot said.

Port Germein's old jetty shed was turned into a TV set, filled with props and lighting, for filming of one of the reality TV episodes.

The male performers are competing in singing, dancing and outrageous acting.

Creating acceptance

Transvestite characters are not a common sight in regional areas and Mr Elliot says it is important for him to rekindle the acceptance aroused by the original Priscilla film.

"In 1994, the story of the drag queens travelling through the outback, facing some hostile locals along the way, was credited for helping break through social stereotypes," he said.

"Australia, after the movie, became one of the leaders in equality and gay rights."

Mr Elliot says the film helped increase acceptance of minority groups at the time, but he thought contemporary politics has restored the fear factor.

"Two of the hottest topics in this country are (a) mining and (b) marriage equality and it's just become so political and angry and we're chewing up time in parliament talking about it," he said.

"My aim out here is to defuse it and try and put a little bit more fun back into it."

Mr Elliot says communities have been welcoming to the new troupe of drag performers.

"The response is fantastic, it usually goes from a little bit of shock and then word spreads pretty quickly and then next you know we start getting crowds," he said.

"The bush telegraph goes off pretty fast."

Port Germain jetty shed was turned into a stage for the night ( ABC: Eloise Fuss )

Mr Elliot says while "a lot of people think drag is men dressing up as women", the current troupe is showing that drag is really just another form of performance art.

"We're dressing up as Australian wildlife, down in Port Germein we dressed up as sea serpents and whales," he said.

"We're not trying to dress up as women, we're just trying to dress up as the weirdest thing on Earth, that immediately makes it funnier, it's not so threatening."

Mr Elliot says the costumes grab attention, but also showcase the vibrant Australian landscape.

"What I did with Priscilla was to put a beautiful brown-red expanse, and then put Hugo Weaving in green sequins and so that contrast for the first time made people really be aware of the outback," he said.

"That again is what we're trying to do here.

"If you try and blend in with the landscape, you'll never see it."

Reap what you sew

Local communities have been swept up in the production process.

"What we've asked is when we went to each town is 'who wants to get into the act?' and I can't tell you how many people have come forward," Mr Elliot said.

"We've had line dancers, we've had tap dancers."

In Quorn, eight local women got together with their sewing machines to help make costumes for the sea-themed episode for Port Germein.

"We were given what was needed to make the costume and a brief explanation," said Brenda, one of the Quorn seamstresses.

"Then we all just went to work and had to use our imagination and come up with the idea."

She says the team had an "absolutely fabulous day" sewing costumes with their sequins, frills and netting.

"We were just ordinary ladies with years of sewing experience," she said.

"We've never had to do anything like this before in our lives."