Happy New Year 2009

2009 couldn't have come any quicker, could it? Hopefully it will see a huge turnaround in our fortunes. Or half-fortunes for those who invest in the stockmarket. Whilst we had a quiet Christmas we had a loud New Years.

The plan was to head to Dome Cafe in Northbridge for a meal, listen to some music as there were three stages set up and watch the Gloucester Park fireworks from Burswood Casino. We arrived at Dome, which The Boy had been looking forward to taking his aunty visiting from Korea to, sat down, chose from the menu and then were told when I went to order that the kitchen was closed. Closed?! The time was 8pm. On one of the biggest nights of the year?!

I popped down to the Diamond Chinese Restaurant nearby, another Northbridge eatery that we like, only to find that it was closed for renovations. Strike two. Ended up eating at the Dragon Seafood Chinese Restaurant on James Street. They are famous for their steamboat, which most people were having, but we wanted to order from the menu. Can't say that their photos in the menu look too appetising as they do mainland Chinese style and that doesn't appeal to us too much. We chose salt and pepper squid, king prawns in garlic butter, vegetarian delight (bit of an oxymoron I reckon - what on earth is delightful about vegetarian?) and special seafood fried rice. After some 25 minutes of waiting we decided to ask how long our meal was going to be. The waitress didn't want to help and said that some of the wait staff were helping in the kitchen because it was so busy. We finally convinced her to ask how long our meal would be and then she ended up bringing the first couple of plates back. Man, the food was worth the wait. It was very good.

Following that we headed to Icey Ice for shaved ice cream with all sorts of toppings and drinks. It was full of young Asians out enjoying themselves, as was much of Northbridge. Well, I guess it is our version of Chinatown so what else do you expect? By this stage it was 10pm and there were several drunk/stoned idiots heading towards Northbridge. We sat and watched music videos and read Japanese fashion magazines for about an hour and then watched the Jazz band set up at the end of Lake Street. They were very entertaining and were quite enjoyed by all the people watching.

New Years Eve 2008 - Northbridge is alive.

Northbridge is well and truly alive.

Jazz Band.

Jazz Band doing their stuff.


At about 20 to 12 we made our way towards Burswood and the fireworks from Gloucester Park started about a quarter of an hour out from the New Year starting. So we viewed them whilst driving over the Windan Bridge and managed to find a place to jump out from the car to see the end of the fireworks. Mind you, I was still in the car driving around the car park when the fireworks finished but didn't miss it. The Boy was asleep in the backseat though although he had seen the majority of them.

It was a good night out.