Archive for the 'What we did' Category
I’m not one for writing reviews (as you may have noticed), but I did want to find some time to round up some photos, videos and thoughts about the 2007 West Coasts Blues and Roots Festival held this weekend in Fremantle. We had a great time; enjoying good music, friends, a great atmosphere and the sun, every now and then! What did you think? Leave a comment below!
You can find a few of my photos here on flickr and videos here on youtube. Please be aware that I just take photos for fun, and the videos I’ve kept short on purpose!
Other media and blogs talking about the festival.
Justin @ PerthMusic covers Saturday and Sunday.
Fyredarkle in the Perthians Group on Vox about Sunday.
Simon Collins covers Saturday and Sunday for The West.
Jay Hanna from the Sunday Times covers the event at PerthNow.
Naomi @ Artichoke writes about seeing John Mayer, Ben Harper, meeting randoms and has a few photos.
Sunset Events have written something themselves and put up some photos.
Photos on Flickr:
Kukame (from side of stage)
Bubba Da Hutch (heaps!)
John Mayer’s website has set list and some photos taken on stage, btw, he has a blog, but nothing written in it about Perth (yet).
Videos on Youtube:
Ben Harper - With My Own Two Hands by huly06
Ben Harper - Steal my Kisses by erin mcmahon (this is when those guys got on stage!)
Bob Evans - Rocks in my head by beniv8
Bob Evans - Nowhere without you by beniv8
John Mayer - No Such Thing by huly06
John Mayer - Waiting on the World to Change by huly06
John Mayer - talking about feeling home in Perth and Why Georgia by huly06
John Mayer - Your Body is a Wonderland by WAmade and same song by erinmcmahon
John Mayer - solo from Belief by aimeefl02
John Mayer - I don’t trust myself by aimeefl02
John Mayer, Missy Higgins, The Waifs and Wolfmother by ihavnobum
I’ll add to this post if I find more to add!
I’ve created a EnjoyPerth group on youtube, because there doesn’t seem to be an active Perth group.
Today we went to the Swan Valley for Spring in the Valley, with my brother and parents. It was our first Spring in the Valley, and we haven’t been to the Swan Valley very often.
We only got there at around 3pm, which was a shame, as most of the fun ended at 4 or 5pm at most places (which I found quite strange, especially since it doesn’t get dark until after 6…).
Our first stop was the Swan Valley Visitor Centre in the Guildford Courthouse. Looked around there a bit (there’s a small museum) and grabbed ourselves some brochures. Next door there was a pottery, with a pottery demonstration, and a small market (mostly jewellery).
I’d noted down the Duckstein Brewery as a place to visit, but it was soooo busy with cars, busses and young people, I don’t think we would have stopped there even if my parents weren’t with us! Everyone seemed to be having a good time though, there was music and dancing. Also, I noticed a lot of people in fancy dress (like cowboys and indians), anyone know why, is it a tradition?
So we drove on to Edgecombe Brothers (we passed Mash Brewery which was also very busy!), where we enjoyed three tastings of wine, with a wine glass we could keep, for $6, and a $15 wood-fired pizza from Pizza Perfecto. They also had a sausage sizzle, other things to taste, didgeridoo music and horse wagon rides.
Next stop was the Baskerville Hall, but the fair was already shutting down at 4pm. So our last stop was Upper Reach Winery. The live music had stopped at 4pm, but it was still open till 5. They’d stopped selling Lamb burgers by that stage though… :( It was busy, but not too crowded (they only allow 5 busses at a time, and did have that many there), and there was a good atmosphere. We bought a souvenir glass for $2, and then payed $3/4 for a half glass of wine. Very nice location, on Memorial Avenue in Baskerville, near the Great Northern Highway.
We had a nice time, but a couple of hours were long enough for my family, who are not really into wine tasting and busy events! If I were to go again I’d definitely go earlier, and pick one spot I knew was nice and would have some live music, and make a day of it with friends. I did not expect it to be as busy as it was with busloads of people.
For wine tasting without the party astmosphere and crowds (at most locations) I recommend going at another time, when it won’t cost you money to taste before buying a bottle!
If you don’t have much experience of the Swan Valley and wine tasting (like us), this might be a nice way to visit some of the places you normally wouldn’t stop at. I now have a better idea of the Swan Valley, and a few places I’d go back to in quieter times!
Now, I’m only one person, who only visited two locations properly, and was only there for a couple of hours, so if you went, let me know your experiences in the comments below!
Top photo taken at Edgecombe Brothers, middle one at Upper Reach: the busses and people between the vines. Click on them to go to a larger version.
On Friday evening we celebrated a friends birthday and watched the footy at BAR138 on Barrack St, Perth.
It’s situated behind the beautiful heritage listed Railway Hotel façade.
The bar itself is quite modern, specialises in Mediterranean cuisine (though we had wedges, which should come with more sourcream and sweet chilli than it did!) and is open from 7am for breakfast. It’s right in the city centre, so also good for after work drinks.
Anyway, I’m not one for reviews, I really just wanted to share the nice building with you! It’s amazing what nice old buildings you can discover in Perth when you pay a bit more attention (or look up!).
I read on their website that they’re hosting a Melbourne Cup Luncheon on 7 November, with the big race on a big screen.
Last week I went to see the Big HOO HAA with friends. It’s on every Saturday night at Lazy Susan’s Comedy Den, upstairs at the Brisbane Hotel in Highgate (just north of Northbridge, along Beaufort Street).It’s improv comedy, in the style of ‘Who’s Line Is It Anyway?’ Two teams of comedians competing against each other, often going by audience suggestions.
You can book tickets via BOCS, or get there before 8pm and get your tickets at the door and go back downstairs to get a drink. The show starts at 8.30pm.
Apparently it’s a full house every week (it certainly was last week), so do make sure you book, or get there early. Tickets are $15, $12 concession.
As I said, it starts at 8.30pm. There’s two short breaks (well, there was when we went!), which means you can go downstairs to get a drink in you like, and it finishes around 10.30/11pm.
I was quite impressed with the Brisbane Hotel; an old building, but newly renovated. Very flash! Plenty of parking around the back (for a fee) and in the streets surrounding.
Links:
Overview of regular comedy nights in Perth.
Lazy Susan’s Comedy Den website.
In a strange twist, I ended up going to the EveryWoman Expo with friends on Friday night, but I only saw the fashion show, because we didn’t get there until 7pm and the show didn’t finish till 8.30pm. Even while we were walking to the exit there wasn’t anything to see or freebies to get, because all the stalls were packed up, ha ha!
While I was waiting for my friends beforehand, I had a look around the big foyer area of the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre. There are a lot of meeting and ball rooms on the left side. There was also an art exhibition in one area, and lots of art displayed throughout the foyer. What a shame though, that the design of the whole thing (outside of it, mainly), is so, well, ugly, and that it doesn’t take advantage of the great position next to the Swan River! Very strange! Hmm, I’ve just been reading the website, and the ballrooms and one of the foyers do have views of the Swan, apparently. I think the whole big foyer should have been on that side, but I’m not an architect, and I guess they would’ve had their reasons…Anyway, after that we went to see The Da Vinci Code in the cinema in the city. I noticed a sushi place next door where they have all the plates going around on a moving ‘thing’(can’t think of the word!). Will have to check that out some time, just for the novelty of it!
I hadn’t read the book, so the movie was ok, and I didn’t think it was too complicated.
When I got home at midnight, Pascal and my brother were up watching The Netherlands play in the World Cup. They won (of course?), but it was still exciting towards the end.
Last night we celebrated a friends birthday in Leederville. We had dinner at Giardini’s, and Italian Restaurant on Oxford St. I’m not good at reviews (because I like nearly everything!), but I liked it, nice, but not to posh. Pascal had a risotto, and I had the cannelloni. They had nice cakes for desert, but my friend and I went for a strawberry cocktail instead…..
Because after dinner we headed over to the Leederville Hotel for a whole night of dancing! It had a been a while…! And I was expecting to feel a bit out of place between all the really young people, but it wasn’t that bad at all, and there were also plenty of older songs and rock (more our style) songs played. A good night out! And when we left, we were lucky enough to get a taxi just after walking around the corner to Oxford St!