Burswood Chinese New Year Fireworks 2012

For those that missed it, here is a video of the Burswood fireworks that was on Saturday night. It was a late start, with the fireworks going off at around 10:30pm, with some residents not too impressed with the late night antics of the Burswood Entertainment Complex but with VVIPs from China, Indonesia, Malaysia etc to entertain and thousands of other punters to entertain, the show must go on.

At 10:30pm, all the free car parks in Burswood were full, with cars parked even along Great Eastern Highway on the Burswood front lawn and along the roundabouts as the place was a mix of people moviegoers attending Movies at Burswood, showgoers seeing Mary Poppins and others just there to see the fireworks (like myself). Check out the fireworks in HD below.



Meanwhile, Burswood is talking up more plans to invest up to $1 billion dollars on revamping (again) the Entertainment Complex into something like Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Here is a released artist's impression of the renovations.

Road Closures for Australia Day in South Perth

This year's Australia day is currently forecast to be a stinking hot 40C so you don't want to be stuck in traffic because of road closures heading into South Perth. 

The following main roads will be CLOSED for the Perth Skyworks event.

6.00 am to 11.30 pm

• Mill Point Road EXIT from Kwinana Freeway (northbound)

12 noon until 11.30 pm

• Riverside Drive / Mounts Bay Road EXIT from Mitchell Freeway southbound
• Riverside Drive ENTRY to Mitchell Freeway northbound
• Mounts Bay Road ENTRY to Kwinana Freeway southbound
• Riverside Drive ENTRY to Kwinana Freeway southbound
• Riverside Drive - William Street to Mounts Bay Road (Point Lewis Rotary)

Please note: Narrows Bridge will have a reduced speed limit of 60 km/h in place from noon to midnight.

3.00 pm to 11.30 pm

• Mill Point Road EXIT from Kwinana Freeway (southbound)

Below are the road closures for South Perth, with the red streets closed, the orange areas closed from 8am - 9pm and the dotted red lines indicating a restricted parking area. More information can be found on the Parking Map here. 

iiNET Free WIFI in Perth CBD

iiNET has recently launched a free wifi network around the Perth CBD area for iiNET customers. When you are next in the Perth city area looking for free internet, scan the wireless hotspots in the area and see if iiNET appears. They've provided a map of current hot spots in the city that are activated.

To make it easier, here are the free hot spot locations based on Perth City landmarks

• Perth Train Station
• Hay Street Mall near Plaza Arcade
• Murray Street Mall near Woolworths
• Anywhere along Adelaide Terrace
• James Street and Francis Street Northbridge 
• Telstra building near Wellington and Milligan Street 
• Near King Street and Murray Street Perth

If you can provide a better description of the locations or if there is an iiNET representative to make things more exact, please email or leave a comment. Remember, you need to be an iiNET customer to connect to these hotspots. 

Where to see Australia Day Fireworks Around WA

This is an old post - here is the 2014 Australia Day Guide.

This is the official list of Australia Day fireworks displays that have been approved around Western Australia for next Thursday's celebrations. First of all, here's a list of fireworks displays in Perth.

Metropolitan Perth Fireworks Displays

26/01/2012 20:00

SWAN RIVER BETWEEN

PERTH CBD & SOUTH PERTH

INCLUDING CBD ROOFTOPS

PERTH AUSTRALIA DAY SKYWORKS

26/01/2012 20:00

BATHERS BAY FREMANTLE

WA 6160

INDIAN OCEAN SKYSHOW

26/01/2012 20:00

GUILDFORD RD ASHFIELD

WA 6054 ASHFIELD RESERVE

TOWN OF BASSENDEAN

AUSTRALIA DAY

CELEBRATIONS

Regional Western Australia Fireworks Displays

26/01/2012 20:00

NORTH RD ALBANY WA 6330

ALBANY LEISURE & AQUATIC

CENTRE SPORTS GROUND

AUSTRALIA DAY

CELEBRATIONS

26/01/2012 21:00

MCGREGOR ST PORT

HEDLAND WA 6721 VACANT

LAND ADJACENT TO RACE

COURSE

PORT HEDLAND AUSTRALIA

DAY CELEBRATIONS

26/01/2012 20:00

FORESHORE DR

GERALDTON WA 6530

EASTERN BREAKWATER

CHAMPION BAY

AUSTRALIA DAY

CELEBRATIONS GERALDTON

26/01/2012 20:30

GREY ST KALBARRI WA 6536

KALBARRI FORESHORE

(WEST SIDE OF RIVER)

AUSTRALIA DAY

CELEBRATIONS KALBARRI

26/01/2012 20:30

LESCHENAULT INLET; ROOF

TOP BUNBURY TOWER;

PONTOONS ON BUNBURY

ESTUARY

BUNBURY AUSTRALIA DAY

CELEBRATIONS

26/01/2012 20:00

WHITLOCK IS CARNARVON

WHITLOCK ISLAND

CARNARVON AUSTRALIA DAY

CELEBRATIONS

26/01/2012 21:00

CARNARVON ST BROOME

WA 6725 MANGROVE HOTEL

MANGROVE HOTEL BROOME

AUSTRALIA DAY

26/01/2012 20:00

FORTESCUE AVE NEWMAN

WA 6753 CAPRICORN OVAL

AUSTRALIA DAY NEWMAN

26/01/2012 20:30

ORCHARD RD ARMADALE

WA 6112 CITY OF ARMADALE

COUNCIL CAR PARK

CITY OF ARMADALE

AUSTRALIA DAY

CELEBRATIONS

26/01/2012 22:30

CRN DIXON RD & DOWLING

ST ROCKINGHAM WA 6168

DIXON RESERVE

AUSTRALIA DAY FIREWORKS

FOR FEEL GOOD EVENTS -

CONCERT

Do you have a favourite spot? Which fireworks display do you think is overrated / underrated? I've never been to the Fremantle or Armadale ones but from other people's reports, they are pretty disappointing. Also wondering how satisfied people feel about seeing the Skyworks from places like Deepwater Point, or from Canning Bridge for example? Leave a comment..

Virgin Australia no Longer Low Cost Virgin Blue

We were flying to Sydney late last year on the A330 from Perth and noticed that we were on one of the rebranded Virgin Australia planes. The A330 has been around for a long time and do not have many of the modern features of some Virgin flights such as credit card charged Live-2-Air. However, the advantage of this is that they provided free movies and tv programming through the on board flight entertainment systems which, like many of us would be familiar with, are not on demand but cycle through one screening after another. The good part is that there was no charge. 

Also I noticed that they were walking through the cabin offering complimentary tea or coffee as well as water which was quite surprising as I did not realise that Virgin had changed to become more of a full service airline. Well they didn't officially until today when they announced water, tea and coffee would be complimentary from now on. I guess our flight was a trial run for the announcement today. Some may say big deal but for many Virgin customers, it's a step in the right direction for an airline growing up and maturing into a full service carrier.

Aussie Dollar Strongest Ever Against Euro

Now is the best time in the last 10 years to travel to Europe as the Aussie dollar reaches an all time high against the Euro. Check out the chart below to see the Aussie's rise. 

8 Tips for Attending the Hopman Cup

CLICK TO ENLARGE: Players before coming out for the mixed doubles

Tonight was the first time I've attended the Hopman Cup. For $50 each, we managed to get a few seats in the last row Z but practically in line with the chair umpire. The price includes three games, USA v Denmark's men's and women's singles and mixed doubles. Here's a couple of pointers I noticed about attending the Hopman Cup.

1. Parking is free but most people in Perth should already know that
2. Food is expensive so many people who are more prepared BYO their drinks and food. A small fruit salad will cost $8, small tub of ice cream is $6.50 and a normal coffee is $4.50. 
3. You can get very close to the players for signatures/photos without too much difficulty. 
4. There is free internet provided by Hopman Cup sponsor Amcom
5. If you are wanting to get your money's worth, you could be there for a good six hours
6. Bring a camera as taking photos seems to be generally allowed 
7. You can get free courtside seats... if you want to watch players warming up on the adjacent courts.
8. Hopman Cup is bigger than you think - It's not every day you get to see the world's number one seed in tennis and also the world's richest female athlete.

One more tip which I forgot about until on the way home - tune your radio to SportFM or 91.3FM to get live commentary! Anyone been to the Hopman Cup this year? leave a comment.

CLICK TO ENLARGE: Caroline Wozniacki signing autographs