Australia Blog

Wandering Northbridge

This afternoon I met up with Anita, who had visited us in Eugene, OR back in March. We met in downtown Perth and chatted over coffee in a Dôme cafe.

After that we braved the inclement weather to take a walking tour of Northbridge, Perth's backpacker district. Barrie had mentioned this area to me as a great place to hang out, with an excellent choice of restaurants, bars, cyber cafes and the nearby cultural centre and art gallery. He was right on the money and I saw plenty of backpackers (and their adjoining pubs) and I can imagine this place being abuzz in summer.

My sister had also metioned that this place was completely different at nighttime and had somewhat of a reputation as a rough area. In fact, the local government has just brought in a curfew for young kids, so that anyone under the age of 16 has to be off the streets of Northbridge after 10pm. Be interested to see how that goes down with the city's youth. I did see a few adult stores and strip clubs to go with the bars, cafes and nightclubs, so I'm sure Northbridge at night attracts all sorts.

It was great to catch up with Anita and I wish her luck when she returns to Princeton later this year to continue her post-grad studies.