6th Blogging Anniversary

Can't believe it's been that long...
On the 18th June 2011 my first post went live, and I was so excited when I noticed my first reader coming through from Germany.
Well from that first reader I've now had 1,336,690 views, 102 followers, visitors from 158 countries and this is my 498th post!

Looking back, my first post was mainly about my craft interests, and you can read it by following this link. 

Unfortunately and sadly for me as I enjoyed it, the lack of a craft group that kept me focused, my job, writing, house renovations, etc, means I haven't done much painting or crafts.
I have instead done a few makeovers to clothes and furniture, and that fuels my artist vein.

Bloggers: One of the bloggers that first commented on my blog was dear Mariette from "Back to Basics" and you will be pleased to know she still comments on my blog and I on hers.

Another of my first followers who helped divulge my blog was Carole from "Piglet in Portugal". Carole and I met up in 2012 in the Algarve on one of my visits to Portugal.
She wrote about our meeting here and I wrote about the Algarve and our meeting here.

I've met a few other bloggers, such as Grace from Perth Daily , Wendy from Wendy Barret's Paintings and Writings, and Iris, who lives in Braunschweig, the German town where we lived for 6 years and where my kids were born, and she blogs at Double-half or One Ten without Ham.

My world has become a lot richer through friendships across the world, getting to know how other people live, their likes and dislikes, and virtually travelling to other countries through the various blogs I visit.

Most popular posts: In 2012 I participated in a A-Z meme with posts about Australia, and two of my most read posts were: 
A-Z of Australia - Q is for Queens Garden  with over 202,286  hits, and the second one was  A-Z of Australia - I is for Islands (part III) with 178,600 hits.

The United States readers are ahead in the readership with over 671 thousand of you making up 32% of my readers, France is second with just over 200 thousand readers and Australia comes third with close to 51 thousand readers making up 28,2% of my total readers, followed closely by Germany with 48 thousand readers. (A while back all my Australian readers stats disappeared, and then a few days later, they started from 0 again, no wonder they come 2nd).

I've mainly blogged about my travels in Australia and overseas, decor and renovations, and on Mondays I now team up with Oakland Daily Blog and other worldwide bloggers to post a photo of a mural. These are quite popular posts and my mural posts now stand at 109!
And of course I often post about Perth my adopted  hometown where I love to live.

Perth

Travel: Lisbon, Portugal and Amsterdam, Holland

Murals in Perth and Portugal

I hope to be here in another 6 years and to be able to still enjoy blogging about what I blog about and to still have all of you dear readers interested in reading my posts.

Cheers!

Monday Mural - Giraffe

This mural on the rooftop walls of the Many 6160 building in Fremantle (a former Department store now housing a mix of retail and creative spaces and a rooftop event space).

The giraffe was painted by James Giddy, a young artist who was born in  Johannesburg, South Africa, but moved to Perth at a young age.

For other murals from around the world please follow this link.

WA Day Long Weekend

We just had a long weekend to commemorate WA (Western Australia) Day (5th of June) which celebrates the founding of the Swan River colony in 1829.

This year I didn't join any of the festivities in some of Perth's suburbs and the main one in Elizabeth Quay, but still had a very busy weekend.

On Friday evening we had dinner at the Portuguese club in the suburb of Fremantle - the usual Grilled Cod-fish that they serve on the 1st Friday of every month. We hadn't been in a while, so it was great to meet up with friends.

Cod fish, potatoes and chick peas - just delicious!

On Saturday, the day was slightly wet and I spent the day putting the house in order... not my favourite task, but has to be done sometime!

Sunday we had a fabulous sunny and warm day (23C), so in the morning I sat in the garden in old shorts and t-shirt and started a new painting project.
Most of our furniture is solid cherry wood, which is a crime to paint (according to my husband), but we've had it for over 20 years and I think it's time for an update, so I managed to convince him I would only paint the dining room chairs...for now...so that the dining room will at least look a bit brighter and modern.
When it's all done I'll show you the before and after so you can judge if I was right or wrong!

Painting was started on the dining room chairs

Later in the afternoon we joined friends celebrating their 2 year old's birthday at the Scented Garden on the South Perth foreshore. Again we met up with friends we hadn't seen in a while and it was great to catch up.
Before returning home I took some photos of the city of Perth on the other side of the Swan river.

South Perth park and Perth city across the Swan River

 

Sun-setting reflections on Perth buildings and after dark city lights

Monday was warm again with the temperature going up to 25,6C (remember Winter actually started on the 1st of June).
We had planned to visit an orchard in the Perth hills in the suburb of Roleystone, and decided to go have lunch in the area too. The restaurant we originally planned to go to was closed due to the public holiday and we were recommended Avocados Restaurant.

The restaurant was located next to a water stream with views to the hills. It was packed and the food obviously took a while to be delivered, but when we got it, it was quite tasty and the presentation was great too. 
They also have accommodation and function rooms that are rented for weddings, etc.

On the way to the Hills - a horse box, hills and flowers, houses on the hills and crash cars piled up on a truck

Avocados restaurant, outdoor eating area and stream, accommodation, our food

The stream by the restaurant

After lunch we drove just a few kms to visit Raeburn Orchard, and were aghast when we saw the hundreds of cars parked near the Orchard and the huge crowds lining up to get in!
Really?? Yes, and the reason I was going to visit was because on Thursday the Orchard was mentioned on a TV program regarding their fields covered in Autumn foliage, being the ideal location for beautiful photos.
You see in Perth there aren't that many deciduous trees that turn golden or red and then shed their leaves in Autumn....in fact most parks in Perth still look very green.
So all those people had seen the same program I had and were there to take photos and to buy farm fruit too I assume.

An entry fee of $3,50 per person was even charged to enter the orchard, such was the demand!
There were 3 parking attendants directing traffic into an empty lot next door, and the poor neighbouring houses had even cordoned off their lawns with "no parking signs".

One of the attendants said that on Saturday they had 5000 visitors!!  They certainly must have done well with entry fees, extra fruit and other produce sold...

Anyway, we paid the fee, and it was actually an enjoyable afternoon wandering around, taking photos, we even came across a few people sitting around their picnic baskets enjoying the views and the warm weather.
Before leaving we went into their store and bought apples and pears, a bottle of pear juice and and ice-cream for each. I must say the fruit is very tasty, so it was a good buy.

Horses, rows and rows of fruit trees, persimmons and avocados

Green and Golden

I even felt like a kid playing with the dry leaves

Inside the orchard store - jams and sauces, fruit and juices

Sour Cherry and Salted Caramel ice-cream

And so ended a very enjoyable long weekend. 

Hope you are having a great week.

Monday Mural - Under the Sea II

This mural at Deep Water Point, is painted on the other side  of the toilet blocks of the mural I showed in last week's post.
The theme is the same, might have been painted by the same artist too and I love the vibrant colours of the mural.
For other murals from around the world click on this link.

If you are in Western Australia, enjoy the WA Day holiday.