My February Wrap-up

After all my posts about our trip to the Philippines to attend our daughter's wedding, I'm back to the present days.

Every month I look through the Event calendar of my local library in Riverton to see if there are any talks/workshops that might interest me. 
They are good to meet people, to occupy any spare time I might have and I always learn something.

On Saturday 2nd of February I attended a workshop entitled "Roar with Passion - how to bring back the joy" by Natalie Martinovich.  She's a life coach and the talk was very interesting and inspiring. Sadly life coaching sessions are very expensive... Has anyone had some coaching and did it help with your job or life situation?

The modern looking Riverton Library and a mural at far end (top photo)

The library where I hadn't been for over 1 year had been remodeled and was light and fabulous. The former counter is no longer there and now the staff work from standing stations, there are lots of comfy sofas, an outdoor courtyard, and even a mural!

In the afternoon I took out my paint brush and Chalk paint and painted the chest of drawers and bedside tables in my bedroom. 
I just painted the outer area and left the drawers unpainted and top unpainted. I still need to paint the mirror frame and will eventually decide if I leave it as is or if I paint one drawer for example or all drawers...



On Sunday 3rd I joined a few Portuguese friends for a picnic organized by the Codfish Academy of Perth on a park by the beach near Fremantle and on the way home spotted a new mural by Brenton See (coming next Monday). Can't believe I didn't take photos...

On Tuesday 5th, after work I joined fellow blogger Iris and husband Ingo  in the city.
They are in Perth visiting from Braunschweig, the town where we lived during almost 6 years in the early 1980's. After lunch at Grill'd we took a free Cat (central area transport) bus to Queens Gardens. 

Queens Gardens - trees, flowers, Peter Pan statue, the bench from the film "Notting Hill" and a bridge over a lake 

From the park we walked over the Matagarup pedestrian Bridge to the new Perth Stadium area.

Matagarup Bridge and Perth Stadium

On the other side of the Canning River, the Burswood Casino and hotel (white building) and the Crown Towers Hotel

The Stadium and bridge across the Swan river, a new cement seating area on the bridge and black swans frolicking 

  At The Camfield across the Stadium we enjoyed a drink and chatted in the outdoor area. 
Later we walked to the nearby residential area of East Perth and caught the Cat bus back to the city and caught a train back home. 

The Camfield Bar

On my day off work, Friday 8th February, I picked up Gill, a retired ex-colleague and we drove south to Dudley Park, a suburb of Mandurah (about 60km away) to visit Jan, another retired ex-colleague who moved there. 

After having coffee at a small coffee shop near the canals we returned to her house for lunch.

My colleague Gill also mentioned other Brenton See murals near her house which I photographed after I dropped her home.

Art in a park, beautiful flowers and iced chocolate at the coffee shop by the river

Dudley Park cottages, Man-made canals running through Mandurah

In the early evening upon my return home and after a change of clothes, I drove to Bull Creek station where I left my car, and took the 10 minute train trip into the city centre where I met up with bloggers Iris and Grace and their husbands.

We had dinner at the Twilight Hawkers Market in Forrest Place (every Friday until end of March). 

At Brookfield Place in St George's Terrace, we came across various Chinese dragons for the commemoration of Chinese New Year.

We had coffee at the Dome Cafe across the Old Perth Boys School, where the pink and purple dragon stood.

Various Chinese dragons at Brookfield Place and a beautifully decorated piano for the players out there

After coffee we walked to Kings Park to watch the "Boorna Waaginy" - the trees speak festival that ran continuously from 8 to 11pm.

Some of Perth's buildings at dusk on our way to Kings Park

On the bridge over the Kwinana Freeway that runs from the Southern to Northern suburbs

In Kings Park, through a 1,5km journey from Fraser Avenue and ending with a light installation at Pioneer's Women's Memorial, projectors transformed the trees and told the Noongar stories with the blooming of flowers, flocks of birds, bush fires, rain, the people, bush animals...

Very emotional, colourful and truly magnificent!

The finale - light installation at the Pioneer's Womens's memorial

It was the first time I visited Kings Park (Botanic Gardens) at night, and I took the opportunity to take some night photos of our beautiful city.

On Saturday 9th, I joined my son, daughter in law and grandson at Kwinana Adventure Park (Walgreen Crescent, Calista) about 20 minutes south from where I live.
I had never heard of the park, but the sign at the entrance declared it Australia's best park!
I don't know all parks, but this massive fenced adventure playground was certainly fabulous for kids and adults.
It has a water splash area, flying fox, tree walk, slides, swings, and lots of other things to keep kids busy for a few hours. It also has lots of shade with plenty of trees, and we enjoyed a picnic with food my daughter in law had taken. 
There is also a covered area that can be rented for parties with fridge, microwave, gas barbecue, tables and benches.

Kwinana Adventure Park - Australia's best park - the gated entrance, pelican statues over the water playground

My grandson walking in the water playground

Saturday 16th, Grace, Iris and partners came to lunch at my house.

In the evening I joined my ex-colleague Gill at the movies to watch "Green Book". We both loved the film and the story line.

On Sunday 17th, I once again took the train into the city to join Iris and Grace for the Lunar New Year Lantern festival in the suburb of Northbridge.

I spotted this big 3 sign that had popped up in the last week or so. Not sure what it's about but just today I saw an advert on tv about the MSWA 3 million grand prize lottery, (Multiple Sclerosis Society of Western Australia) and it had that 3 sign.

The festival on the closed off William Street in the Chinese Quarter was full of colour, and lots of young kids enjoying themselves on the street.

Check out the people relaxing on chairs scattered on the street (bottom left) and the young Mom pushing a vintage pram (bottom right)

After an early dinner with delicious burgers at Grill'd, we walked back to the Perth Underground Station where we bade our goodbyes as I boarded the train to the southern suburbs and Iris, Grace and partners went north.

PS: Sorry for the overload of photos, and you might have seen similar photos in Grace's and Iris's recent blog posts already 😉😉.