Open House Perth 2015 - The Bell Tower

This weekend the 3rd Open House Perth was held with about 85 destinations opened to visitors.

I just managed to go to the city on Sunday and just visited 5 or 6 places. Some places were only open on Saturday, others just on Sunday, and others were opened both days from about 10am to 5pm.

The Bell Tower (also known as Swan Tower) was top of my wish list as I'd never climbed to the top, and I also wanted to see from up there how the Elizabeth Quay project is progressing.

The Bell Tower stands next to the Swan River at the end of Barrack Street and is one of Perth's iconic sights. 

It was opened in 2000 as part of Western Australia's Millennium project and has received over 1 million visitors since.

The 12 bells in the tower were given St.Martin-in-the-fields in London to the people of Western Australia to commemorate Australia's bicentenary in 1988.

After a very short wait (there's a limit of 120 people in the tower at any time) I was allowed to go in and started climbing the stairs (forgot to count them!). There's also a lift, but if you use the stairs you can see things at every level.

Just outside a few rows of engraved love locks hang from metal chains - these can be bought and engraved inside.

While waiting outside looking at the love-locks

There are 6 floors inside and on the 6th floor if you're brave enough you can go onto the observation steel platform (max 80 people) and have uninterrupted views of Perth and the Swan river. 

Surrounding the glass tower there are Swan like copper sails that are 30mt (98ft) high.  

There are photos and interesting facts on all floors describing the building and the bells.

The bells rang quite often because they were actually training bell-ringers.

Inside the entry foyer there's a small shop selling things related to the tower and there's also quite a number of pamphlets and maps of other attractions around the city useful for tourists. 

The usual entry price is $14 and $9 for pensioners, which is a bit steep, but you do get a beautiful view.

A model of the Elizabeth Quay project (The Bell Tower is to the left)

The oldest bell in Australia from approximately 1550 weighs 459 kg, 920cm diameter

Level 4 - Belfry - with all 18 bells

For a 1$ donation these bells will ring for a while

                                                                                                                                                                    The views from the observation platform were of course fabulous, just check the photos.

Elizabeth Quay project with the new artwork - the double arch - the area with trees is Kings Park/Botanic gardens

The new arched pedestrian bridge at Elizabeth Quay

This building might be a restaurant that will open in December

The city centre buildings

The Supreme Court Gardens at the back of the Bell Tower

The Barrack street jetty from where the ferry departs to South Perth on the other side of the Swan River

Here's a video I made on the observation deck while the small bells were ringing.

Hope you enjoyed the first Open House visit - there's more to come...

My fist pump moment

I usually listen to Perth's 92.9 radio station on the way to work and back - the announcers are pretty funny and always put me in a good mood.

Today I was reminded of their program called "Fist Pump Moment" when people phone in about something great that happened to them.

I had one of those today!
We went to Ikea to buy a few things, among them a sofa bed for the other guest room to accommodate a friend who is coming with my parents in December to spend Christmas with us.

You can never leave empty handed from Ikea!!

I had seen what I wanted on an earlier visit, but needed my husband's help and a trailer to carry the heavy items that wouldn't fit in my car.

We loaded 2 trolleys with our shopping and just before queuing up to pay I went over to the "As Is" section to see if they had anything interesting.

I found the exact same sofa bed (Brimnes day bed) we were about to buy, already assembled at at a great price of $199 instead of $349 - a saving of $150, plus less time spent assembling it. And we still reduced it by $30 with our "Ikea family" discount.
Fist pump moment don't you think?

Brimnes day bed - goes from single to double bed

My husband returned the other items back to their shelves and we asked for help loading the bed onto two trolleys and then outside one of their staff members helped to load it onto the trailer.
On the way home I called our son to come to our house and help unload it and put it in the bedroom.

Now to put that room in order...I have 3 more weekends to get the house in order!
In the evening we had a celebratory dinner with friends who have just sold their house.

Have a lovely weekend!

Monday Mural - Hotdog Bomb

This mural was painted by Mel McVee or Melsky (the same artist that painted Old World Trams and Mexican Fiesta). 
Called "Make Hotdogs not War" it was painted in the abandoned house adjoining the Deli from last week's Monday mural, located in Walcott street, Mount Lawley.

Even though the place looks slightly better with this bright mural, it still looks ready to receive some love and attention. I think it might be demolished with the Deli next door...

Taking part in Monday Murals - You can check other murals from around the world by following this link.
Have a lovely week!

Weekend Projects III - Indoor and Outdoor

Remember this entry hall project started back in September? It's been finished for a couple of weeks - there's a new blue and cream rug, I changed the picture in the far wall (a replica of a Gaugin painted by myself ages ago) and the mirror went from being hung vertically to horizontally.

Looks more modern and sophisticated and has more storage space.

Entry hall - After

Entry Hall - Before

And what did I do with this little telephone seat? It's being converted into a coffee table for the lounge -  I will show you as soon as it's painted...

Hall seat being converted into coffee table

Just outside the front door I hung the little porcelain name plate that I bought at a fair in Sintra when we went to Portugal in March. It was quite unexpected when I found one with our family name.

In our bedroom, this picture frame to the right of the mirror was spray painted (it was the same colour as the mirror before) and I screwed a lot of cup hooks and my long necklaces now have more room. They had all been hanging in the smaller frame to the left (which was originally green). So the left one holds the shorter necklaces, the one to the right holds the longer necklaces.

As you can see I'm a big fan of necklaces in all colours of the rainbow! I hardly ever leave home without a necklace that matches my outfit...

The necklaces now have a roomy place to be hung

Longer necklaces

Shorter necklaces

I also spray painted this footstool in orange. It's part of our patio furniture, and this specific one was bought at an op-shop a while ago for $5.
The rest of the cane furniture  has been re-varnished and is ready for summer. 
The orange/white cushions were all sewed by me and my daughter in law just before last Christmas.

The footstool is now orange

Our former barbecue was dismantled and thrown out during verge collection in September, I today I varnished it and my husband will have to put a top over it so it will serve as a side table next to our new charcoal barbecue. I'll show it again when it's ready!

BBQ table being varnished

Another job which I did today was to dismantle my husband's desk which I want to paint in white.

Right now it's all been sanded and is ready to be spray painted with the spray gun tomorrow,if it's not too windy ... It will be white to go with the new colour scheme in the third bedroom/guest room.

I had thought of buying a new Ikea desk, but why spend money when we had a perfectly good desk at home?

Wooden desk dismantle and sanded, ready to be painted

As you might notice from the two photos above our outdoor cement floor still needs painting. That will hopefully be the last job to be done in November, after all our painting jobs, garden jobs, etc, etc are done!

Monday Mural - I don't care for spam and yo-yo games.

The King of Hollywood - Clark Gable was painted by Fieldey, a Perth muralist/tattoo artist, in February 2015.
It's been painted on the side wall of a derelict Deli on the corner of Walcott and Learoyd streets in Mount Lawley.
Can you see the smaller mural below the window? "Your best buy because there's ham in spam? 
Clark's famous words in "Gone with the Wind"have been reworded with "I don't care for Spam", instead of "I don't give a damn".

On the Walcott Street side (204 Walcott St) the main facade of the Deli has also been painted with a mural by Perth artist Jerome Davenport, depicting the yo-yo games we used to play as youngsters.

The old building is to be demolished, so the works of art won't be there long.

Taking part in Monday Murals - You can check murals from around the world by following this link
Have a lovely week!