The 2022 City of Stirling Calendar celebrates the many beautiful murals across the city, featuring a different mural each month. The calendar led me to research other public art works on display across the City of Stirling. There followed another voyage of discovery to explore new parks and buildings in search of the numerous public art pieces. Our journey loosely followed the Mural Art Trail as published in the calendar and these murals are numbered 1-12. Other artwork

Bindoon is just over an hour's drive from Perth CBD and is a popular day trip destination even if you just go for the famous pies and pastries at Bindoon Bakehaus! Prince Harry visited the Bindoon Bakehaus & Cafe in 2015. He royally approved the Banoffee Eclair during his visit and I must agree with him it is delicious! There are also other tea shops and produce stores worth a visit. The name Bindoon is thought to be Aboriginal in origin and to mean “place where the yams g

Canning Dam Exploring the hills area around Armadale we drove to Canning Dam, a beautiful drive which reminds me of Caves Road. We parked at the lower picnic area and through the trees could just make out the wall of the dam rising high above us – WOW it is unexpectedly massive! That's it where the green arrow is pointing at the trees! The picnic area is lovely and shaded and still had a tinge of autumn colour in early June. There is a small fenced playground, barbecues, pi

Jarrahdale, one of our oldest settlements, is a small historic town nestled in the Darling Range 45 kms south of Perth. Surrounded by national parks and bush reserves Jarrahdale was once prime jarrah milling country and much of the town heritage reflects this. Jarrahdale's forests, parks, rivers, orchards and vineyards offer a great escape in nature away from modern city life. It's National Trust listed heritage gives you glimpses of a bygone country life. Driving in along

An easy day trip from Perth the small hamlet of Gingin was gazetted a town in 1871 and will celebrate it's 150th Anniversary in 2021. The Historical Gingin Trail (click to download link or grab a map from the Information Centre) is an easy 45 minute walk past several heritage buildings, along the lovely Gingin Brook and extending out to the Old Stock Route and the Cemetery. At the time of our visit the Stock Route was closed for maintenance so we looped through the town and

Wanneroo has many amazing pieces of public art scattered across it's suburbs. Some are located in very public places which you might pass every day without "seeing" the art. Others are tucked away in small pocket parks and you need to be "in the know" to find them. Local residents might be surprised to "find" them in their local park too! The Public Art Safari is divided into three sections: North, Central and South. A map and guide is available from the City of Wanneroo

We ventured out to York in 2019 during the York Festival (late September to mid October) to catch the Wara Art Trail. It is a lovely drive to York (97km from Perth) and depending on the time of year it can be verdant green (winter) glowing yellow (early spring when the canola is in flower), dull yellow (wheat harvest) or shades of brown (summer). The Wara Art Trail showcases spectacular larger than life straw sculptures. In 2019 the sculptures depicted a Murray River Cod

It is always enjoyable going for a weekend drive to the country. Toodyay, just over an hour outside of Perth is a lovely country town with plenty of character. I regularly travel to Toodyay to visit family and always enjoy the drive, noticing how the different seasons affect the landscape. I prefer the drive along Muchea East Road off the Great Northern Highway. This becomes Chittering Road and then turn right at Julimar Road. This is a very pretty drive through rolling h