2014, the year that was

We love this time of year, a time when we look back over the previous year, reflecting on the 2014 highlights. We began reminiscing, looking through our photos taken in the last 12 months.

First for the year was an opportunity to spend the day out with a friend attending the Aurelio Costarella Frockstars event, a day of couture and dinosaurs at the Perth Museum. This was a 30 Year Retrospective look inside Australian Fashion Week. The display was followed by a free PhotoReady Fashion Parlour makeover, styling advice and a popup runway fashion parade. After the parade Aurelio spoke about the inspiration behind his 2014 fashion designs.

Next event was the Australia Day fireworks, which we attend each year, but last year we went to Fremantle instead of the usual fireworks in the city.  This was because we would be seeing fireworks in the city within the next few weeks for Chinese New Year and they did not disappoint.

Then my job of 14 years was made redundant.  Not knowing what I wanted to be doing, I decided to embark on something new and created this blog. We are very grateful for the support we have received and for all the feedback and comments we continually receive. The blog gave us a new challenge and we began to spend more time exploring the city we live in, seeing it through the eyes of a traveller.

We attended many local events, Sculptures by the Sea at Cottesloe Beach, complete with a giant goon bag, then Sex and the City fashions came to Perth, we attended the Fremantle Instameet which coincided with the Fremantle Street Art Festival and more fireworks, this time at Mandurah foreshore for the Crab Festival.

Then the first of our 2 trips for the year that included a few firsts. In April we headed over to Melbourne. We stayed at Docklands and had a great time exploring the area, visiting the Queen Victoria markets, Brunetti’s in Carlton and The Beatles in Australia Exhibition. Then down to the port where we embarked on a 12 day cruise to New Zealand, a place we had never been before. We had rough seas over but it was all worth the trip when we arrived in Milford Sound to what the Captain described as one of the best days in years.  We then went to Wellington, Napier, Auckland and Tauranga. The cruise ended in Sydney. Very unusual for an Aussie to say, but Sydney is a place I had never been before.  The visit coincided with the annual event, Vivid and we spent 5 days seeing the local sights, including tours of Queen Victoria Building and the Sydney Opera House.

Our next holiday was for my birthday in August where we spent 10 wonderful days in Bali creating another first memory, our first trip together to Bali. Here we saw Kecak, Barong and Legong Dances, tasted the most expensive coffee in the world, cuddled Chloe the orangutan, saw how they turn zoo poo in to paper and even attended a Balinese Nyekah ceremony at Pura Goa Lawah. This is the Bat Cave and yes, it is full of live bats. Here we witnessed a procession from the temple to the sea where they offer a person’s ashes to release their soul from earth to heaven.

When we returned we were in time for a beautiful spring garden, everything in bloom, the grapes budding and an abundance of citrus.

Time for new changes, I found a very fulfilling job and commenced full time employment again. Time to accrue some annual leave.

Just after this we attended Open House Perth where we toured some of Perth’s iconic buildings, many, even having lived in Perth all my life, I had never seen before. We went to the Bell Tower where Steve rang the bells, the State Theatre Centre of WA, including inside the main Heath Ledger theatre, WA Parliament, Council House, Perth Concert Hall, the Duxton Hotel and the Bali Memorial at King’s Park.

This brings us to a time of the year we both enjoy, Christmas.

It was a great year for musicals too, a favourite past time of ours. We saw Lion King and Strictly Ballroom in Sydney and for a New Year’s Eve treat we attended the Perth premiere of Les Miserables.

So now to New Year’s Day and a time when traditionally people begin making new travel plans and goals.

What are your travel plans for 2015 and do you have any major goals you want to achieve?