Broadview Park

I was helping my sister out with some errands today, and while I was waiting for her to finish an appointment in the Landsdale Forum Shopping Village, I headed to Broadview Park which is located right behind the shops. I had my book ready and sat down for a bit of a read. 

The park is so lovely. It's a big open space with plenty of trees, picnic and BBQ areas, undercover shade, playground equipment and a beautiful blue lake. I saw a whole bunch of ducks swimming around in the lake, and what caught my eye was this one white duck amongst all these brown ducks. I'm not sure how it got there, but the other ducks seemed to treat it nice enough. I don't even know if they could appreciate the fact that there was an odd duck out, but not to worry, the white duck seemed pretty content. 

South Perth park and Coode St jetty

I was driving along Mill Point Rd today when I decided to pull into Coode St and check out the parks along the river. I don't explore south Perth very much and so I thought this would be a good way to start. 

When I woke up this morning I decided to put my camera in my bag and I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed taking photos of all the scenery. It was nice to see Perth City from a different view. I had fun playing around with all the filters on my camera too. Mine you, I still need to read through the instruction manual. Must make time for that.

The parks were so lovely. The grass was green, there was a lovely lake which had two bridges to walk over and closer to the Swan River was the Coode St jetty.

I really enjoyed just walking around with my earphones in, soaking up the sun (even though it was hidden behind some clouds), enjoying the breeze and taking in the view. Mmm yes, my idea of a relaxing afternoon after a long day. 

I thought this was cool. It's like a mini island.

Emu Lake, Ballajura

One of the things I don't really like about winter (and not having a gym membership) is that I don't feel as motivated to exercise when it's cold or raining outside and the sun sets at 5.30pm. By the time I get home the sun has gone down and I don't like running when it's too dark.

Luckily I had a free night tonight so I got together with my friend to do some exercise. We ran around a lovely lake in her area called Emu Lake. I always drive past but have never seen the whole perimetre of the lake. 

Emu Lake is so beautiful. Even though we're in the heart of winter, the lake and the surrounding parks were bright and beautiful like in the spring time. I enjoy going for a run outside so much more than in the gym. The way I see it, I'm killing two birds with one stone: appreciating the beauty in nature and working off last nights dessert. 

My friend and I were discussing the therapeutic effects of running after we had finished, and I truly believe that it is the answer for a bad day, week or month. There have been things dragging me down lately that I've needed to resolve, and after my exercise session today I was able to tackle it head on and sort it all out with a clear mind. 

No matter what kind of exercise you enjoy, be it running, swimming, playing sports or pumping iron at the gym, it really is a great way to make you feel better. Get off the couch and go!

Faulkner 'Volcano' Park, Belmont

You might recall that last Wednesday I went to Faulkner Park - also known as 'Volcano Park' - but didn't actually see the giant volcano that the park is renowned for. 

I went back out to Faulkner Park today and found the Volcano Park. 

It was a very spacious, very beautiful playground with a massive volcano bam smack in the middle. The volcano had slides coming off of it and a spiral path to the top. 

The entire play space had so many different play equipment for kids of all ages to play on. There were plenty benches to sit on, a barbecue area, sand pit, and so much greenery and flora. It was like a little paradise. 

Please go check it out the next time you're out in the Belmont area, or just if you want to take your kids somewhere new. 

A view from the top of the volcano

These cutie pie kids were playing on the volcano when I was up there

Faulkner Park, Belmont

Over the past two days I've been attending a Mental Health nursing seminar. Today the nurse touched on something called 'self care'. She asked us if we knew what it meant and no one really said anything. She todl us that if we don't know what it is, then we can't engage in it. 

She went on to explain that self care is just looking after yourself and knowing how to bring ourselves back to normal if something should disrupt our balance. 

This topic of self care had also been brought up in another mental health placement I completed. The nurse here was saying that some days can be very emotionally draining. This is why it is important to check "where we're at". This can be in terms of our feelings, thoughts and physical well being. The self care bit also includes knowing what will bring you back to normal. The nurse today was saying that she likes to sit in her bathroom, put the toilet lid down and sit there enjoying a cup of tea and a magazine. She said the toilet is the best place because if someone knocks on the door, just tell them you're constipated and they'll leave you alone for at least 20 minutes without any further questions.

Other self care methods I heard nurses talk about were things like buying a Curly Wurly chocolate and having a take-away coffee, or taking the scenic route with a view of the beach on the way home. 

Because it was the second time I had heard of these self care methods, it got me thinking about what I do to self care when I'm having a bad day. I don't include stuffing my face with junk food as a good method of self care because sometimes that leaves me feeling even worse afterwards. 

It became clear to me that I didn't really have anything specific that will guaruntee my mood to be lifted. For me, I think I have lots of different things, but whether it works depends on what has made me upset in the first place. 

One of those things is having me-time in a quiet and scenic place. I decided that it had been too long since my last me-time session to I went out to a park that I have wanted to check out for a while now. 

The park is called Faulkner 'Volcano' Park in Belmont. The first thing that drew my attention to this park is the giant volcano kid's playground. It's seriously massive and I wanted to climb up on it. The strange thing was that when I went there today....I couldn't find the giant volcano. I'm serious when I say that this thing is giant. You can see it pretty clearly on google maps without having to zoom in too much and from memory it can be seen from the main road parallel to the park. 

I'm pretty certain that they did not move or knock down the volcano, so it must just be me. Anyways, the park is very large and I managed to find other parts of the park that were beautiful. 

I just sat on a bench, read my book and listened to some music on my ipod. I didn't have enough time to spend hours sitting there, but for the good 40 minutes that I did, I felt so calm. 

I like being around people, but I'm glad that I'm ok with being by myself too. For some people, alone time is very difficult, but I think it's definitely something everyone should be able to do. I find that when I'm alone and I'm doing something relaxing like listening to music, it's easier to silence the thoughts in my head when it's just mine rather than having to do that for other people's voices too. 

Opportunity Playspace

As it is currently school holidays for school kids here in Perth, I have been working more with my young client. Today we took him out to Rotary Park in Wanneroo.

Rotary Park has a children's play area called Opportunity Playspace. It was another great park in Perth which is good for kids with disabilities. We took our client there because there is a swing in the park called a Liberty Swing. It is specifically designed for children in wheelchairs. You put the wheelchair on the platform, secure it with chains which are provided and fasten on the seat belt which is attached to the swing. Then you swing away :) 

I didn't get much time to take many photos of Opportunity Playspace, but check out these blogs here and here which have more in depth descriptions and great photos. 

My client - one of the cutest kids I've ever laid eyes on :)