Last day of Summer

Yup, it is the 28th of Feb 2021. Last day of summer here in NSW. It's not too hot today though, 26ish. But just staying home to relax as it is Monday again tomorrow!

I thought I will just have a quick post to share that I've also started to get some of my travel photos on a Youtube channel that I started few month ago...and here it is!

I still need to make the videos more catching but for now it is more like a photo dump with some music in the background. 

Hope you enjoy and I will look to upload more as I go along.

Spring time Spruce up

It's the middle of Spring on this side of my world. However, today is one of those days where the weather has gone a little bit travel unfriendly as we are off to a week of rains and thunderstorms. 

So what a good excuse to do some sprucing up of my very own blog. Basically, just started to choose a different background and cleaned up some widgets.

I have always been thinking of re-designing this and hopefully make it more presentable and useful to any readers who are still able to reach my blog.

On a different note...

Since moving to Australia, I've been to most touristy places here but I haven't written that much about it. I have also been to a number of National Parks and Camping grounds and I think it's high time I share those experiences and adventures with you! With the covid-19 still among us, I know we won't be travelling too far  across the seas, so this makes it a reason for me to explore what more we can discover in this land called Australia.

What I love especially here in NSW is that it's got a central website to search through the NSW National Parks. It's even got an App and an instagram account! It's my main source of travel inspiration when I have hose uninspiring days and I just want to plan something for an adventure. All the infos are there and all  you have to do is click and choose where to go.

So I will try my best to write them all up and hopefully in a more regular basis 😀

Audley Village with the view of Hacking River

Covid Diaries: Restrictions Easing Soon?

It's the  7th week since we started working from home.

Some restrictions are now easing. Last week, here in NSW, 2 visitors are now allowed in a household for socialising purposes.

But, shops are still only open for take away and deliveries.

Roadtrips for leisure are not yet allowed.

In short, we are still basically stuck at home.

However, news this morning suggests some more restrictions might be loosened by end of this week. And the government is now preparing business to open by July.

It is two months to go but I wonder how we will navigate the new normal in time of pandemic.

Noting that July is also peak of winter. And I have yet to get my flu shots too.

Are we going to continue working from home?

If not, how do we commute to work if everyone starts going back to work especially at peak hour?

And most importantly when will international travel be allowed...oh well, just some questions popping on my mind.

On a lighter note, I still have a personal to do list to accomplish anyway while on lockdown. And I hope I really do!

• Take my drivers knowledge test
• Get my learners license so I can do some driving lessons and finally get a full license
• Sort out my tax
• Learn to cook pan de sal
• Sort out my clothes, shoes, accessories which I can sell - make way for new stuff hopefully

Let's see in a couple of days if I get to put a check on any of these haha

Till my next ramblings...

Here's a photo I want to share for today, cos I deeply miss the feeling of hopping on a plane. Looking forward to my next vacation!

Covid Diaries: Pockets of Green

It was a nice sunny Saturday today so I decided to finally take some quick walk around our neighbourhood.

It was great to discover a couple of parks and reserves. I feel lucky I don't have to get too far to get the much needed breath of fresh air and vitamin D.

So here are the parks and reserves I ended up passing by.

This self isolation lifestyle is definitely a challenge for most people and these pockets of green are one way to give a bit of respite from all the uncertainty of the present crisis.

Ramblings in time of COVID-19

Hey folks,

I'ts been a long time since my last post, I know. In my last post I said I'll try and blog more...but here we are...3 years after!

It's roughly around 2 weeks since we started social restrictions here in NSW. At first, like many others, I thought it wouldn't get as bad. But 2 weeks on, we are here. Locked into our homes with no certainty when this will be over. And just thinking about it, I feel like it will take more than a couple of months.

Every morning, my ritual now includes checking the news, of whether cases have gone down or there are new restrictions being introduced. This, coupled with checking any updates on Facebook. Mainly, what's been happening in my home country Philippines. What's new and trending I guess so I don't get FOMO. Lol. Kidding aside, I can't help but compare the situation and how this crisis is being handled in both countries....don't want to go in detail though but here's to hoping we all get through this...and stronger on the other side.

Next week is the easter long weekend. It will not be the usual long weekend now that everyone are supposed to stay home. Usually, by this time, we would have leaves blocked on our calendar, flights and hotels booked and excited to get to another journey across the country or over the globe.

Don't we all miss that.

For the meantime, be thankful, we have roof over our heads and food to keep us going, and family and friends though far away will still be on Fb messenger or skype !

As for me...looking to continue binge watching on Netfix. I'm on to Ozarks Ep 9 Season 2...then jump on to Money Heist (La Casa De Papel)  after.

Sharing a photo below...because I miss heading to the national park!

Take care,
Karen

Blue mountains - 2017 Can't wait to go on bush walking again

Guess I'm back at writing again

It has been a while since I posted anything on my blog. And then a few weeks ago I realised my karenvaldez domain is no longer working so I'm back at my original blogspot website. I will try to recover my domain soon but for now, I guess it's me back again at trying as much as I can to document my travels. I missed writing and traveling of course. And what other way to spark the travel bug but to write again about my past travel experiences. And I hope it is good way to tell the universe that I want to travel again...haha :D

The Grounds of Alexandria and The Potting Shed

I've just been back 2 weeks ago from another trip to Aussie. It was a quick 2 week trip which is mostly related to work but I'm lucky we still got the chance to find time to visit some new places I haven't been to before. I'll blog that with a separate story and will post pictures as well.

My last post was about my 30th birthday, lots of other travels happened after that which I hope to document here too. Some were family trips to Tagaytay and Baguio. Ahh, now I miss Tagaytay and the cool weather. It is summer and I'm sure we are all craving for that ice cream or halo halo to beat the summer heat.

Baguio is a different story, I didn't find it really appealing when we went there as there's too much traffic and too many tourists. 

Some travel plans coming up with my good travel buddies on November...and so much looking forward to that as I haven't travelled with them for quite a long time.

Anyway, this is just another quick post...here's a picture of one of the happy place I got a chance to visit while I was in Sydney last March.

Easter bunny setup at The Grounds

I'm 29, now what?

So I turned 29, last 2nd of October. I thought, well, I've never felt my age for a long time. I still feel I'm in my 20's trying to figure out how I could conquer the world...I mean, to travel around the world!

Nothing too special happened on the day except for the landslide of FB greets and a surprise cake from my youngest sister, who recently just got a stint at Dulcinea! Those little things are special but I guess the thing that I was looking forward to on my 29th is the start of my 30 to 30 bucket list.

Because I love listing stuff and things I want to do.

So for the next 365 days, my goal is to try to tick as many items in the list before I turn 30 next year!

I love challenging myself especially when that challenge is to travel to as many destinations that I could with the budget and time that I can afford. To juggle both work, personal, family and social responsibilities is quite a tiring task. I have to be patient but still keep my enthusiasm to keep and achieve what I want!

But yes, sometimes, I do get tired of chasing everything and everyone. Like, why can't I just stay home and wait for payday...joke!

Well, I'm just thankful that at the age of 29, I have achieved things I never thought I would achieve at my age. When I look back I felt it could probably be a mix of hard work, patience, stroke of luck and support of the best people around me!

So what's in store for me in the next 365 days...here's a preview...

Dubai - The Palm

Petra Jordan

New Year's at the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Vang Vieng, Laos

London, UK

Photo Credits: All photos are not mine and belong to their rightful owners. Click on the pic for the direct resource.

Sorry, the travel bug is active again!

The Two Week Aussie Getaway

I'm supposed to continue writing about the details of the Batanes trips early this year. Yes, a more accounted write up of what happened in the 5 days that I stayed up north, but I decided to skip that and write an overview of the sort of "unplanned" Aussie trip last July.

While it is true that I didn't foresee another trip to Australia this year, I still had the nerve to prepare an itinerary. Besides, making the itinerary is one of my favourite past times! I was supposed to travel with my cousin, and that was the big ticket entry why I really had planned the trip.

Due to some delays, I had to go ahead and do the trip on my own. It was a shame that my cousin wasn't able to travel with me, but well, things happen and there is still another chance for us to travel, so don't worry!

I have planned this trip to cover other areas and states outside of New South Wales. I have been to Sydney a number of times and although I admit I won't get tired of it, I think it's my chance to try other places outside Sydney.

My itinerary includes a quick stop in Brisbane, then a week in Sydney, a day in Canberra, a weekend in Central Coast, two days in Melbourne and then back to Sydney. It was so exciting. I want to do something like this again. There were only a few days I thought about work, but most of the time as I was on the road, I didn't have chance to check emails and worry about stress from work. It was a nice breather for me.

Story Bridge at night

Australian War Memorial

Parliament House

The 12 Apostles - Great Ocean Road

Friends I met during the Great Ocean Road Tour

Hyatt Hotel and Louis Vuitton in Melbourne

Flinders St. Station

Snowboarding at Mt Buller

Art and graffiti in Newcastle

Pelicans and The Entrance

La Perouse

Fish and salad lunch near La Perouse

Anyhow, I will start listing the basic expenses for this trip. The thing that took up bulk of my expenses is the airline tickets Manila to Sydney and back. I stayed with relatives and friends for the most part of the trip so it was such a big help on my pocket.

The tours and transpo also took a bit of my budget. The bus to Canberra, the flights between Brisbane and Melbourne. I'll let you know about it. It does help that I also got to avail of the cheaper tour in the Great Ocean Road and Mt.Buller tour from the Metro Deal voucher! Got this tip from a CS friend - Kcia!

The trips wasn't just about going around places, I've been so happy to meet all my relative, friends, acquaintances, new friends and even my work mates. It was such a memorable time that it wasn't easy for me to move on from the hang over of this trip! The travel bug keeps on bugging me...

More Sydney Sidetrips

We headed to Darling Harbour after dropping by Circular Quay and met our colleague. We took another train from Circular Quay to Town Hall Station.

Town Hall station is only a walking distance from the Darling Harbour.

We met our friend and she gladly toured us at their office building found within the Darling Quarters. It's a new building if I may say.

The CommBank Place is a one of a kind, really spacious, hip and nothing I've have seen before in terms of the design and interiors. It really looks like a nice place to work in.

I really liked the very wide space within the building. There are spaces for hot desks where you can just sit and plug your laptop and voila work there.
We went up to one of the floors and saw more interesting sights within the building. I'm really enjoying it.

Loved the interiors and the mix of colours. Even I would think it doesn't look like an office!

There's a pool table too! How wonderful is that!

And this is me, enjoying a nice afternoon outside and with the view of Darling Harbour!

More dining area. Really funky seats!

I have to thank my good friend Nors, for taking time to tour us around. It was a really nice work place by the looks of it!

Sydney Sunday Treat

It was Sunday, our second day in Sydney. My colleague and myself decided we would first drop by our office in North Sydney so she could get used to the directions since it's her first time.

Travelling from Chatswood we took a morning train. It was a chilly morning and wasn't used to it so I had made sure I'm kept warm by my sweater.

We met another Filipina waiting on the train. It was nice to have some quick chat with your kababayan and we had a few photo ops with her.

When I was in Sydney the first time, I was in awe to find out about their train system. It quite looked complicated if you check out the train map. But I have familiarised myself well enough so on my 4th time in Sydney I still knew the way around. :)

Our office in North Sydney is a few minutes walk from the train station.

Here is a photo just in front of the building.

After that we head to the city to drop by Paddy's market and buy pasalubong. I know! It's just our second day and we are now buying stuff. Yeah, we realised since we will be spending the whole weekdays at work, there wouldn't be enough time to get pasalubong. The weekend is just about right to give us time to get those Koalas and keychains!

We spent until lunch time getting the stuff. And since we were hungry took lunch at the Market City, which is just above the Paddy's Market.

Here's a good meal from Paddy's. Believe me, I wasn't hungry that I finished this plate!

We went to have some sight-seeing again in Circular Quay. I was also meeting a college classmate.

One of my favourite spots in Sydney. You can see the buildings, the ferries, water taxis, Opera House on this side and the Harbor Bridge on the other side. I enjoy the sights in Circular Quay and just walking around.

And here is a photo of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background. It is a well-known structure. During new year, the bridge is the highlight and center stage of the fireworks. I have yet to see that!

It was such a lovely day at the Opera House. Although, there were some constructions during the time we were there. It was also packed with tourists and people hanging out on a weekend.

I was quite tired and thought I'd take a rest at the Royal Botanical Garden. Really nice to have a picnic here!

The Royal Botanical Garden is a nice place to relax and unwind. A lot of families with their kids are there playing and just enjoying the weather and scenery.

Such a lovely day isn't it. After meeting my friend, we head next to Darling Harbour to meet another colleague. Oh yeah, this day has a lot of meet-ups and catching-ups... :D

Sydney Sidetrips 2012

I'm on a roll. I have just finished three blog posts about Ilocos and now I'm excited to start another new post. I'm again writing about my trip to Australia. This is my fourth time to be in the land down under.

My trips last May to Sydney was mostly for work but on the weekend I was able to visit again the Opera House, see the Harbour Bridge, walk along Circular Quay, shopping at Paddy's Market and lots more. Weather is a bit cold as winter is about to start. Everything still seems the same and it was great to be back and see my other friends and colleagues.

After the work week, I was also glad to have been able to drop by and spend some time Brisbane to visit my ninang and her family.

I arrived in Sydney on a Saturday night via Philippine Airlines. Hmm, PAL didn't have a personal video on board so I mostly spent the flight sleeping. Boo! Anyhow, the fight was okay and I didn't feel dizzy at all, maybe because I made sure have taken Bonamine. :-)

The flight took 8 hours.

Happy eating. Airline food c/o PAL.This is steamed fish with rice. Some salad, bread and gelatin for dessert.

I flew with my colleague. The person beside me who is a Filipino living in Australia offered to take our photo.

We arrived in Chatswood and haven't had dinner so here's a nice place near the mall.

Our first meal in Sydney. Ham and mushroom in white sause penne and chips. The chips where nicely cooked and crispy. I also liked the penne, very tasty! Yum!

It was lovely late dinner. It was such a chilly night and since most shops have already closed, we already decided to head back to our apartment and rest. The following day we plan to go around the city.