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

Hello from this side of the world

4.11.2017

Whew, I cannot believe my last blog post was 2 years ago. I don't even know if anyone is even checking it!

To those who are still checking my humble blog, well, I'm now based on this side of the world called Sydney, Australia.

I actually missed writing and blogging and so started contemplating if I should start a new blog or revamp this old one I have.

I didn't want to totally dump the stuff I've put here so I'm still keeping it.

BUT, I will soon publish a new blog. A more personal take on how I'm going with my experience, travels and basically whatever I can share and come up on this side of Australia. Just typing now and thinking about it, makes me excited. :)

I won't put too much on this post. Just catch me on my new blog. ;)

- K, with love

Road trip to the North

It was the Independence Day weekend when we decided to head up north and plan the road trip with my two friends. The target was to drive by midnight and have stop overs along the way if required. But the final destination would be Pagudpud since both of my friends haven't been there.

This is not the first time I'm travelling to the North. Given that, I know how long the drive would be!

Paoay Church

Anyway, we went ahead and all excited to get on to the road for this perfect weekend road trip.

We went on a quick stop in San Simon to have dinner at my friend's place and then on went for the long drive.

Driving at night could be a bit boring though as there's nothing to see but the pitch black surroundings. We sufficed ourselves with listening to music and chatting about whatever comes to mind.

Welcome to Ilocos Sur

In the morning, we reached La Union and feeling a bit hungry we decided to make a stop over in one of the resorts and grabbed our own packed food - hotdog, ham and white bread! We were tempted to book in the resort unfortunately they were all fully booked as it was a long weekend...fine.

We continued to Ilocos Sur and passed by the welcome arc. We were feeling tired and sleepy having been awake for more than 10 hours on the road. We tried to find a place to make a quick stop and spend a few hours to sleep. We found one at along the road and spent 3 hours to rest.

After recharging we are back again on the road and excited for our next stop. We should be in Ilocos Norte in less than 3 hours.

Our first destination in the North is the Kapurpurawan Rock formation. Going there we had a glimpse of the windmills which got us more excited.

So white! Kapurpurawan Rock Formation

There were a lot of travelers during that day. We had to walk a few minutes going to the rock formation. And after a few photo ops, went to our next destination which is the Bangui Windmills.

Bangui Widnmills

The windmills are sooo big! We didn't imagine they were that humongous...haha. We settled near one windmill with it's shade and had our picnic blanket to sit on and have our very late lunch. It was a good lunch as we were tired and hungry at the same time. The sea breeze was very nice and added enjoyment while we were eating.

We were tired then so we decided to head to Pagudpud to finally check it and rest. We didn't do much that night and we just went to sleep so we will be ready for the next day's trip.

We woke up feeling refreshed and hungry. We had our breakfast at Saud Beach Resort. The beach looks inviting but we didn't have enough time and it was too hot still.

Saud Beach

After breakfast and have freshened up, we went back on the road to stop by Paoay Church.

The church is very beautiful. My second time there actually.

After that, we went back on the road to Vigan. A quick stop at Calle Crisologo for photo op, buying souvenirs and of course, Vigan longganisa. I have to admit the Vigan longganisa wasn't the one we were used to as it was frozen. We usually have our Vigan longganisa freshly made every time my relatives bring them home!

Calle Crisologo in Vigan

Morning dip at the Pool!

After Vigan, we then had a quick stop over at Chowking in Candon before heading to La Union, where we spent the night.

The next morning we had a quick dip after breakfast in the pool. Fit to end our road trip.

By lunch time, we went on the road again to travel back to Manila and hopefully avoid the heavy traffic.

It was a fun and tiring weekend. But mostly an enjoyable experience to have with my two friends. We learned that next time we'll have the road trip down south and should only be less than 4 hours drive! Haha

Can't wait for our next road trip!

Last Minute Summer Getaway @ Aquaria, Calatagan, Batangas

It was an early morning travel for our yearly company outing. Heading to Aquaria, Calatagan, Batangas, is a 3.5 hours land travel in our comfy bus. We left around 6.30 am and arrived before 10am just in time to get ourselves prepped for a whole day of rest and relaxation.

Summer day is not yet over!

Playa Calatagan Entrance. We're finally here!

The travel was smooth, though you might require one toilet stop. haha!

It was just a day tour and since I didn't fancy going tanned again, I just settled myself relaxing by the beach and enjoying the breeze and food (of course!). It would have been nice though if I brought something to read as it was a nice day to just sit around and rest.

Beach front lined with trees

Aquaria is fairly new by the looks of it. Our group was settled at the far end of the beach. Although the beach looks nice, there were some water lilies or plants, I'm not sure, along the side of the beach which could look unpleasant, at least for me.

All smiles while enjoying the nice summer breeze

Anyway, just thought I'd share for now what I think of the place.

The pools and slides look nice but there are so many people there as well. It could be too crowded too as there are other companies having their outing that day.

There's only a few shower room and toilets along the beach that is accessible to us. So I'm glad I didn't have to swim as it could be very inconvenient when changing up and getting shower as you need to line up. The shower rooms are too warm, and yes because it's summer and too crowded, it is hotter than expected.

Some of the cabanas along the beach are not available for us to use, only for the members. That's fine, but I hope there were other cabanas available for guests too or picnic tables. I'm glad we still got one picnic table available to be used, but I would assume that was for members use only.

On the good side, I enjoyed the lunch served - rice (of course!), beef caldereta, chicken fingers, steamed shrimps, sauteed baquio beans with bits of ham and fried tilapia. I was full and wish I could have more shrimps to eat haha!

But merienda wasn't that good. The pansit palabok tastes bland so I didn't finish it. I also had a ham sandwich.

Overall, I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't too hot that day and we are settled in a nice cabana by the beach so to enjoy the fresh air. But that's me.

Too hot to stay at the picnic table!

Aquaria is found in Playa Calatagan. Passing through Sta.Rosa exit all the way through to Tagaytay.

Beach lined with some plants along the shoreline.

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