meesai
Catarina Joined: June 3rd 2009
Logged in: July 15th 2009
Logged in: July 15th 2009
I want to explore the world, one baby step at a time.
Travel Blog Posts
Fishing boats at Hastings
Photos taken last April 27, 2007 Bf needed to have his car serviced in Frankston so after dropping off the car, we were given a hire car to use for the rest of the day. We decided to tour the Mornington Peninsula. We went to Hastings, Merricks, Main Ridge, Flinders and Shoreham. We've previously been to Rye, Sorrento and Portsea so we decided to skip those and concentrate more on the other side of the peninsula. We started the day off at Hastings before heading to Balnarring, checked out the beach there. We decided to visit Sunny Ridge strawberry farm, we bought ice cream, jam, liqueur and sparkling non-alcoholic wine. We left at the right time since 3 vans full of tourists (probably local) have arrived. We skipped the strawberry picking because we had other places ... read more
Seagull
Photos were taken last April 7, 2007 This trip was meant to be a group outing but most backed out so I ended up being stuck with the boys. We left Melbourne at 6am, our rendezvous point was St Kilda Marina. The drive took 4 hours to Metung. We had a pitstop along the way, I think it was at Sale. Upon arrival at Metung, we bought our fishing license and decided to have lunch only to realize lunch isn't served until 11. So we just walked around the sleepy fishing town. We ate at one of the cafes along the pier - ordered the usual fish & chips. Having never fished before, we spent 30 minutes just trying to figure out how to hook the line to the fishing pole. Hahaha what a total failure ... read more
Voyage to Discovery Exhibit
Photos taken on the 20th of April 2008 The gang went to Ballarat for a tour of Sovereign Hill, the occasion was for Eugene's bday. Entrance was about $35 per person but not it seems to be $39.50 - it also includes entry to the Gold Museum across the road. It's about an hour and a half drive from Melbourne. Sovereign Hill is a huge outdoor museum depicting Ballarat's gold-mining history. There are different exhibits to see to fill a whole day. It's best to plan your day so you won't miss out on anything. Be sure to wear closed-toe shoes or risk having dusty feet. My friend and I were wearing thongs and needless to say, our feet was covered in dust & dirt. We ate at one of the restaurants called United States Hotel ... read more
Serendra
Photos were taken last November 12, 2007 I went to Serendra twice, my cousin was raving about this new hip place to see & be seen. It's more packed at night, unfortunately no photos because it was raining that night. Decided to come back again during daytime for lunch & a bit of shopping. We had dessert at Conti's - I had the blueberry cheesecake. The servings are smaller compared to western standards but what it's lacking in size, it makes up with taste. It's nice to see Philippines moving forward. There are two sides to Serendra, one side has the expensive restaurants but on the other side (towards Market Market) - the restaurants are more reasonable. I bumped into two celebrities eating at Italiannis - Derek Ramsay & Vina Morales. What was funny was that ... read more
The entrance of Zoobic Safari
Photos taken last November 8, 2007 I've heard about Subic Bay in my history class back in elementary school & have always been curious about it so I made sure I visited it. I went there with my bf, my uncle's driver drove us there. It was a 2 hour drive from Las Piñas, I was pleased to see an actual freeway in the Philippines. It was free of traffic, I almost thought I was somewhere else. We arrived at Zoobic Safari a few minutes after opening. There were only 2 other people there so far so we immediately jumped on a safari bus. It was a good thing we came early because just as we were hopping on, 3 buses have arrived - 2 with students and the other with international tourists. I enjoyed seeing ... read more
Teriyaki Boy
Photos taken on the 5th of November 2007 In the morning we went to Greenhills to do a bit of shopping. Didn't really find anything worth buying. I did buy shoes but it didn't fit me when I got back to Australia (did it shrink? lol) so I just gave it away. I also bought a bag for my mum which didn't last long, the handle snapped. Note to self: do not buy there again or at least triple check it. We had lunch at Teriyaki Boy at the shopping centre across Greenhills. Loved the food, the tofu steak in particular tasted better than any other tofu I've come across before. It had mushrooms & beef for its sauce. We also had scallops, sashimi, prawns & chicken teriyaki. Good meal - it lasted us through the ... read more
MacArthur's Landing
These photos were taken on the 30th of October 2007. After a few days in Manila, we made our way to Tacloban for a 4-day trip. It was divided into visiting my relatives (dad's side & then mom's side) and my friends with a little city sightseeing on the side. My uncle picked us up from Tacloban airport and then we made our way to Jollibee for breakfast. Ordered the chicken joy meal. I love how they serve their chicken, they actually do it right - it's crunchy/crispy and also tasty. Sad to say, KFC Australia's chicken isn't even up to par. The skin's soft & also peeling off. Anyway enough about chicken, after breakfast my uncle took us to my auntie's house & we left our bags there, relaxed for a bit before heading back ... read more
The restaurant
These photos were taken last October 27, 2007. I went to Tagaytay with my bf, my cousin and my uncle & auntie. We left Las Piñas for Tagaytay at 10 but didn't arrive 'til 2 hours later. We didn't realize it was a long weekend & the traffic was really bad. Needless to say, we were starving by the time we arrived so my Uncle took us straight to a restaurant called, Leslie's. It is well located along the main road and has excellent views of Taal Lake & Taal Volcano. The food itself was your typical Filipino fare. We ordered bulalo, pinakbet, sisig, roast pork, calamari, kare kare and of course, rice. I had Ube shake & fresh coconut for drinks. Let me tell you it is the best ube shake I've ever tasted. Eversince ... read more
Philippine Military Academy
We left Manila for Baguio at 2pm and arrived at around 6-7pm on the 2nd of June. I went there with my bro & cousins, for 2 days and 2 nights. We stayed at my bro's gf's family's guesthouse & we didn't have to pay a single peso. We felt bad, we wanted to pay them but they insisted we stay for free. They even prepared all meals for us! Such nice people, I swear. I've always dreamt about going to Baguio when I was kid, I've always heard about it in class and it's a shame that I didn't get to see it back then. From my cousins' comments, the Bagiuo charm is fading away. A city that used to be covered in pine trees is now suffering from industrialization. There seems to be more ... read more
On the way to Sentosa Island
Photos were taken on the 26th of October 2007. We spent the day in Sentosa Island; we went to Underwater World. This aquarium seems better than the ones in Melbourne & Sydney. We also went to Dolphin Lagoon & watched the dolphin show. In the afternoon, we made our way back to the city & got ready for our trip to the Night Safari. Everything inside the zoo was expensive (no surprises there) so we decided not to eat there. We made our way to Lau Pa Sat by taxi & ate at one of the hawker stands. We also tried the carrot cake, no traces of carrots at all! Now let my photos do the talking.... read more
