Heathcote Pink Cliffs

We always would try to make good use of our weekend off and so last Saturday we decided to go to Heathcote Pink Cliffs. Situated in the Goldfields area of Victoria and about 1.5 hours away from where we live, these cliffs are a result of the sluice mining work done during the 1880s gold rush.

The rain had fallen the night before and so the path was a little bit muddy. This did not deter us from walking towards it. At first, I saw some clay colored mini cliffs, but they were not pink.

Just a short walk was where the pink cliffs were.  The pinkish clay that makes up the cliffs has a texture similar to talcum powder and the colour of the cliffs can change depending on the time of day and weather conditions.

Here's a 2 minute video of our weekend trip.

Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!

A day at Kryal Castle

Was wondering what Kryal Castle was all about so we headed there one Saturday afternoon. Entry price for adults was $35 and $22 for kids but I got entry tickets of a discounted price from Groupon. The drive was about 1 hour and 30 mins from our house.

There was ample parking at the front of the place considering that it was Saturday.  The main entrance looked like a real castle with a moat and a drawbridge.

Kryal Castle is an indoor/outdoor venue. It is like a replica medieval castle.

The reception was quick to scan our mobile tickets and pointed us towards the Dragon's Labyrinth which eventually lead us inside the castle grounds.

The first thing that I saw was the Ancient Cemetery and the interesting tombstone writings it had.

Next to it was the Dungeons and Torture Museum. Depictions of how crime and punishment were done in the old times were written and illustrated here.

 I did not take a lot of photos during our visit but this makeshift jail good for one was in front of the museum.

They also had a small chapel and a banquet hall for events such as weddings or birthdays.

They had a room dedicated to the history of Kryal as well as lolly shops and gift shops.

The biggest part of the grounds was the Tournament Arena where we saw the Royal Joust. This is where the knights, wearing full steel amour and riding their amazing warhorse.

Lots of kids activities around such as giant inflatable slides, face painting, pony rides, archery range, potion making wizardry school and there was even a maze.

They also have a royal photographer to capture visitors in their finest. Kids and parents can be a court jester, king or queen or prince or princesses. Additional cost applies but prices already include costumes. 

The place entertains kids but honestly, did not do it for us. Nevertheless, happy to tick it off our list.

Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!

Autralia Travel Bucketlist

I saw a news ad on Facebook saying that Australia's Federal Government thinks that overseas travel might not be starting until 2021. This is quite sad news for me because I definitely want to visit my family in the Philippines and of course would very much like to see other countries as well. On the other hand, this is an opportunity for us to travel within Australia and conquer travel bucketlists here!

If given the chance to travel around Australia, here is my list (no particular order):

image courtesy of parksaustralia.gov.au

1. Uluru - I would like to see the Ayer's Rock or Uluru. Although people cannot climb it anymore, I would very much like to see it with my own eyes. Also to experience what Alice Springs could offer.

2. Darwin- My in-laws went to Darwin and they had such a nice time there. This explains pretty much why I want to visit there.

3. Cairns - The great barrier reef is near this city and would very much like to visit one of UNESCO world heritage site in Australia. Though I haven't tried diving before but I could learn!

4. Brisbane - Visit my friends over there. See what Brisbane is :)

5. Broome - I would like to experience sunset camel rides and walking along the dinosaur tracks!

image courtesy of redsuncamels.com.au

6. Canberra - I want to visit the capital city and maybe try to stay at the famous wildlife lodge where you get to see the animals from your lodge room!

7. Tasmania - I wouldn't mind coming back to this state. I haven't gone to Wineglass Bay and Port Arthur.

image courtesy of discovertasmania.com.au

I'm sure there is still a lot more than I can add to this list but this is already a handful! God knows when this Corona virus would end and I hope I still have the time and money to spare and tick these things off my list :)

Thank you for reading and 'til next blog!

Abuse to Health Care Workers is Not OK

image courtesy of www2.health.vic.gov.au

I've been hearing from the news about nurses or health care workers being verbally abused in the street. Some are even called horrible words such as "disease spreaders" and even splashed with dangerous acids. Some are being spit on or threatened. I felt very sad and afraid for myself upon hearing these stories. My colleagues who also heard about these stories, would now change to their everyday clothes before coming and after work. 

These are appalling behaviors and as frontliners who risk our lives to save other lives, we do not deserve this. We have families to come home to and we also have lives outside of work. We need to shop for essentials just like any other ordinary person. 

I hope and pray that people will not behave this way against us health care workers. Please stop the hate. We are all in this difficult time together and there should be no room for spite, but only of kindness and hopefulness that we can make it through this pandemic.

Hoi An 2018

Since I do not have new travels to write about obviously due to Covid 19 wreaking havoc in 2020, I will take it as an opportunity to do throwback blogs about our previous travels. I will try to write as much as I can remember :)

Back in 2018 before I moved to Australia, Joel and I went for a South East Asian trip and visited parts of my country: Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. In Vietnam, we went to Ho Chi Minh and Hoi An and Da Nang. In this blog, I'll focus on what we did at Hoi An. Hoi An has always been a part of my travel bucket list because of it being one of the Unesco World Heritage Sites.

The nearest airport from Hoi An is Da Nang International Airport. Our hotel from Hoi An offered us a taxi pick up from the airport to the hotel which was great because we could not be bothered to look for the bus or pick out a taxi that might charge us an exorbitant amount. The ride was about 40 minutes for the distance of about 29 kilometres.

The check in was quick and we just headed out for a quick dinner outside. The next morning they offered us their complementary breakfast before we headed out. Yum!

Aside from eating, these were the things we did in Hoi An:

1. Marble Mountain- This is a cluster of five mountains including Kim Son (metal), Moc Son (wood), Thuy Son (water), Hoa Son (fire) and Tho Son (earth). According to the flyer we have received, this popular place of domestic and international attraction was classified as a national historical and cultural relic by the Ministy of Culture in 1980.

We bought a ticket to get to the caves

We climbed up  the very steep steps in this mountain/cave

The crowd on the way to the top.

Finally got to the top and this was the view.

Now time to go back down, bit scary!

Next, we bought another ticket to get to the water mountain.

Another set of stairs!! No crowd this time.

Found a map of the place. Did not know it was huge!

Walking around, we found pagodas of different kinds.

and caves in this mountain as well but we were lazy to really go inside, having seen a cave earlier

and of course,  the view point

There are 2 ways to go back down from the mountain. One was obviously to walk back down and the other one was to take the elevator. This is really helpful to those that have sore legs from all the steps in and around the mountain.

Down below, you can't miss to shop at the many stalls mainly selling emerald statues.

2. My Son Holy Land 1/2 day tour - 99,000VND

The temples built here were from the 4th to 13th century. We booked our ticket through the Sinh Tourist shop in Hoi An. We could have easily bought it online but we chose to physically get it from the shop the day before the tour. We originally planned to have the sunrise tour but it was not available. We then decided to just do the half day bus tour for 99,000 VND or 5 USD. You can read more about it here.

3. Walk around the Hoi An old town

We did this for 2 nights out of 3 that we were in Hoi An. Upon walking towards the old town, a number of stalls can be seen selling merchandise and souvenirs.

Slowly the lights of the lanterns can be clearly seen while walking towards the town. They were enchanting!

Lots of food places to choose from ranging from fancy to midrange restaurants in the old town to street food.

Tried out the fried ice cream :)

It was relaxing just to walk around the town while eating (and window shopping).

Thank you for reading and 'til next throwback blog :)

After All This is Over..

We've been staying indoors in the hope of helping to flatten the curve. But I cannot help thinking about getting back to our "normal" lives. I miss going to church on Sundays or going to the movies or to tourist hot spots in our own city. I miss the number of choices of entertainment such as concerts, musicals, game competitions and the like. I miss going out to eat at new and interesting restaurants instead of just getting take away. I miss browsing in Facebook or watching TV and hearing about other news than the Corona Virus. Lots of other things that we have taken for granted before and now is prohibited. 

After all this is over, I would like to experience all those things like we did before. What about you?

(Small things you can do to) Fight Covid-19

photo courtesy of smarttraveller.gov.au

The world is in chaos right now. Stock markets falling down. Aviation and travels on a halt. Lots of sick people around the world especially in US, China and Italy. Businesses being forced to close down. Unemployment rates going up. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know what I mean. Novel Coronavirus or Covid 19 has swept the world by storm and turned all our lives around. We see how it is affecting us from the news on TV to Facebook and other social media platforms. What measures can one do to help fight this disease? I have listed down some  ways:

1. Wash Hands = Soap molecules help with breaking down the virus membrane. We've always been taught the importance of washing hands and now is the time to really do it.

image courtesy of bbc.com

2. Avoid touching your face - Most people touch their face once every 2 to 5 minutes. Others may be more frequent. By avoiding touching our face especially the eyes, mouth and nose, we do not introduce microorganisms direct access to our mucous membranes, thus avoiding sickness.

2. Self Isolate/ Stay at Home - people may have the disease and yet be asymptomatic. I have read tips on Facebook saying that we should think that we already have it and the right thing to do is not to pass it on to others. Staying at home would help flatten the curve or the rise of the number of people affected by the disease. This is important to give time for the scientists to find a cure and the health care workers to deal with those who are having the serious symptoms of the disease. 

image courtesy of vectorstock.com

3. Social Distancing - People can still go out of the house for important reasons such as getting food. or going to the GP. With this, it is essential that proper distancing should happen. The more space between persons, the harder the virus can spread. Avoid large crowds. I know that it is hard not to attend parties, go to clubs or restaurants, go to events but at this time all of us have to sacrifice. No handshakes or hugs in the meantime. Keep at least 1.5 meters between each other. 

4. Follow the Governments Mandates - the government is trying its very best to help the citizens right now. They have got a lot on their hands and though they might not be able to give what all people want, it is best to follow them because they have a plan for the good of all.

5. Keep in touch with Family Members -  Though this cannot be done physically at this time to those you don't live with under the same roof, for the sake of our mental health and well being, keep in touch with family and friends. All of us are scared and anxious of what is going to happen in the next few weeks. We can talk it out. We can check each other if we are okay so far and if not, is there a way to make it a bit better. I've seen Facebook groups dedicated to make sure people are able to reach out to those that need help at this trying time. I'm reading a lot of stories of kindness now and seeing there is still hope for humanity after all. 

We are all in this together. Here's to hoping and praying that each one of us does our own part in containing this virus.