Trip Report: Part 3 (Phillip Island)

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I really need to do a TV post but I still have many planned vacation posts to do so here’s another installment…

Saturday, August 8.



I was starting to have internet withdrawal so we went to Macca’s (aka McDonald’s) for brekkie. I’m not sure why the Aussies gave it that nickname. Anyway, Macca’s has FREE WI-FI! I was able to write a quick blog post and check the news. Ahhh, it was so nice to get back in touch with “reality.”



Macca’s had a couple of specialty brekkie sandwiches which didn’t really appeal to me. I ordered my favorite sausage mcmuffin with egg. I was disappointed. The sausage tasted different. :/ The hash browns and coffee were perfect, though.

We were headed on a tour with Go West to head down to Phillip Island to see the fairy penguins. But we had a few stops on the way…



First up went to the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne. The gardens are designed in the shape of Australia and showcase the flora/fauna of each region. The red sand centre is in the middle and mini exhibition gardens surround it.



The best backyard was the Kids Garden where there was a slide… that of course Rob wanted to try. So we waited until no one was around and he went for it. When he was at the top, I heard him say that it was a tight fit (heh) then all of a sudden, he came flying down the slide. BWAHAHAHAHA.

When we got to Phillip Island, our first stop was Panny’s Chocolate Factory. Totally up my alley. I love chocolate!



It’s a small factory that has a little walking tour showing how cocoa is grown and how chocolate is made.



At the end there’s a shop and cafe where we picked up iced chocolates. Yummers.

Next up was the Koala Conservation Centre where we got to see koalas for the first time on our trip. Sooo exciting!



It’s not a zoo but I don’t know if this would be considered “the wild” either. There are raised boardwalks where you can walk and look up to find the koalas. Most of the koalas were sleeping but there was 1 koala that was super active. He was practically putting on a show! He was climbing up and down trees for awhile then he settled down to eat. Ahhh, so cute.



We loved the little gift shop. Silly!

Finally finally we arrived at our last stop – the Penguin Parade!

Every night at sunset, the Fairy Penguins come back from sea to return to their burrows. The Penguin Parade has special viewing areas and elevated boardwalks where you can watch the penguins cross the shore. We booked the Private Penguin Experience where we got front row seats on the beach and our own ranger guide to tell us all about the penguins. As soon as we arrived, our ranger, Hannah, scooped us up and gave us our passes, headsets (we’re supposed to be quiet on the beach so we needed this in order to hear her whispering to us), binoculars, and padded seats for the beach.



After a quick talk about the history of the penguins (Summerland peninsula is the only place left on Phillip Island with a penguin colony), we went to grab our seats on the beach. I thought it was going to be FREEZING but it wasn’t too bad. When it got dark, we started to see white bellies on the surface of the water. PENGUINS! There was 1 penguin right in front of us who kept peeking his head out and then going back under water. We were told he was probably waiting for his buddies. Because of the danger of crossing shore (it’s the scariest part of their day), they don’t cross the beach by themselves unless they’re sick. They prefer to cross in groups – safety in numbers. His buddies finally arrived so their group of 3 crossed together just to our right. They were SO CLOSE. It’s amazing — they’re literally just a few feet away. I was seriously in awe of the whole experience. Photography wasn’t allowed so you’ll have to settle for these…



Fairy Penguins are the smallest penguins – it’s the one on the very left in the above photo.



It was an AWESOME night.

Random observation – the entire time on vacation I totally didn’t “get” the metric system. I just couldn’t get feet and pounds, etc out of my brain. Ahhh, why is the US the only country that has to be different?!?

More pictures on the Flickr:
Phillip Island

Up next: Port Douglas.

angels game

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Yesterday I went to my very first Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball game. (At least, I think – maybe I went to one when I was little? I dunno).

BWAHAHAHAHAHA. That name change seriously cracks me up. Anaheim Angels sounded so much better.

Anyway. We started the day with a small BBQ at my best friend Robyn’s new place.



In that last pic, Rob is opening his beer bottle with our friend Sebastian’s flip flop. Gotta love the multi-functional FLIP FLOP.



On the way to Angels Stadium.



The view from our seats.

It was SO HOT. In the high 80s or something. And we sat in the Right Field aka DIRECTLY IN THE FACE OF THE HOT SUN. I also came home with an awesome souvenir tan in the shape of my tank top straps, which have a circular design on them. Terrible. But really, I had a great time hanging out with my friends and even enjoyed the game, particularly when the Angels finally scored in the 8th and 9th innings. That was cool. Sadly they still lost.



Here’s the gang. 🙂

After the game, we headed over to Hooters for some grub and to watch some of the USC/Ohio State game. I’ve NEVER been to Hooters before. It was pretty amusing to go with a bunch of guys. Hehehe. AND they had some pretty damn good chicken wings! Who knew?!

Trip Report: Part 2 (Melbourne)

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Friday, August 8. Our first day in Oz!!! Woot.

While we spent 3 nights in Melbourne, we really only had 1 full day in the city (we spent all of Thurs travelling and the next day would be spent in Phillip Island, about 2 hours south). So we set out early to walk around explore.

The first thing I noticed was that Melbourne reminds me a lot of Paris. So you know, it was pretty much love at first sight for me.

We walked north from our hotel to Queen Victoria Market.



It’s a MASSIVE market that has huge sheds of general merchandise, fruits and veggies on one side of the street and a deli across the street with fresh meat, fish, cheeses and a food court.



Lots of booths selling t-shirts, candy and other random souvenirs.



Yummy fruit.



Look at the size of that thing! Wowzers.



The deli side… yum, meat and cheese.



We thought it was too early in the trip to be buying souvenirs (we still had 3 domestic flights and 4 hotels to go) but Rob did snag this awesome beanie (aka Jayne’s hat from Firefly ;)). We’re modeling them here in bright color combinations but he got a solid dark brown one. I’m kinda regretting not getting the pink one. It’s so warm! Too bad I have no idea where the heck I would wear it.

After we got our fill of window shopping, we headed south towards the Yarra River.



We passed Federation Square, a huge center with museums, restaurants and shops…



…and saw the gorgeous Flinders Street railway station. I just love the row of clocks over the main entrance.



We approached the Yarra River to this view of the south bank.



Here’s the view looking back towards the city center.



We walked along the river to the Crown Entertainment Complex, otherwise known as a huge casino. It started to sprinkle around this time so it seemed like a good time to duck inside and check it out.



It’s a really beautiful casino inside but nothing extraordinary. Although I’ve been to Vegas at least once a year for as long as I can remember so I’m biased. Rob decided to play a little blackjack while I hung out with some coffee in the food court. He said that the style of play is slightly different than in the US and didn’t like the changes. I wonder if he thinks that way because he lost, hehe. :/

My feet were aching by this time (so much walking!) so we decided to head back to the Westin and pick up some dinner on the way. We found a local pizza place and a fry joint across the street called Lord of the Fries. YUM! We took our loot back to the hotel and settled in for the night. What did we do?! Watch TV! On Fridays, Channel 10 shows the US edition of So You Think You Can Dance (it’s about a month behind) so of course we watched that. 🙂

All in all, it was a great day and I wish we had scheduled more time in Melbourne. There’s so much we didn’t get to see — Queen Victoria Gardens, all the museums. Oh well, it gives us an excuse for a “next time.” 😉 If we can ever afford it again! Speaking of money, the one thing that really surprised me was how expensive food is in Australia. If we wanted a Coke (which was often), it was $3-5 for a 500 ml bottle (slightly less than a 20 oz). Candy bars are $2-3. Meals at cafes or food courts ran about $15-30 per person (these aren’t even “nice” restaurants). Maybe I’m just cheap but we had sticker shock for the first few days of our trip and did a lot of walking around to find less expensive places to eat… towards the end, we gave up. 😛

More pictures on the Flickr:
Melbourne

Up next: Phillip Island.

Trip Report: Part 1 (Flight + Manila)

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Hi there! 🙂 I’ve been back for over a week now but have been in a bit of a vacation funk. Rob and I had SUCH an amazing time that it’s been pretty depressing getting back to normal and going back to work. I haven’t even completely finished unpacking or done any laundry. Like I said, L.A.Z.Y. But I’ve abandoned the blog for far too long and I want to share some pics and of course, the tales of our adventures.

I found the forums at Fodors and TripAdvisor to be a HUGE help when planning this trip (especially when I decided to plan it on my own rather than use a travel agent). When posters would get back from their trips, sometimes they would post “trip reports” to help others through the planning process. And also to prolong the feeling of being on vacation! I loved reading them (it also helped pass the time when I was still anticipating the trip) so I hope to do the same…

So a month ago, back on Fri 7/31 (I can’t believe it was that long ago), we were packing and the living room was an absolute mess. Clothes, shoes, toiletries, etc were all over the place. But luckily we had a little helper…



The week heading into our departure was insane. I stayed up past midnight most nights trying to wrap up my work. I didn’t want to leave too many loose ends. I almost pulled an all-nighter on Friday night but discovered that all workstations are automatically logged off at 3am. I had no idea! I woke up early on Sat 8/1 to finish packing and then continued working right up to about 3pm when we had to leave for my dad’s house so he could take us to the airport. Vacation finally began as soon as I sent that last email. YES.



Here I am at LAX waiting at the gate. Our flight to Manila was delayed. Of course. Delayed flights are nothing new with us.



Flight was pretty uneventful. They did show Star Trek, which was cool. But Philippine Airlines planes are pretty old so the TVs were really small and far away. Oh well. They also treated us to the same filipino movie 3 times. Awesome.



We received an amenity kit when boarding that included a toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, eye mask, and socks. This is what Rob did with the socks. Heh. A flight attendant walked by and totally laughed at him.

During the 15+ hour flight, we totally skipped over Sun 8/2 and landed in Manila on Mon 8/3 at about 8am. The first thing we noticed was the HEAT. OMG. It was about 90 degrees with 80% humidity. ICKY. My uncle picked us up from the airport, took us to my Lola’s (grandma) house where we would be staying for the next 3 days, and after our second breakfast and some conversation, we promptly fell asleep. WE ARE SUCH AWESOME VISITORS. !!! We didn’t do much that first day besides lounge at home, visit one of my older cousins, and EAT. OMG, we ate so much in the PI. Just that first day we had breakfast on the plane before landing, a second breakfast when we arrived, lunch after we woke up from our nap, a “snack” at Shakey’s Pizza around 3pm and then dinner later that night. We were so stuffed the entire time we were there.

On our second day, we went to Tagaytay, which was about a 40 minute drive away. My Lola has a house there that she wanted to show us. We had breakfast at 9:30am before leaving the house, had another “snack” around 10:30am at Jollibee (fast food restaurant) on the way, and then after looking at old photo albums for 2 hours, Lola wanted to eat lunch and it was only 12:30pm. OMG. I TOLD you we ate A LOT.



We had lunch at a yummy filipino restaurant overlooking Taal Lake and the Taal Volcano. It was a little foggy and windy that day (though still hot) but the view was still beautiful. That’s my uncle and Lola in the pic with me. She’s 91 and can’t really walk on her own anymore but she’s still one of the most independent and stubborn people I know. I mean that in a good way.



That night we went to my cousin’s house for his 40th birthday. There was lots of drinking but not for me. Somehow my cousins got Rob to try balut!!! It’s basically an Asian “street food” — a duck or chicken egg with a nearly fertilized embryo that’s boiled and eaten the same way you would eat a hard-boiled egg. I tried it once when I was younger and didn’t know any better. Never again. It’s considered a delicacy but it creeps me out. Depending on the age of the egg when it’s cooked, it can sometimes be developed enough to have feathers, claws, etc. Um, no thanks. Rob didn’t eat the “chick” part so I guess he kinda cheated.



For our last full day, we went to Pansol, an area known for its hot springs. My Lola has a condo there with a huge pool! YES. It rained on and off while we were there but it was actually really nice. It cooled the weather down a little bit.



The grounds of the property are really gorgeous. For some reason, I forgot to take a picture of the pool. ARGH. Well, trust me, it’s huge. Definitely a great way to get a reprieve from the heat.



That night we went over to the local Starbucks with my uncle to get some coffee and hang out. I know it’s so stereotypical American to be checking out American chains while abroad but it’s a thing. I love it (later we even go to McDonald’s while in Australia, heh). Plus, I can try the various local specialties that aren’t available in the states. In the PI, their special drink was a Dark Roast coffee frappuccino with jelly (more like a jello). It’s pictured on the right. I thought I would try it. The coffee was gooood… much darker and richer than here. But the jelly was WEIRD. I like those tapioca drinks so I thought it would be similar. It’s not. The texture’s like slime and it just oozes down your throat. Very strange feeling.



The next day, Thurs 8/6, we were headed for Melbourne! Our first stop in Oz. We pretty much “lost” this day to travel because it’s a 10 hour flight from Manila to Melbourne (includes a stop in Sydney) and Australia is 2 hours ahead of the PI. They showed Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (cute, even Rob thought so) and The Soloist (no interest) so the rest of the time we were bored and took random pics of ourselves. Heh.



AT LONG LAST! MELBOURNE! This was my view from the window during landing. It’s crap, I know. I don’t know how to take very good photos at night. :/



Immigration and customs were a breeze and we hopped in a taxi for the half hour trip into the city center. It was BIZARRE seeing the taxi driver get into the car on the RIGHT side. And my heart practically skipped a beat when we made a right turn from the LEFT lane. Eek. I learned not to pay attention after that. 😀 We finally made it to the Westin, which ended up being our favorite hotel of the entire trip. Mmm. Comfy bed, huge bathroom, tons of closet space… loved it.

More pictures on the Flickr:
Packing + Flight
Manila
Flight to Melbourne

Up next: Melbourne!

reef!

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Rob tried to make a friend at the Great Barrier Reef…



The fish did not want to be his friend. 😀

Off to Uluru tomorrow. Not sure if we’ll have internet access there… I’ll check back when I can.

koala!

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FINALLY. A hotel with *free* internet access! So here I am with a quick pic I want to share…

Rob and I got to cuddle a koala in Kuranda yesterday. Amazing experience.



Off to snorkel at the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow!

vacation

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Last week was so insane that I didn’t have time to write up a quick entry mentioning that I was headed off on my long-awaited vacation. Rob and I left for Manila on the 1st and now we’re in Melbourne! I’m in McDonald’s currently using their free wi-fi. Hehe. It’s been a fantastic vacation so far. I’ll post pics when we get back in 2 weeks and I’ll try to update here or on my Twitter when I can.

friday at comic-con

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I ended up having to work last Friday but I did so from San Diego so I could still go to Comic-Con. Sneaky but I don’t care because it was my first Comic-Con ever and I had SO MUCH FUN.

Since I had to work most of the day and only had a 1 day pass, I decided to skip all the panels and just check out the booths and exhibits in the main hall. Sadly I don’t have a lot of pictures, especially of costumed attendees (so many Wonder Women!) — there was just so much to see that I forgot. 🙁 But I’ll share what I do have!

Click for bigger.



WE MADE IT. !!! Taking the escalator to pick up our badges upstairs.



Rob and Sebastian. Do you feel our excitement?!?



After picking up our badges, I found a bench and outlet on the 2nd floor, which became my makeshift workstation for the day. Thank goodness for Google and their free wi-fi. Do you see the crazy line to the right of the picture? That’s the line for Ballroom 20, which is one of the rooms used for the really popular panels.



There are SO MANY people walking around and handing out various little tchotckes. Rob got this “tie” from someone promoting the upcoming movie Fantastic Mr. Fox. The “tie” is pretty darn awesome.



When I finally made my way to the main hall later in the day, I saw Iron-Man…



… and Star Wars figures at the Hasbro booth.



Rob loved this superhero squad display.



Aaahhhhh!!! It’s Adam Baldwin (aka Casey from Chuck and Jayne from Firefly)! Lurve him.



Edward James Olmos was also there…



… as was Michael Hogan (aka Colonel Tigh from Battlestar Galactica).



And probably the highlight of my day was seeing KIEFER SUTHERLAND. He was heading to the FOX booth and I happened to be near it. Look how close he was to me!!! *swoon* Katee Sackhoff (aka Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica) was walking right behind him (she’s going to be on 24 next season) but I totally missed getting a picture of her because I kept staring at Kiefer. She is so gorgeous in person.



Back to walking around. The Warner Bros booth — I managed to score one of their oversized tote bags! I think I accidentally cut in line, though. :/ Sorry! I swear I didn’t mean it. The one I got has Chuck on one side and The Big Bang Theory on the other. I really wanted the Harry Potter bag but they ran out. 🙁



One of the toy booths was selling this Comic-Con exclusive stuffed wicket. SO CUTE! Only $10! No, I didn’t get it.



Found my favorite Star Wars character R2D2 at the Sideshow Collectibles booth. If I remember correctly, this figurine was $5,450. WHAT.



And finally, here we are after a very looooong day. My back and feet were KILLING me after all the walking. You can see the oversized Warner Bros. tote bags we got in this pic.

Can’t wait for Comic-Con 2010! And I’ll be sure to request vacation on time to avoid the mess I had this year. 😛

hbp thoughts

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Lack of blogging again. I’ve been in kind of a funk lately (work sucks) so I haven’t been up to it.

But I went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last week and I HAVE to write up my thoughts! I liked it (but didn’t LOVE it). I think I’m getting old because I really wanted to go to a midnight showing (love the crowd, the anticipation, etc) but was too tired after work. Heh.

I sat next to a pair of IDIOTS who talked the ENTIRE TIME. I couldn’t actually hear their conversation but I don’t think they were even trying to whisper. UGH. Why pay $11 for a movie and then not even pay attention? You can talk outside for FREE.

Anyway.

First off, they really had to cut A LOT. And I know that’s the nature of adapting the book to a movie but if I wasn’t a fan, I don’t know how I would follow along!

I guess I should cut for spoilers?
Continue reading →

i FAIL at life

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I am SO PISSED at myself.

I mentioned a few months back that Rob and I bought tickets to go to Comic-Con on Friday, July 24th. I have been looking forward to this FOREVER. I don’t know why I didn’t ask for the day off back in April but I didn’t. I procrastinated. So OF COURSE, when I finally submitted my request this week, I find out that I might have to work that day because we have a project due the following Monday.

%$#@!&%!

I guess I better get my work completed before the 24th, right? Maybe if that happens, there’ll be a chance I can go. I mean, just look at the scheduled programming that day. It’s Star Wars day! And the casts of 24 and Bones are going to be there along with soooo many other awesome TV/movie/comic panels. *sigh*

I realize I’m being totally dramatic about the whole situation but I work because it’s something I have to do to enjoy the rest of my life. I don’t love it. And I would much rather be at Comic-Con.