Hopping Around: Perhaps, My Best Vacation... Yet... For Now :Day2

Day2:

My travel Bucket List:  ✔Kangaroo ✔Koala ✔Wombat ✔Dingo ✔Echidna ✔Tasmanian Devil

Waking up my first morning in Australia is both surreal and ice-cold. Everything seemed to be a far-fetched dream until the cold winter breeze sifted thru my body and suddenly I had the urge to release my first Australian Fart. (Wahahahaha... haba ng intro... uutot lang pala... pwe...)

Our second day schedule was to meet and greet our great and not-so-great endemic Australian faunas. We traveled by train from Chatswood to Blacktown and caught a bus from Blacktown to Featherdale  Zoo. Featherdale Zoo is medium size, quaint, clean, semi-outbacky and open (pwede hawakan ang karamihan sa animals... pwede ka ding magpahawak... lol) . We (the half-family) were very lucky that we went there on a weekday because it was not crowded and we can enjoy the place with little competition. 

Warning: Photo-spamming below
#KoalaLumpur #Kangaroo2.0 #Zoomba

I enjoyed this day to the fullest because I love animals soooo mucha...(sa katunayan kung hindi ako naging Engineer malamang animal ako... wahahahaha). We head back home around 3PM Australian time (2 hours ahead sa Pilipinas) and we had a little detour at Lid & Jar for our mandatory evening coffee before we head back to their apartment for a nice home-cooked dinner by Tita Annie.

End of Day 2

Hopping Around: Perhaps, My Best Vacation... Yet... For Now :Day1

I always believed that my body is genetically designed for colder weathers. I mean... despite the fact that clothes-layering is my kind of fashion (Weh? para di halatang chubby?!), it is just that  lower atmospheric temperature send chills into my core that makes me a little bit giddy than my usual tropical self. So, imagine my excitement when we finally had our half-family-12day-midyear-winter-vacation to Australia this year. Brrrrrrr....

Note: This is not a travel blog post... maybe it is... but it does not have the details to pass as one... because, thanks to the generosity of my Olda Brotha, I only spent a month's-worth-of-salary to relish everything (di pa ata everything kasi babalik pa tayo... hihihihi) Australia can offer.

Day1:

My travel Bucket List: ✔ Sydney Opera House

We (meaning : ako, si Mama, at si JB) arrived at Sydney airport around lunch time (halatadong gutom na kasi pinagsama na ang pagakain at oras... wahahaha). My Olda Brotha fetched us at the airport with his long-time-best-acquaintance-slash-housemate Ace. 

#WalaSaPicSiAce #DiAtaPhotogenic #Touchdown #HalfFamily

We almost immediately drove to their apartment in Chatswood (di naman kami masyado nagmamadali) and hold and behold we are welcomed with a yummy dessert to celebrate JB's and My recently concluded-annually-celebrated Birthdays.

#GreenTeaCake #HealthConfused #ThanksAceAndRed #RedIsAlsoAnAcquiantaceSlashHousemate

We (meaning: ako, si Mama, si Jb, Si Olda Brotha, Si Ace, Si Tita Helen (Ace's Mama), Si Tita Annie and Tito Al (Red's Parents), at Ate Vi (Virna)) only took 12 minutes and 48.3 seconds to walk to our first destination for the day and to our stomachs' delight it was literally a Good Thai Restaurant.

#G'ThaiMate #ThaiInAussie 

After our stomachs were southeast-asian-ish full, we are more than ready to go and head to the City's most iconic landmark... The Opera house... (All along akala ko Ospital to... wahahaha... chika lang)...

Side Note: First time ko makasakay ng first-world trains... lakas maka culture shock... #BooMRt #BooLRT

# OOTDHomeless

#We #HousematesSaBahayNiKuya #SiTitoAlsiKuya #NominationNight

#FinalFourBet #Wahahaha

#BigWinner #Biga #Vans

The Harbor Bridge also looks magnificent against the afternoon sun....

#BigaPaMore #Vans

After exhausting ourselves (picture picture lang pagod na agad?!) at Sydney's Opera House we further exhausted ourselves (lalo na ang mga paa namin... pagal na kami... pagal na pagal) to an hour urban-heart-of-the-city stroll from Circular Quay to Darling Harbor. But I must say, the winter breeze and scenic view is worth the walk.

#RusticSydney #WinterCity #LakasMakaFirstWorld

A sigh of relief is a physical understatement as we arrived at Darling Harbor... but then, not to my surprise, the view is again breathe-taking... 

#LakasMakaMayaman #LinisNgTubig #PwedeAtangInumin

To cap our 1st day City Tour, we took a sip of our well-deserved hot chocolate in the famous-slash-infamous Lindt Cafe along Darling Harbor... 

#LindtCafe #MangmangMagtimpla #MOA

End of Day1

Movie Bulllet: "That Thing Called Tadhana"

Where do broken HEARTS go nga ba, 'te Whitney?

This movie is GREAT... Maybe, the best local movie I have seen in awhile now... This movie makes MMFF movies looks like shits out of damped dumpster crack...

The premise of the movie is as simple as it can get but the character execution, the semi-realistic script, and the quasi-implied metaphors were brilliantly laid down in the whole duration of the film. The whole vibe of the film reminds me of movie-franchise "Before Sunrise"- Two strangers met for the first time and decided to take a spontaneous tour just talking about everything under the sun. (you kinda get where I am getting this right?)

Angelica Panganiban is not a revelation in this movie (because we know what she can do) but with the simplicity of the plot and the scenes she became a league of her own on how she made her character very indulging and relate-able. She gave just the right amount of spice needed to put her character in a believable state plus her comedic timing is superb.

JM De Guzman, on the other hand, was a breath of fresh air. He is like your typical boy next door and if ever you want a stranger that you can pour your heart out to and go to an unplanned trip to high mountains, JM's boyish appeal will definitely suit the bill-  you just won't assume that he can do you any harm.

The movie has a handful of metaphoric moments like the arrow and the heart pierced through him, the overpass scene,  the luggages and many more. I guess one just have to have the keen eyes and knows connecting the dots to figure out these pieces together.

That Thing Called Tadhana- Best Moments

1. Angelica Panganiban's luggage dilemma-airport scene.
"P***** buhay naman to oh, b'at pa kasi nabuhay pa ako."

2. "Ate ang phone mo nag riri-ring"-scene
"B'at di papatulan ang pagsuyong nagkulang"
- I am just soooo laving this song these past few days... hayyyyy

3. 7 words in 8 years
"Hindi. Na. Kita. Mahal. Makakaalis. Ka. Na. 'yung 8 years namin, tinapos nya langin 7 words."

4. The Fitzgerald Quote
"Alam mo 'yung sinabi ni F. Scott Fitzgerald??? There are may kinds of love but never the same love twice."

5. Mt. Kiltepan Breakdown
"Ayoko na. Pagod na akong masaktan."

6. Karaoke Belting
"Where do broken hearts go???"


7. Goodbye scene
"Miss (o Mace), mauna na ako." ... turn around, teary-eyed, audience sobs... hayyyyyy

I highly recommend to watch this movie in you most available/convenient time. Kung may pinagdadaanan ka man sa kasalukuyan... relate much ka dito... HUGOT lng ng HUGOT...

-(negative) 1 Bullet... plus a bulletproof vest..


Can me make through the rain ba, te Mariah?