travel tales: June 2015

State Library of New South Wales
Location: Macquarie St, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
Link: http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/events/tours/index.html
Free Tour Schedule: Monday to Fridays at 10.30am

Sunday, June 21, 2015

2015 June: Sydney: Churches

There are a lot of churches in the city. It's not only the catholic churches that have intricate designs, there were Anglican and others as well. On the Pitts, you can also see the Scientology Church (Read).

We're able to attend the Sunday mass in St. Peter Julian's Church.

St. Peter Julian Haymarket

Location: 641 George Street, Sydney NSW

Site: http://www.stpeterjulianhaymarket.org.au

Sunday Mass Times: 9.30 am, 11.00 am (Chinese),12.30 pm, 3.30 pm & 5.00pm (Korean)

Gospel MK 14:12-16, 22-26 - June 07, 2015

While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing,

broke it, gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is my body."

2015 June: Sydney: I'm Free Tours

I’m Free Tours was started by Ross & Justine, two Sydneysiders, upon their return from travels around Europe. This small group is also made up of young Sydneysiders and Melbournians.

About: http://www.imfree.com.au/

https://www.facebook.com/imfreetourssydney

Read more reviews in: http://www.tripadvisor.com

Thanks to Danica our guide in Sydney Sights that we took at 2:30pm on a Saturday afternoon of June.

It started at meeting point in Town Hall Square, on George St between Sydney Town Hall and St Andrew’s Cathedral. She welcomed the participants by asking the home countries we've been from and had small chats with the groups. Good thing about this is even there are a lot of joiners, you can still hear her loud and clear.

2015 June: Vivid Sydney - Lights

Vivid Sydney is festival of light, music and ideas held in Sydney, Australia during end of May to early June.

Vivid Light transforms Sydney into a wonderland of 'light art' sculptures, innovative light installations and grand-scale projections for all to enjoy - for free. It is a magical celebration of light-design excellence and the world's largest outdoor 'art-gallery': a unique Vivid Sydney experience. [Read more on http://www.vividsydney.com/about-vivid-sydney]

Photos below were taken during the last weekend of the event on June 2015.

Martin Place

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Flavors of Sydney and Katoomba, Australia

Are you heading to Australia to try some of the must eat, cheap eats, best tasty restaurants? Let me share some of the places we have visited that may also fill-up your hunger for Australian food.

Alexandria

The Grounds of Alexandria

Food: Seasonal greens 7.00aud (with olive oil and sea salt), David Blackmore full-blooded wagyu cheeseburger 21.00aud (with shed-made dill pickles, mustard seed onions, tomato chili jam & lettuce, all on a pretzel bun with fries), Citrus Fizz (zesty orange and lemon soda), Elderflower and Cucumber soda

Value: 42aud (1450 php)

Location: 7A, 2 Huntley St, Alexandria NSW 2015

Website: http://thegrounds.com.au/

Personal Preference: 9 out of 10, I loved the experience.

2015 June: Sydney: Pensione Hotel Haymarket

Affordable accommodation upon my research in Sydney are mostly found in Kings Cross. Good prices from airbnb are in Darlinghurst. But, accessible location would be in main thorough fare of George Street which is near the Light Railways in Haymarket, Townhall station and Wynyard station.

Pensione Hotel Sydney, Haymarket

Location: 631635 George Street, Haymarket, NSW, 2000 Australia

Book Pensione Hotel Sydney, Australia in Agoda

Trip Advisor Reviews

Price: Discounted - Upon comparing the official website, agoda and expedia, the lowest price for 1 shoebox room for 7 nights (P25,567.53) is in expedia (with 10k php hot deal discount).

Check-in: Quick and easy - Check-in time starts at 3pm. But if they found the room available they can let you in upon arrival. They would also need 100.00 aud as a deposit, just surrender the receipt upon check-out.

For early travelers, they have guest lounge where you can take a rest and freshen-up before you start the day.

Australia: Visa Application

Most of the advise online is still to get a visa first before buying a ticket. But what can I do if the fares are on sale?!

I bought my 5J ticket on 28-Oct-2014 during the Peek-a-BOOK Piso Sale for 7,060 php base fare RT. Now, how will I get the visa?

Created an account at http://www.border.gov.au/immiaccount
Applied for Visitor Visa (600), filled-up the form and submitted the following documents:

2015 Feb: Singapore: Itinerary

2015 Feb: Singapore: Itinerary

Travel Date
Feb 13-16, 2015 (near Chinese New Year celebration)

Accommodation: Where to stay in Singapore?

Fragrance Hotel - Bugis
Location: 33 Middle Road Singapore 188942
Contacts: +65 6336 9888, web@fragrancehotel.com

Trip Report

Itinerary: Places to go, Things to see, What to do in Singapore?