Michi Photostory

But how time flies, nakakamiss din pumunta sa mga kid’s attraction so even though my son is no longer a kid, kapag gumagawa ako ng itinerary, feeling ko bata pa rin siya kasi may zoo pa rin. I was about to blog about our trip to Taronga Zoo in Sydney last year but crafting is life, so nagcraft muna ko. I don’t usually buy souvenirs so i-craft ko na lang. 

So I am sharing the animal-layered craft that I finished this week. My favorite is the giraffe. All these projects are designed by Craft with Sarah. 

I searched for different credit card promos and I found some hotel buffets so I suggested this to my husband pero hindi kami natuloy. Kasi naman bigla nalipat yung holiday so nagbago din schedule ng anak ko sa school. I want to eat during weekdays kasi, bukod sa mura ang rate, feeling ko lang mas konti ang tao. 

My husband suggested some restaurants in Tagaytay but I declined. Hello, nagkaroon nga ng volcanic smog tapos doon pa ko magcecelebrate. Hehehe! So I told him Orange Bucket na lang then IKEA. 

I always see this restaurant on social media but there is no branch in our area so dadayuhin pa talaga. Also my son doesn’t like seafood pero dahil birthday ko naman, ako masusunod. Hehehe! 

So last week, we went to Orange Bucket Newport branch, we arrived before 11AM and there was only one occupied table but most of the tables were reserved so hindi kami makapili ng magandang pwesto.

The staff gave us the menu but we saw the August Special for PHP1999 + SC, it includes the Signature Seafood Bucket, 4 cups of rice and 1 pitcher of blue lemonade so yun na agad inorder namin. My son ordered TOB Buffalo Wings PHP365 + SC. 

The Signature Seafood Bucket includes 500g crab, 400g shrimp, 300g mussels, 300g scallops, 200g potato marble, and 2 pieces of corn. They have The Big Bang, Garlic Butter, Lemon Pepper, and Black Pepper for flavor, but I chose Garlic Butter since hindi ako mahilig sa spicy. 

TOB Buffalo Wings - Fried chicken wings tossed in secret buffalo sauce, served with carrots, celery stick, and blue cheese dip. They served our food after 15 minutes and the feasting began, There were plastic aprons, gloves, and tissues so hindi ka madudumihan kapag kumain.

The food was just okay for us, konti kasi yung garlic butter sauce so hindi ko siya gaano malasahan. My husband and I were not able to finish the seafood bucket so take-out and yung lemonade, pwede din itake-out. Nasobrahan lang sa tamis yung juice. Service is good and we still enjoyed our experience. If ever we go back, I will try the other sauces baka mas okay ang lasa. 

We were done after 30 minutes and we went to IKEA para lang bumili ng sampayan. Hindi kasi pwede for delivery ito kaya hindi ko naisabay sa mga online order ko. It was a quick trip kasi ang dami din tao.

Of course, I bought my birthday cake at Cafe Mary Grace and made my own cake topper. Yes, Happy Birthday to Me!

So habang naghihintay ako na magbukas ang pharmacy store, I will share some birthday greeting cards that I finished. 

I made this card a few months ago but forgot to share it. I only have this photo as a souvenir because I already gave it to my mom when she needed a card. I love this card but it is so thick. 

This card is easy to cut and assemble. I don’t have enough green cardstock at home so I just used Distress Oxide to color my white cardstock. 

This card is supposed to be a 5x7-inch card but I resized it. Unfortunately, I made a mistake on the size so the design is too small for my card base. 

Same with the Dinosaur greeting card, I made a mistake but still assembled it. 

During my son's Recognition Day, I will never forget his class adviser, kasi sobrang cheer at clap ng hands ng teacher niya when we stepped on the stage. In my mind, wow, kakaiba itong teacher na ito, parang "nanay" sa sobrang support. 

And because of that, I decided to make a thank you easel card. Muntikan ko na nga hindi ibigay itong card na ito kasi hindi ko siya magawa ng maayos and I was not satisfied with the result. I wasted a lot of white cardstock. I tried different brand and texture pero hindi ko macut ng maayos so I just changed the first layer to draw function pero hindi pa rin ako natutuwa. But my husband said, "it is the thought that counts". So my husband gave this card nung kuhaan ng report card. 

A few months ago, Recognition Day ulit and kahit hindi na siya teacher ng anak ko, she was still the same, all out smiling and cheering when we stepped on the stage. We can really sense na happy and proud siya sa achievement ng anak ko. 

So I felt sad because I knew the school lost a passionate, supportive, and caring teacher. 

Today, I made this project again and buti naman walang nasayang na papel. 

Read: 7 Days Trip in Sydney Australia 

As per my research, here is the train schedule from Central Station to Katoomba Station. 

6:23 AM 

6:53AM 

7:23AM 

8:18AM 

The travel time is almost two hours and the expected arrival time at Katoomba Station is 8:21AM. We wanted to ride the first train so we needed to be at the Central Station before 6:23AM so we left as early as 5:30AM. 

We just walked to Museum Train Station from Hyde Park Inn, rode the train, and got off at Central Station. Then we just looked for the train platform for the Katoomba Station. When we arrived at Platform 6, the train was already there. I was a little bit surprised when I saw the train because it looked old compared to the trains that we tried in Sydney. 

After two hours, we arrived at Katoomba Station and went straight to the Blue Mountains Explorer Bus office to claim our tickets. You won’t miss this because it is just outside the train station. I purchased Lyrebird Pass at Klook which includes the Hop On Hop Off Bus and Scenic World Tickets. I just presented my voucher and received my guidebook where my name was written and the number of persons. The guidebook is our bus ticket. 

Blue Mountains Scenic World Ticket or Bus Tour 

When we left Sydney the temperature was 15C degrees while Katoomba was 6C degrees so we wore layered clothes but when we arrived at Katoomba, we still felt cold. Good thing there is CafeXpresso, where we purchased our hot drinks. The price of the drinks ranges from 3.50AUD to 6AUD. 

The first bus trip is at 9AM and the interval is every hour. There are 37 bus stops so just press the button if you want to get off the bus. We alighted at Bus Stop 11 where the Scenic World is. Our ticket includes unlimited rides to Scenic Skyway, Scenic Railway, Scenic Cableway, and Scenic Walkway but unfortunately, during our trip, Scenic Skyway was closed for scheduled maintenance so we were not able to experience it. Aside from that, Honeymoon Bridge, Bus Stop 8, Walk 9, Walk 13, Walk 14, and Walk 18 were also closed. 

We arrived at 9:20AM but the Scenic World opening hours are between 10AM to 4AM so we waited for more than 40 minutes. I am afraid of heights but I had to face my fear at sayang ang bayad. 

Scenic Walkway - longest elevated boardwalk in Australia. 

Aside from these 4 attractions, you can also visit Katoomba Coal Mine and Dinosaur Valley. 

We spent most of our time at the Scenic World and only walked to some tourist spots. But when we got tired we rode the bus again to continue our bus tour. 

We hopped off at Leura Railway Station to eat our late lunch but changed our mind because we wanted to go back to the hotel already. Travel time is 2 hours so we wanted to be back in Sydney before the peak hours. We used the Opal Machine to top up our cards, the minimum top-up is 40AUD for adults and 20AUD for kids. 

Good thing that we brought bread, pastries, chocolates, and drinks during our Blue Mountain trip so we did not feel hungry. We arrived at Museum Station before 5PM and went straight to David’s Kitchen so we could eat heavy meals. Rice is life.

It was my first time using my “MIYA HIMI Gouache Paint Set”, this was my prize last year when I joined the Bee Happy 11th Anniversary. Oh di ba, ang tagal na hindi ko man lang nagagamit. I cannot draw so what I did, was I made a watercolor background for my greeting cards. 

For this project, I used watercolor paper, gouache paint, distress oxides, embossing folders, and die cutting machine. You can watch my short process video here. 

I am happy with my “With Love Watercolor Card”.