El Nido Miniloc Island Resort (Part 2)

Breathtaking is simply understatement to describe the spectacular beauty and adventure that El Nido Miniloc Island Resort brings. The boat trip towards the island allowed us to appreciate the beauty of this part of the Philippines. Philippines as archipelago consists of thousands of islands and Palawan offers a good view of several of these wonderful land forms. You can make your imagination go wild with the different shapes and forms these islands take. What is more notable though are the efforts of people in Palawan to preserve this natural beauty and at the same time provide locals means of livelihood through tourism.

 Off we went to our boat transfer.

So glad to have the sun after days of clouds and intermittent rains. A tropical depression was just sitting near the country for several days and we were just happy that the sun was out to welcome our El Nido, Palawan adventure.

Majestic rock formations and inviting waters.

 The view of El Nido Miniloc Island Resort water cottages from the pier.

The welcome crew preparing for our arrival.

 Resort crew singing a local song to welcome us. Think about creative hospitality!

 Refreshing lemongrass and ginger cold drink. Sorry, we finished the peanuts and cashew nuts. Maybe it was just the excitement of finally arriving at the resort.

 The buffet! Since we arrived early, breakfast was still served. Buffet meals are served all the time and is included in the package. No need to worry about what to eat and there is a wide selection of food to choose from all the time.

Breads all you want.

 Now I am seeing this for real. A few months ago I was just looking at a similar picture through my computer. Now I am seeing, smelling, tasting,hearing and feeling it! Dreams do come true.

 The view of the lounge huts from our room.

 The view of the restaurant from our room.

 Welcome freebies!

 The vacation planner. A activity coordinator was assigned to us to discuss the activities we would like to do.It includes recommended activities, dining options for the different islands most of which are also owned by the resort. All activities include all swimming, safety and boat gears. That's worry free island hopping! We wanted to maximize our day so we went straight to our island hopping adventures in the afternoon. Our activity coordinator arrange for our trip to the Big and Small Lagoons. Our activity guide was very helpful and very passionate about what he was doing. An afternoon filled with fun and awe really capped our day!

 Going towards the Big Lagoon.

 At the Big Lagoon Entrance.

Near the Small Lagoon entrance. 

 Getting ready to kayak towards the Small Lagoon.

 Fellow guests wrapping up their kayak from the Small Lagoon.

Posing at the Small Lagoon Entrance.

This was just Day 1 of our adventure and we had tons of fun and felt so refreshed already. Nature indeed has a way of recharging our tired minds and bodies. If there was one thing I learned during that day was the realization that nature has its own rules, its own course. We just learn to appreciate it and go with its flow. With little resistance, things will just fall into place.

El Nido Miniloc Island Resort (Part 1)

The journey towards El Nido Miniloc Island Resort

Palawan is located on the western part of the Philippines. Known as “The Last Ecological Frontier of the Philippines” because of its stunning landscapes and rich bio-diversity, Palawan consists of the 1,780 islands out of the total 7,107 islands of Philippines. Think about island hopping. Big time!

While watching the last scenes of the recent installment of the movie “The Bourne Legacy”, I was in awe of the stunning scenery. That for me was a picture of a good holiday!  My guess was right, that part was shot in El Nido, Palawan. That made us even more excited to our holiday in El Nido Miniloc Island Resort. We made our booking online through the El Nido group of resorts website and a representative from Manila was quite prompt in addressing our queries.  It would be good to do some research through online bookings and do some comparisons.

We traveled to El Nido via ITI ISLAND TRANSVOYAGER, INC. (ITI) is the only airline that offers direct flight from Manila to El Nido, Palawan and vice versa. The airfare includes refreshments while waiting for your departure and upon arrival at El Nido. The passenger seat arrangement at the departure lounge area was very organized and personalized. Talk about customer service at its best. Arrival at the LIO airport was also twice as fun. We were greeted by singing locals and another round of refreshments. The boat transfers to our respective resorts marked the start of our journey to paradise.

 El Nido Resorts Waiting Lounge at the ITI Hangar

 Assigned Seats

Refreshments before the flight

 The Philippine Buffalo was ready to welcome us too.

 A taste of more stunning scenery to come.

Our short ride towards the jetty.

LIO Airport

 The jetty at LIO airport

So off we went to our little paradise for few days. The experience was amazing and we savored every moment of it. Will be posting more of our El Nido adventures soon.

Experiencing Lakes Entrance

Life has been quite challenging in the past years that I have not been able to update my blog. It is only until early this year that my husband and I were able to make a long trip to one of Victoria’s popular destination. Lakes Entrance! 

Lakes Entrance has been a popular Gippsland holiday spot for more than 100 years. It is a tourist resort and a fishing port.  Lakes Entrance is situated near a channel connecting the Gippsland Lakes to the Bass Strait in eastern Victoria, Australia. I traveled with my husband recently and stayed for two days and one night. It was not enough for us to really enjoy the beauty of Lakes Entrance but it was enough for us who just wanted a quick weekend getaway.

Travelling to Lakes Entrance

Lakes Entrance is only 3.5 hours from Melbourne, making it an easy weekend getaway. We travelled by car so we took route A1 using the Princess Highway as the major road. You can also travel by train using the Bairnsdale station. Lakes Entrance can also be reached by bus using bus routes servicing the area. Refer to Lakes Transit, Dysons Bairnsdale and Vline for timetables and maps. 

The route towards Lakes Entrance

Accommodations at Lakes Entrance

Lakes Entrance Accommodation consists of Holiday Houses, Apartments, Penthouses, Cabins or Cottages. Along the esplanade, there is an array of accommodations you can choose from according to your budget and preference. There are lots of options and there are several websites you can refer for choices. Lakes Entrance Accommodation,  Visit Melbourne and Parks Victoria are good places to start. We stayed in one of the quieter part fronting the esplanade. We just had the basics and a free breakfast. 

One of the several accommodations along the Esplanade

Exploring Lakes Entrance

Water abounds in Lakes Entrance so make sure to get your gears ready. Here is a list of activities you can do while on Lakes Entrance. Of course this list continues depending on how adventurous you can be.

1. Engage in water-based activities. If you are a great swimmer or a good surfer, then the surf beach is the place for you. They even have place where the teach adults and kids to surfs within hours. 
2. Relax and enjoy the seaside charm. If you are not the swimming type,then renting the water boats will be a good idea. However, if this is not for you, then just sitting by the beach and enjoying the sights will surely bring your imagination miles away.
3. Take the eco-cruise and enjoy the scenery of the lakes and amazing wildlife. If you want to enjoy the vast waterways and enjoy the sight of abundant wildlife, then taking the Eco Cruise is a sure hit. Lonsdale Eco Cruise even offers freshly baked scones while on the cruise. Make sure to make your bookings as they make only one trip a day.
4.  Enjoy fresh and mouth wateringseafood. More than a tourist destination, Lakes Entrance is a fishing port. Traveling to Lakes Entrance will never be complete without feasting on their fresh seafood.Several restaurants offer wide selection of seafoods. Of course, nothing beats the trusted fish and chips.

Kids enjoying team games by the surf beach

Enjoying the sun and the sand! :-)

My husband posing with the watch tower in the background.

Kiosk for booking the Eco-cruise

The Entrance where the lakes meet the ocean

One of the lovely sights during the Eco-cruise

The big fishing boats

We really had a great time in Lakes Entrance and we already went back. During the second trip, we had a bit of time and we explored the neighboring towns of Nungurner, Metung, Buchan and Bruthen. Hopefully I will be able to post new blogs of these gorgeous places soon.

Melbourne Zoo

This year, Melbourne Zoo is celebrating its 150 year anniversary at Royal Park. It is proud to be one of the most established and best known city zoos in the world. It is just one of the many zoos in Victoria. As the zoo celebrates a milestone this year, it is also fitting for me to recapture my first experience here when I came in Melbourne in 2009. I am sharing with you pictures of my experience in the zoo. For more information about the zoo, ticket fees and other inquiries, you can visit their website. Hope my photos give you a glimpse of the zoo.

Otter

 I like taking photos of birds! 

 Pelicans and the turtles!

Australian pelicans are large, black and white birds with massive pouched bills. The bird’s pouch is used mainly as a ‘scoop net’ for catching small fish and shrimps, rarely for carrying them. The pouch is also used for catching rain. The total pouch capacity is seven liters.

 Butterfly sanctuary

 Mommy and baby elephant

 I suppose this is Dad Elephant. :-)

 Miniatures

Long-necked giraffes!

Of course, the ostrich stays with the giraffe! 

Although rarely heard, Giraffes can moo, hiss, roar and whistle to communicate with one another. Amazing!

Now let us start the debate. Is the zebra a black horse with white stripes or a white horse with black stripes?

 Bongo

 Baboons

 Lovely bush flowers

 Meerkat

Meerkats are a type of Mongoose. The English translation is marsh cat, although Meerkats don't live near marshes and they are not cats.

 Hunky kangaroos

On the Australian coat of arms the Emu and the Kangaroo were selected as symbols of Australia to represent the country progress because they are always moving forward and never move backwards.
Kangaroos are the largest marsupial mammals. They belong to the  Macropodidae family. Kangaroos are not endemic to Australia, several species of tree kangaroos and forest wallabies also live in Papua New Guinea.

The emu is the largest bird in Australia, and the second largest in the world after the ostrich.Emus are found only in Australia.

One colorful duck

Koalas are not bears. They are MARSUPIALS, which means that they carry their young in a pouch.Koalas have two thumbs on their front paws - to help them climb, to hold onto the tree and to grip their food.Koalas are NOCTURNAL animals. This means that they sleep in the daytime, and move around and feed at night.

Koalas aren't bears. The koala is related to the kangaroo and the wombat. The koala is a mammal. The reason the koala is called a koala bear is because the koala looks like a cute teddy bear.

Ant eater

I was not able to take pictures of the penguins in Phillip Island because flash photography is not allowed. In Melbourne Museum, I got another chance to be up close with these cute but very diligent creatures.Penguins eyes are specialised for seeing underwater and on land in low light. For this reason they are highly sensitive to sudden bright light such as camera flashes

A penguin can stay at sea for weeks, diving for fish, yet its waterproof feathers keep its skin absolutely dry. It can actually sleep at sea, dozing as it floats on the surface.

The penguins in Australia are the smallest in the world (only 33 cm tall). Penguins are found only in the southern hemisphere so you will never see a penguin and a Polar Bear together in the wild!

The Little Blue Penguin is one quite small compared to other species. In fact, it is due to this small size that it is also referred to as the Fairy Penguin. It is the smallest of all the penguins in the world. It can weigh up to 2 pounds and it would be taller than 16 inches. They have a deep blue coloring to them which is why they have been named the Little Blue Penguin. This blue color is on top of their head and all down their back side. The front is white.

The Penguin Parade is one enchanting experience! Visit their website for more information.