Photo Catalogue: Royal Botanic Gardens (Spring 2013)

Would you believe that it's only recently that I got to explore the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney? I'm glad I finally did and I got to discover it with my Mom. Here are a few facts about this lovely space in Sydney:

Size of Site: 64 hectares

Size of Botanic Garden: 30 hectares

Size of Domain: 34 hectares

Annual visitation for the Royal Botanic Garden: 3,544,344. People attending concerts and major events in the Domain: 433,482; people using the Domain playing fields for booked sports: 59,300

Number of plant species in the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney (including the Domain): 8,900

More information here.

Royal Botanic Gardens is a perfect place to relax while communing with nature. It's also a good place to have a walk or jog or simply have some quiet time alone or with a loved one.

My Mom and I visited this month and there were lots of flowers abloom as it was Spring. Here are some of the snaphots of trees and flowers that we saw during our visit. 

Morning Walk At The Rocks & Circular Quay

When my Mom was here in October, I made sure that all my Fridays will be spent with her. She became my Fridate! :)

We somewhat made a ritual. We start early, dine out for breakfast, have long walks around the city, have lunch and do a bit of shopping before we go home. 

Our first Fridate was at The Rocks and Circular Quay. These areas have the best vantage point if you want to see the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. It's a massive area that has a lot of open spaces, restaurants and shops. 

We walked towards The Rocks, where you'll see the Harbour Bridge if walk towards the end of it. 

We passed by the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The Rocks and its heritage-designed buildings. The facade cannot be changed unless approved by the government. 

Bicycles are used as street decor or for holding a signage of an establishment.

Flowers on the side street.

A red phone booth. The phone inside is functional.

On Fridays, The Rocks in George Street corner Argyle Street is closed for market stalls. You can find lots of food, fruits and specialty items for sale produced by small to medium-sized businesses.

A clock tower at The Rocks.

From The Rocks, we walked towards the other side which is the Circular Quay area. It is where the Opera House is located. In front of the Opera House, this is what you'll see...

Here's my Mom and I with the Opera House behind us. From the Opera House, we made our way to the Royal Botanic Gardens located not too far away. 

We enjoyed our leisure walks in the city. Mornings are great for such activity as there's no crowd and we get to go to more places when were out early.

More of our morning walks in future posts.

From Australia to the Philippines: Two Ways to Send Help (#YolandPH)

Thank you, @Snoopy!

Two ways to send help to the Philippines:

LBC Australia will send your donations to the Philippines for free. Just bring your donation to any LBC Australia branch: Blacktown, Glendenning and Melbourne until 30 November 2013. You can find the locations of all their branches here. Suggested donations: canned/bottled food, medicine, bottled water/juice/milk, sleeping bags, mosquito nets, toiletries, laundry/detergent soap.

Caritas Australia is accepting cash donations online. Go to their website and click "Donate Now".

How is Caritas responding? 

Since even before the typhoon made landfall, the Caritas network has been working with communities affected. Early preparations included evacuating people from hard hit areas and we now continue to assess the emergency needs and deliver vital humanitarian assistance where required. We are working closely with local partners to ensure those who are most in need will receive help. 

The international Caritas network has committed more than $1 million to the relief efforts through its member organisations. Caritas Australia has commited $100,000 so far. 

Our network partner CRS (Caritas USA) is prioritising emergency shelter, water and sanitation, household relief items (blankets, kitchen items, cookware), potable water and toilets. 

This aid will help at least 16,000 families and includes:
18,000 tarpaulins for emergency use
1 million water purification tablets to ensure people have access to safe, clean drinking water
18,000 emergency shelter supply kits
5,000 water, sanitation and hygiene kits
5,000 non-food item kits

“We are ready to respond through our networks in any way we can to this disaster,” says Richard Forsythe, Caritas Australia’s Humanitarian Emergencies Coordinator.

October on Ibyangram

Ibyang + Instagram = Ibyangram

While my instagram photos are shared on my twitter page and sometimes on my tumblr and fb page, I would like to have a monthly dump of ibyangrams on AWCL too. It is thru instagram that I share everyday moments and random finds. I use instagram as my real time mini-blog. Every end of the month, I'll be choosing a couple of photos from my instagram and share it here because I have something more to say about a certain ibyangram.

My Ibyangrams are back!!! You probably thought I'd forget about my Ibyangrams for the month of October but I just won't let that happen. The first week of November have quickly zoomed in BUT better late than never is what I say.

My October was hectic, challenging, fun and very happy. 

The start of October had me sick with tonsilitis and flu. Not a great combination, I tell you. It was a terrible time as I panicked that I won't be well enough to prepare for my Mom's arrival. But thankfully, the antibiotics kicked in soon enough. I got my affairs in order and our home ready for my Mom's vacation.

Work has grown incredibly busy and it seems I will be running training programs until Christmas (!!!). I'm under a lot of pressure in getting all tasks accomplished but I've embraced the "hectic-ness" of it all and have decided to let go of things that irritate me and just focus on getting work done. 

Exciting times at the family front as my Mom arrived from Manila to vacation in Sydney for six weeks. She's the first one to arrive from overseas as our clan will have a little reunion of sorts this month.

For the rest of how my October was like, here are some Ibyangrams which I hope you enjoy...