18 Sunday Aug 2013
Posted in New Zealand, Oceania, Queenstown
On a wonderfully sunny day, Mr. Selfish and I decided to hike Queenstown Hill, which takes about 1.5 to 2.5 hours round trip (sans photos). With lots of photos, it takes closer to 3.5 hours. It was a surprisingly steep walk but quite enjoyable.
16 Friday Aug 2013
Posted in Food & Drinks, New Zealand, Oceania
Tags
Dunedin, Dunedin Farmers Market, Dunedin Railway Station, Food & Drinks, New Zealand, Oceania, Otago Farmers Market, Penguin Place, Penguins, Scotia Bar and Bistro, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Yellow-Eyed Penguin
One of my top priorities on our selfish trip was to see penguins in the wild. I did lots of research to determine whether we should see the penguins in Australia or wait until New Zealand. Since we were in Australia during the winter, we weren’t likely to see hoards of penguins ascending from the beach at dusk, which is more typical during the summer. I therefore opted to see the rarer yellow-eyed penguins in Dunedin.
These yellow-eyed penguin only exist in New Zealand, and there are only an estimated 3,000 left. These penguins are different from every other penguin in the world, because they are quite anti-social. They do not live in large colonies. In fact, each penguin has one long-term mate, and they can only mate when they do not see any other penguins. Other than mating and raising their offspring with one other penguin, they do everything individually. Hence, they go hunting alone and come up from the beach one by one.
15 Thursday Aug 2013
Posted in Food & Drinks, New Zealand, Oceania
Tags
Christchurch, Costas Taverna Greek Restaurant, Earthquake, Food & Drinks, New Zealand, Oceania, Selfish Year, Selfish Years
Mr. Selfish and I had heard about the 2011 earthquake that hit Christchurch but we hadn’t realized the extent of the devastation. Following an earthquake in 2010 that had a magnitude of 7.1, the 2011 earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3. Due to the succession of these earthquakes, Christchurch suffered immensely.
We had thought that by the time we visited Christchurch that the city would be mostly in repairs. We were wrong. The city center of Christchurch is still devastated. Apparently, other subsequent quakes have occurred, which kept setting the city back.
14 Wednesday Aug 2013
Posted in Food & Drinks, New Zealand, Oceania
Tags
Christchurch, Marlborough, New Zealand, Oceania, Ohau Seals, Ohau Stream Walk, Pegasus Bay, Seal Pups, Seals, Selfish Year, Selfish Years
The coastal drive between Marlborough and Christchurch takes about four hours and is quite lovely. Based on advice from our Highlight Wine Tour operator, we made two pit stops. First, we stopped at the Ohau Stream Walk, which is about an hour and a half away from Marlborough, to see the seal pups. Second, we had lunch at Pegasus Bay winery, which is about 50 minutes away from Christchurch.
Mr. Selfish and I were lucky enough to visit Ohau Stream Walk during the height of the season for seal pups. During the winter, momma seals leave their pups at Ohau stream and waterfall while they are out at sea hunting for food. The pups frolic and play in the stream with the other pups while waiting for their moms to come back.
13 Tuesday Aug 2013
Posted in Food & Drinks, New Zealand, Oceania
Tags
Blenheim, Brancott Estate, Drylands, Food & Drinks, Framingham, Gibson Bridge, Hunters, Marlborough, New Zealand, Oceania, Renwick, Rockferry, Saint Clair, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Seresin, Wairu River, Wines
Mr. Selfish and I spent two days in the Marlborough wine region. We rented an Airbnb apartment in Renwick, which is a perfect home base for wine tasting. We booked a tour through Highlight Wine Tour and the rest is a Sauvignon Blanc blur. We visited nine wineries and below is the summary of our impression of each winery.
While in the States, we loved drinking Fault Line, which is a Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region. We learned that Fault Line is actually produced at Saint Clair winery, so we knew we had to do a tasting there. We learned that the Fault Line is one of Saint Clair’s multiple labels that is sent to the States.
The Fault Line was not available for tasting, but we tried the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc Wairu Reserve and ended up buying two bottles. It is the one of the best Sauv Blancs I’ve ever tasted.
12 Monday Aug 2013
Posted in New Zealand, Oceania
Tags
Blue Lake, Green Lake, New Zealand, Oceania, Redwoods, Rotokakahi, Rotorua, Tikitapu, Waimangu, Waimangu Volcanic Valley, Whakarewarewa Forest, Zorbing
Mr. Selfish and I spent two nights in Rotorua, which is surprisingly a large tourist attraction in New Zealand. It may have been because we visited during a three week school holiday but it was swarming with families from other parts of NZ. In any case, although Rotorua is quite touristy, it has a lot to offer, and I don’t regret spending two nights there.
NZ is known for its fair share of thrill seeking. It is of course where bungee jumping was invented, and although lesser known, it is also where Zorbing was invented. Zorbing is basically rolling down a hill in a huge plastic hamster ball.
There are many options for Zorbing but me and Mr. Selfish both opted for the unharnessed zigzag path. The only issue with the zigzag path is that the ball is filled with water. Luckily, it was warm water since it was winter time.
It was definitely a good time. I was thrown all over the place as the ball made its way down the zigzag hilly path. My only advice is to not scream too much since you may end up with a mouth full of warm Zorbing water. Ewwwww.
03 Saturday Aug 2013
Mr. Selfish and I visited the National Gallery of Victoria, which is housed in two different buildings in Sydney. The first building near the CBD in Federation Square contains Australian art while the other building, which is a little further away, has international art.
We visited the building with the Australian art first. I particularly liked the art exhibit dedicated to the 1980’s.
02 Friday Aug 2013
As our last stop in Australia, Mr. Selfish and I spent five nights in Melbourne, which is the second largest city in Australia and naturally has a rivalry with Sydney. We had spent sixteen nights in Sydney but I wish that we had allocated more days to Melbourne. While Sydney was a nice city, it could have been a city anywhere in the world (aside from the iconic Opera House). Sydney is just so clean and sterile.
I viewed Melbourne as Sydney’s grittier and dirtier cousin – the fun cousin who will try to get you in trouble. We even learned that people from Sydney derogatorily refer to Melbournians as “Mexicans,” which is an interesting derogatory term in itself.
Mr. Selfish and I enjoyed meandering around Melbourne and especially appreciated the graffiti.
30 Tuesday Jul 2013
Posted in Australia, Food & Drinks, Oceania
Tags
Adelaide, Australia, Barossa Valley, Battle of Bosworth, Foggo, Food & Drinks, Jacob's Creek, Lehmann, McLaren Vale, Minko, Oceania, Rockford, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Seppeltsfield, Willunga Creek, Wine Region, Wineries
South Australia is home to hundreds of vineyards. Although we couldn’t visit them all, Mr. Selfish and I did manage to visit eight of them during our short stay in Adelaide. We visited four wineries in Barossa Valley, which is about 60 km northeast of Adelaide and is known for its red wines. We then visited four wineries in McLaren Vale, which is about 35 km south of Adelaide and is known for its production of shiraz wines.
No, just kidding. Mr. Selfish wasn’t even driving that day.
29 Monday Jul 2013
Posted in Australia, Food & Drinks, Oceania
Tags
Adelaide, Australia, Cleland, Cleland Wildlife Park, Emu, Food & Drinks, Kangaroo, Meet and Eat, Oceania, Red Ochre, Selfish Year, Selfish Years
Mr. Selfish and I spent three lovely evenings in Adelaide, which is a coastal city in South Australia. One of Mr. Selfish’s friends from grad school, Greg, and his wife, Tanya, graciously showed us around and introduced us to the concept of the “meet and eat.” It requires two steps: (1) you meet animals and then (2) you eat the animals from step 1.
For step 1, we visited the Cleland Wildlife Park. We purchased the feed for $3 a bag and started meeting and feeding the animals we would later devour.
We met quite a few emus, which are large flightless birds. They are similar to ostrich in size and taste. Mmmmmm…delicious!
25 Thursday Jul 2013
While we still had the car, Mr. Selfish and I visited Port Arthur, which is the former convict settlement on Tasmania. From 1833 until 1853, Port Arthur was a penal colony for the hardest of British criminals. In fact, in order to get into Port Arthur, you had to be a secondary offender that reoffended after coming to Australia.
Even though it was a penal colony, Port Arthur has a beautiful setting. It is set on a verdant peninsula, which is probably more cruel than anything.
24 Wednesday Jul 2013
Posted in Australia, Food & Drinks, Oceania, Tasmania
Tags
Australia, Barilla Bar, Barilla Oysters, Food & Drinks, Holy Cow Cafe, Josef Chromy, Kate's Berry Farm, Oceania, Pyengana, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Tasmania, Velo
Mr. Selfish and I were surprised at the quality of food in Tasmania. Everything that we ate was simply delicious. Since Tassie is an island, the vast majority of the food is local, which means that everything that you eat is fresh and in season.
The first stops we made were at two wineries in Tamar Valley. On our way from Hobart to Rosevears, we stopped at the Josef Chromy winery (370 Relbia Road, Relbia 7258) for lunch and a wine tasting.
We enjoyed a yummy saffron soup, greens, and a salmon and fenugreek risotto. We also had a wine tasting. Tamar Valley is known for its white wines, which me and Mr. Selfish adore. We restrained ourselves and only purchased one bottle of the Sauvignon Blanc.
22 Monday Jul 2013
Tags
Australia, Beauty Point, Launceston, Narawntapu National Park, Oceania, Platypus House, Rosevears, Seahorse World, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Tasmania
Mr. Selfish and I spent a wonderful six nights in Tasmania, which is the little island off of the southern coast of Australia. We loved Tassie the most out of all the areas that we visited in Australia.
To get to Tassie, we took a short flight from Sydney to Hobart. We then rented a car since it’s difficult to get around otherwise. Here’s our six day itinerary, which was well-suited for the rainy winter weather we had at the time: Hobart to Launceston to St. Helens (near the Bay of Fires) to Swansea (near Wineglass Bay/Freycinet National Park) to Port Arthur to Hobart.
Next time, we’ll definitely hit up Cradle Mountain and some of the western portions of Tassie. And we’ll make sure that we go in the summer, instead of the dead of winter.
Upon our arrival in Tassie, we immediately drove to Rosevears, which is a little town outside of Launceston and about a 2.5 hour drive from Hobart. We spent two nights at a wonderful airbnb rental.
Our primary reason for staying in Rosevears was to visit Narawntapu National Park. The park is known as the “Serengeti of Tasmania” due to its abundant wildlife. I especially wanted to see wombats, which are stout little marsupials resembling teddy bears. I was not disappointed.
21 Sunday Jul 2013
Tags
Australia, Cairns, Great Barrier Reef, Mossman Gorge, Oceania, Port Douglas, Queensland, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Wildlife Habitat
Mr. Selfish and I dove for two consecutive days at the Great Barrier Reef. We then had to spend another day in Port Douglas in order to decompress for at least 18 hours.
I had heard that Queensland was one of the few states in Australia that you could hold a koala, as opposed to just standing next to one. I learned that you could indeed cuddle with a koala at the Wildlife Habitat (Port Douglas Rd, Port Douglas QLD 4877, Australia), so I dragged Mr. Selfish there.
20 Saturday Jul 2013
Tags
Agincourt Reef, Australia, Cairns, Calypso, Great Barrier Reef, Oceania, Opal Reef, Poisedon, Port Douglas, Queensland, Selfish Years, The Selfish Years
Mr. Selfish and I became scuba certified in March 2012. One of the primary reasons for our certification was so that we could dive the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It is practically every diver’s dream to dive at the GBR.
We took a short flight from Sydney to Cairns and then immediately rented a car to drive to Port Douglas, which was our home base for the three days we were in the area. The drive from Cairns to Port Douglas took about an hour and was lovely.
The Selfish Years 