Tag Archives: Selfish Years

Port Douglas: More than Just the Great Barrier Reef

21 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by in Australia, Oceania

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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.

Holding a Koala & Feeding the Roos at Wildlife Habitat

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.

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YOLO: Diving Six Times at the Great Barrier Reef

20 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by in Australia, Oceania

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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.

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The Good and Bad Eats of Bora Bora

19 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Food & Drinks, French Polynesia, Hilton, Oceania

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Editor’s note: This is the third of three posts on the Hilton Bora Bora. Check out our other posts here:

Like the rest of French Polynesia, Bora Bora has a rich food tradition with heavy French and Chinese influences. Unfortunately, the Hilton maintains the brand’s tradition of serving very average food at marked up prices – so what’s a hapless foodie supposed to do?

Eating at the Hilton Bora Bora – The Bad

The Hilton Bora Bora has three restaurants:

  1. Tamure Grill – serves breakfast and casual meals
  2. Iratai Restaurant – serves Polynesian cuisine or Mediterranean food (i.e. French)
  3. Upa Upa Restaurant – located at the Spa. Serves some sort of mystery cuisine.

After reading flyertalk posts, I figured the hotel food would be mediocre and over-priced. As it turns out, the prices were fairly reasonable (at least by hotel standards).

EATING AT THE TAMUR GRILL

Mrs. Selfish and I ended up eating a few meals at the Tamur Grill before we got wise. Since the menu is the same for lunch and dinner, I’ll post ‘em all here.

The Fish of the Day (2900 XPF – about $31) – a firm white fish served on top of a bed of vegetables with a side of fries and a vanilla sauce. Mrs. Selfish was excited to try the vanilla sauce, which was supposed to be a specialty of the region. Unfortunately, the hotel’s version was simply too sweet – the fish itself was decent, but at $30+ this was pretty disappointing.

VERDICT: Pass

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Fun in Paradise at the Hilton Bora Bora

18 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, French Polynesia, Hilton, Oceania, Travel Hacking

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Editor’s note: This is the second of three posts on the Hilton Bora Bora. Check out our other posts here:

Today is a continuation of yesterday’s post on the Hilton Bora Bora. Whereas yesterday I was talking about how to get to this amazing resort, and how beautiful Bora Bora is, today I’ll be discussing what you can actually do there – other than the usual relaxing, eating, and napping, and taking long walks on the beach.

I jest of course, though there are plenty of beaches for strolling if you like that kind of thing. Not those shelly beaches either – these are powdery sandy white beaches!

Diving in Bora Bora

Since Mrs. Selfish and I are both certified divers, we decided a dive in the crystal blue-green waters of Bora Bora was a no-brainer. Unfortunately, options in Bora Bora are pretty limited, with only 4 companies. The 2 larger ones felt a little crowded and impersonal to us, so we ended up going with Dive N’ Smile, which was a one man operation run by Patrick.

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Patrick picked us up promptly from the Hilton and suited us up. Not only was his equipment brand new (and very nice!), but he also had steel tanks, which is not something we’ve never seen before.

Although the reefs around Bora Bora are dead, thanks to a hurricane that ripped it up a few years, there is a ton of wild life! We ended up spotting half a dozen lemon sharks, a giant school of blue-spotted eagle rays, and a couple of very active eels.

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Visibility was great, the animals were amazing, and the equipment and instruction were on point. Overall this was definitely one of our better dive experiences and I would highly recommend Dive N’ Smile. If anyone is thinking of going, shoot Patrick an email at: diveNsmile@mail.pf.

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5 Nights at the Insanely Beautiful Hilton Bora Bora

17 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, French Polynesia, Hilton, Oceania, Travel Hacking

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Editor’s note: This is the first of three posts on the Hilton Bora Bora. Check out our other posts here:

After our evening of cold croque monsieurs in Tahiti, Mrs. Selfish and I awoke early the next day and boarded a plane for Bora Bora, one of the most beautiful (and expensive) places on Earth.

Having read good things about the Hilton Bora Bora, I was anxious to check out our new home for 5 nights – an overwater bungalow in some of the most magnificent waters I’d ever seen. I booked the stay before the Hilton Honors great devaluation using an AXON award and an extra night, so the total came to 195,000 HHonors points.

Getting there and check-in

Getting to Tahiti itself can be quite difficult on miles and points, though flyertalk has several threads devoted to the topic as I mentioned yesterday.

Once you’ve reached Tahiti the intra-island flight from to Bora Bora is costly at roughly ~$450 round trip. Air Tahiti Nui has multiple flights a day starting in the early morning and ending mid-evening, but unfortunately none of these accept points or miles, just cold hard cash.

Pro-tip: Sit on the left side of the plane for stellar views of Bora Bora

After landing, you have two options for getting to the Hilton Bora Bora: a) take Hilton’s fancy speedboat to the property for roughly $125 per person round trip, b) take the boat into Viatape (the main town) and then catch Hilton’s boat from there for roughly $8 round trip. While we chose option B, we ended up giving our bags to crew of Hilton’s speedboat, which they brought to the hotel for us. I highly recommend this option.

Getting to Bora Bora proved more difficult than most destinations: with 2 flights to Tahiti, a plane to Bora Bora, a shuttle boat to Viatape, and a boat to the Hilton Bora Bora, but man is it worth it.

Bora Bora is easily the most beautiful beach destination we’ve ever been to, beating out Koh Samui, Bali, Danang, and Cancun. Since Mrs. Selfish and I wanted to maximize our time at the resort, we took a late-morning flight in, and an early evening flight out and boy was I glad we did, the Hilton Bora Bora is gorgeous.

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Heading to Bora Bora: Tahitian Dreams

16 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, French Polynesia, IHG, Oceania, Travel Hacking

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When Mrs. Selfish and I originally planned our Selfish Year of travels, we had no intention of visiting the South Pacific. That all changed in March when Hilton announced a massive devaluation in their HHonors Award Program. Hotels that once cost 50,000 points a night we’re suddenly going for as much as 95,000 points – an almost 100% increase!

Having acquired a taste for the Hilton’s nicer properties after staying at the Conrad Koh Samui, I started looking into other places to burn Hilton points. So when my cousin in Sydney proposed we meet up at the Hilton Bora Bora, I jumped at the chance.

Especially after seeing pictures of Bora Bora.

Aw yeah.

Unfortunately, getting to Bora Bora is quite difficult. Only a limited number of airlines fly to Tahiti, and once there you have to catch one of the inter-island flights, which are quite expensive.

To make things even trickier, you’re more or less required to spend two nights in Tahiti as well. Fortunately, Mrs. Selfish had a number of Intercontinental Hotel Groups points saved up, so we ended up booking two nights: one for the flight in, and one for the night before our morning flight out.

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Finishing Sydney with a Bang at the Park Hyatt

15 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by in Accommodations, Australia, Hyatt, Oceania, Sydney, Travel Hacking

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Mrs. Selfish and I visited Sydney a total of three times during our Selfish Year of travels, since Sydney is the major airport in the Oceania region. During our first stay, we stayed with family in the Manly area. For our second stay, we rented a flat downtown – in the seedy red light district.

Our third and final stay was different, however. Having booked us flights to Cairns to dive the Great Barrier Reef I was having a heck of a time finding a flight that would connect us through Sydney in time to catch our flight to Tasmania.

Finally giving up, I decided we’d have to spend one more night in Sydney. And we’d have to do it in style.

At the Park Hyatt Sydney.

Aw yeah.

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Having Fun at the Museums in Sydney

13 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by in Australia, Oceania, Sydney

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During our stay in Sydney, Mr. Selfish and I visited two museums – the Art Gallery of New South Wales (NSW) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. While we enjoyed ourselves at both museums, the reason for our enjoyment differed between the two museums.

The Art Gallery of NSW

The Art Gallery of NSW is located in Sydney’s central business district. The Art Gallery has four different levels with each level having a very eclectic collection. Mr. Selfish and I truly enjoyed viewing all of the different collections here.

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Searching for the Best Aussie Pie in Sydney

12 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by in Australia, Food & Drinks, Oceania, Searching for the Best . . ., Sydney

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One of the true Aussie specialty foods, Aussie Pies are like miniature chicken pot pies – a little bit of joy that fits in the palm of your hand. Aussie Pies come in a ton of varieties, though the most common types we encountered were Steak & Pepper, Chicken & Leeks, and Steak & Kidneys. You can find them at pretty much any bakery, pub, or grocery store. So good.

After our first encounter with an Aussie Pie Mrs. Selfish and I were hooked, so we set out to find the Best Aussie Pie in Sydney.

The Old Timer: Harry’s Café on Wheels

Our first introduction to Aussie Pies, Harry’s Café on Wheels is a mainstay in Sydney, having been in the city since 1945. Mrs. Selfish and I decided to try the Tiger, which is beef pie with mash & mushy peas.

The Tiger had excellent flavor, with the beef flavor blending sublimely with the gravy, mash and mushy peas. More mountain of food then hand-sized pie, I was surprised at how well the pie’s crust stood up to the gravy and peas – maintaining its crunch through the course of the (albeit short) meal.

VERDICT: Decadent & delicious, the Tiger was loaded with flavor – and mash & peas. We later tried the curry variation, which was excellent as well, but for a starter pie I would try their classic Tiger.

SCORE: 9.5

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The Unbelievably Blue, Blue Mountains

11 Thursday Jul 2013

Posted by in Australia, Oceania, Sydney

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After spending two weeks in Sydney, we were slowly but surely running out of city activities. With that in mind, Mrs. Selfish and I started researching quick day trips – something that would take less than 2 hours to drive to, given the limited sunlight during Australia’s winter season.

The Blue Mountains quickly rose to the top of the list. Only a 1.5 hour drive from the center of the city, the blue mountains are quite literally blue from a distance thanks to some freaky optical illusion.

We did a quick search for rentals, and managed to snag a medium-sized car from Budget for ~$35 a day. We left at 9am, and around 10 we hit the information center, where we grabbed a map.

The biggest local attraction is the Three Sisters, a geographic formation that local legends claim is three sisters turned into stone by their overprotective father. Unfortunately he died before we could turn them back.

Fortunately for the local tourism business in Katoomba, the three sisters is a crowd pleaser. The information center repeatedly tried to sell us on Scenic World, a tourist trap that boasts “free parking” and a $35 ride to and from the plateau to the valley via a glass-bottom gondola.

The Three Sisters are pretty, but be prepared for crowds!

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Brew Pub Battle: 4 Pines v. Lord Nelson

10 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Australia, Food & Drinks, Oceania, Sydney

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Mr. Selfish and I are so glad to once again be in a country with a brew pub culture. At first, we were a bit skeptical as to the microbreweries in Sydney but were quickly won over by two brew pubs – 4 Pines and the Lord Nelson Pub.

The 4 Pines in Manly

During our first nine days in Sydney, we stayed at my cousin’s apartment in Manly. In order to get to Manly from Sydney city center, you have to take the Manly ferry, which takes around 30 minutes and costs $5.80 per single trip. Although taking an hour trip and paying $11.60 to go to a brew pub seems a bit much, 4 Pines (29/43-45 E Esplanade, Manly) is worth the trip, especially on a day with a beautiful sunset.

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The Manliest Walk in Sydney

09 Tuesday Jul 2013

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Manly is a quiet suburb on the outskirts of Sydney, ideal for surfing, swimming, and long walks on the beach.  Since Mrs. Selfish and I don’t really do any of those things, we decided to make the most of Manly and try the famed Manly Walk.

The walk is roughly 11 kilometers in length if you go to Shelly Beach then Spit Bridge, and can easily take the better part of a day.  It’s also home to some of the more beautiful sights in Manly.

The manly walk starts from where you pick up the ferry and heads through Shelly Beach before looping back.

The cliffs past Shelly Beach were quite epic.  Shortly after the path hit the ruins of an old fort.

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Chomping Down in Surry Hills

08 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by in Australia, Food & Drinks, Oceania, Sydney

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Mr. Selfish and I suffered serious sticker shock upon our arrival in Sydney. We found the food prices to be quite high. I saw a plain glazed donut in the mall that cost $3. Yeah, one donut. On the bright side, the quality of the food is consistently better than average. Even when we ate at a random establishment (sans any research), we were typically content with the food quality.

Bills for Yummy Breakfast

Although we didn’t spend much time in the Surry Hills area, Mr. Selfish and I did manage to eat at some nice restaurants. First, we found the breakfast at Bills (359 Crown Street) to be rather tasty.

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The highlight of the meal was the ricotta hotcakes that came with banana and honeycomb butter ($19.50). The hotcakes melt in your mouth and the honeycomb butter adds a delightful texture. We also enjoyed the scrambled organic eggs ($14.50), which were the creamiest scrambled eggs I’ve ever tasted.

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Sydney’s CBD: Taking Afternoon Tea, the State Theatre, and St. Mary’s Cathedral

07 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by in Australia, Food & Drinks, Oceania, Sydney

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Mr. Selfish and I were delighted to return to an English speaking country, particularly a former British colony. We immediately decided that we would go for afternoon tea and reacquaint ourselves with scones and clotted cream. Based on our Aussie friend’s recommendation, we decided to try the Tea Room at the Queen Victoria Building (QVB) in Sydney’s Central Business District (CBD).

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Searching for the Best Burger in Sydney

06 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by in Australia, Food & Drinks, Oceania, Searching for the Best . . ., Sydney

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As soon as Mrs. Selfish and I hit the ground in Australia, we immediately started a search for Australia’s unique cheap eats. Surprisingly, this turned out to be southeastern Asian food. Apparently, Australia doesn’t have much in the way of a native food culture, there were some exceptions, however – pies and burgers.

The real kicker, however, is that food in Sydney is expensive. $3 for a donut expensive, or $5 for a chicken sandwich from McDonald’s expensive, or $20 for a sandwich from your local hipster joint expensive. The plus side is that pretty much anywhere you eat in Sydney is good. I’m half convinced you could walk down the street blindfolded and find a good meal – just be prepared to bring a load of cash.

With that in mind, Mrs. Selfish and I decided to find some of Sydney’s best “cheap eats,” starting with burgers.

Burgerlicious – the chain restaurant

Our first stop on the burger tour was Burgerlicious, located near Sydney’s Chinatown. We were expecting a cute sit down place, but the vibe was definitely more of a late-night post-drinking fast food joint. We later found out it was a local chain.

We ordered the “Jalapeso” as a meal for $14.90, which was filled with grilled onions, bacon, lettuce, avocado, jalapeno relish, and salsa. Since it was a meal it also came with chips, and a beverage.

The flavor combination was interesting, but it was an otherwise standard burger. The bun was a little soggy, and the lettuce was slightly wilted. The fries were more “chip” style, which usually means they are bigger and blander than the french fry style of fry.

We also ordered the “Parezian,” for $10 which had onions, mushrooms, camembert cheese, mustard, salad mix, sour cream, and tomato relish.

Where the “Jalapeso” was different, the “Parezian” was just disappointing, and slightly dry.

VERDICT: While on the cheaper side of burgers in Sydney, Burgerlicious was definitely not worth the money. While some of the concepts were interesting, the execution was a little lackluster.

SCORE: 6.5

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