tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45725197497491233342024-03-12T06:17:49.642+00:00vegan.in.brightonvegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.comBlogger506125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-18782988896041645282017-12-06T01:42:00.000+00:002017-12-06T01:42:04.795+00:002017 Vegan and Cruelty Free Holiday Gift GuideI love reading holiday gift guides so I always make sure to spend the beginning of November scoping out and bookmarking cool things to share with you. Since I've been travelling and living without an address it makes the list of things I can't wait to treat myself to when I'm settled get a little out of hand but it's absolutely worth it. I believe in trying to support businesses and organisations that are trying to do good and to make a difference to the world all year round but it's especially important during the winter holidays, a lot of retailers get by on the the sales made at this time of year so it's a great time to reach out and support small businesses by making intentional purchases rather than doing all of your shopping in one fell swoop at a department store or huge online retailer.<br />
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<li><b><a href="http://vrevmcr.bigcartel.com/product/v-rev-x-harriet-heath-tote-bag-preorder">VREV Tote Bag</a> </b>designed by Harriet Heath. I've been tattooed by Harriet a couple of times now and I adore her work. She made this tote to help Manchester based vegan business V Revolution stay open after water damaged their premises so much that they had to close for a chunk of time. Grab one of these for a friend and buy one for yourself whilst you're at it. £9 + P&P from vrevmcr on Big Cartel.</li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.brightzine.co/store/vegan-queen-jumper?category=Clothing">Vegan Queen Jumper</a> </b>from Bright Zine. This cute Fairtrade, organic and carbon neutral crewneck sweatshirt is just the thing for keeping cosy this winter. Grab this gift for £31.90 + P&P online.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.boojabooja.com/chocolate-truffles/collections/six-truffle-packs/"><b>Truffle Selection No2</b></a> from Booja Booja. I pick up a box of these fancy truffles every winter and they never get old. They've been certified as a-ok by the <a href="http://www.foodispower.org/">Food Empowerment Projec</a>t meaning that you know there was no slavery involved in the cocoa supply chain which makes them all the more delicious. Available at both indie health food stores and Waitrose / Ocado these are an easy treat to get your mitts on. From £3.99.</li>
<li><b><a href="https://uk.lush.com/products/gifts/merry-christmas">Lush Merry Christmas Gift</a> </b>This gift is full of all of the christmassy bath bombs that your cosy winter dreams are made of. It includes my two 2016 faves; the honey scented but totally vegan Shoot for the Stars and the magical Golden Wonder as well as two new-to-me bombs, peppermint and cocoa scented Thundersnow and the super festive Christmas Sweater that I can't wait to try. Pick up this gift for £22.50 at a Lush store near you.</li>
<li><b><a href="http://www.boobalou.co.uk/product/onyx-stainless-steel-straws-set-of-4-with-cleaning-brush/#.WglRX7aPDeQ">Set of 4 Stainless Steel Straws</a> </b>I bought myself some steel straws this year and they're helping me have less of an impact on the planet. Pick up this gift from £10 online at boobalou. </li>
<li><b><a href="https://veganbunny.co.uk/products/christmas-pudding-soy-candle">Christmas Pud Soy Candle</a> </b>from Vegan Bunny. This candle is glittery af, has a 25 hour burn time, and will make your loved ones house smell like Christmas pudding. What more could you want? Available in red or white. Pick one up for just £7.</li>
<li><b><a href="https://www.herbivoreclothing.com/animal-rights-social-justice-vegan-pizza-iron-on-p.html">Animal Rights, Social Justice, Vegan <b>Pizza Iron On P</b>atch</a></b> from Herbivore Clothing. This cute patch advertises all of the cool things that your friend cares about right on one patch. I love this and so should all of the vegans in your life. $5 from Herbivore CC online.</li>
<li><b><a href="https://laraintimates.com/products/delilah-bra-grey?variant=2160442114078">Delilah Bra</a> and <a href="https://laraintimates.com/products/hipster-brief-black?variant=2165168963614">Hipster Brief</a> </b>from Lara Intimates. If you're giving the gift of underwear this winter then you can't do better than something from Lara Intimates, they use reclaimed luxury fabrics so you're getting a fancy product that's kind to the environment and everything is stitched together in London. From £20 online.</li>
<li><a href="https://helprefugees.org/donate/"><b>Help Refugees </b><b>Charity Donation</b></a>. I spent time volunteering with Help Refugees last year and they're a charity that I will continually support in whatever way I can. They're a grassroots response to the refugee crisis with bases in Calais and Thessaloniki. Make a donation in the name of the most right wing member of your family and help to keep someone warm on the streets of Calais this winter. Donate online or go one step further and organise a clothing / food collection to take to Calais yourself over the festive period.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.hannahbananabakery.co.uk/Hannahbananabakery/Christmas.html"><b>Christmas Iced Jewels</b></a> from Hannah Banana Bakery I've had my eye on Hannah's treats by post for a long time and her Christmas range is stunning. These make the perfect stocking stuffers and will only set you back £2.50 + P&P</li>
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After eating out quite a bit in Wanaka Nick and I cooked for ourselves most of the time in Queenstown. Accommodation was expensive and the hostel had a huge kitchen so it was a good way to even out our day to day costs. We made and ate veggie burgers, spaghetti with marinara sauce, tofu scrambles, and a lot of peanut butter toast. Simple easy meals that are perfect for busy hostel kitchens. We contemplated taking a trip to Doubtful Sound, most people use Queenstown as a jumping off point for that trip, but we'd heard so many stories about the mist making it impossible to see and it's not a cheap day trip so we decided to skip it. We'll head to Iceland one day to check out fjords when we're not travelling on a backpacking budget!<br />
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The one time we did eat out in Queenstown was when I spotted some pictures of <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/bespoke-kitchen-queenstown-72545">Bespoke Kitchen's</a> vegan breakfasts on Instagram. They looked amazing and I knew that we couldn't skip it so we went out for brunch on our last morning. We both ordered the pancakes and got a matcha latte and a green juice to share. We also couldn't resist grabbing a chocolate muffin topped with chia jam.<br />
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We'd read rave reviews of the pancakes online and they certainly didn't disappoint. These were some high end pancakes, thick and fluffy and topped with all sorts of deliciousness including poached spiced apples, coconut whipped cream, raspberry chia jam, seeds, and freeze dried berries with a mini jug of maple syrup on the side. I could have done without the seeds (I hate seeds!) but once I moved them to one side these tasted just as good as they looked. </div>
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The matcha latte was also excellent, world class, and I'm pretty fussy about my matcha lattes. The chocolate muffin was delicious too, it was super chocolatey and soft on the inside but with a crunchy top. It was topped with their raspberry chia jam which I really loved, I hate chia in every other application (seeds. ugh.)but it was damed good here, I guess I just really like jam!</div>
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Dunedin was our next road trip destination and this was one of the longer drives we did on the south island. We set off super early and had <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/let-them-eat-vegan-dunedin-93931">Let Them Eat Vegan</a> in our sights for lunch. Let Them Eat Vegan is a fantastic 100% vegan cafe run by two lovely vegan women who were super chatty and friendly. We ordered grilled cheese sandwiches and a couple of desserts and talked about food and travel and how rad Isa Chandra Moskowitz is and how brilliant all of her cookbooks are. It was fun!<br />
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The sandwiches were enormous! They each had a gigantic slab of melty cheese inside as well as thinly sliced ham and the bread was cut really thickly. They were delicious and so filling that we couldn't even make a dent in our desserts. This ridiculous PB&J Brownie Stack was fantastic much later in the day and the cookies were delicious the next morning.<br />
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Let Them Eat Vegan should definitely be on your must visit list because as well as sandwiches, pies, and desserts they sell their homemade cheeses and meats as well as a few other deli items. We bought a tub of tofu egg salad, a block of smoked gouda, and a package of deli ham slices which kept us in fun sandwich fillings until we got to Christchurch.<br />
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<a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/modaks-espresso-dunedin-39820">Modaks Espresso</a> is a quirky cafe right on the high street and it's another must visit spot. Modaks isn't a vegan business but they have a lot of vegan options, far more than you'd expect from a non-veggie spot. Their huge range of cakes and treats kind of blew my mind, there were seriously about 10 cake flavours to choose from. In the end I went with the marble cake and a ginger nut latte. A solid breakfast!<br />
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The ginger latte was one of the best hot drinks I've ever tried, I loved it. I had a fantastic mug of steamed ginger soy milk at <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com/2016/02/heaven-is-place-in-taipei.html">Vegan Heaven in Taipei</a> and this brought those memories flooding right back. It even came with a vegan meringue kiss on the side. So fun! I'll be adding ginger lattes to the list of things I need to learn to make at home.<br />
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We also grabbed some food from a new vegan spot called <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/watsons-eatery-dunedin-102038">Watson's Eatery</a> which is located opposite a Lush store in a mall. The chocolate berry scroll we took away was fantastic but their avocado toast left a lot to be desired. The avocados were so raw that smooshed avo toast really shouldn't have been on the menu and I ended up leaving most of it and just eating the toast and tomatoes.<br />
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Next we drove up the coast to Omaru for the main thing we came over to this coast to see, penguins! Nick has always loved penguins and whilst we've been in Australia and NZ we've been taking any opportunity to see them that doesn't involve keeping them in captivity or harming other wildlife to keep them protected. We heard that a great place to spot a penguin was Bushy Beach so we drove there and then walked quietly down the path towards the beach.<br />
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As we turned a corner we saw a small group of people standing by a roped off area. Now you have to be really quiet and still if you don't want to freak out the penguins so we crept down to the fence and ducked down so that they wouldn't be able to see us. We were able to watch these two penguins just doing their thing for about 20 minutes and it was so amazing to see them from up close.<br />
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The next morning we explored Omaru which is famous for steampunk. That seemed super weird before we arrived but once we were there we realised that the whole steampunk vibe just totally fits with the surroundings in this town. The buildings downtown are victorian which I read was because back in the 60's or 70's the town didn't have much money so they couldn't afford to tear down the old buildings to build new ones so they stayed. We found a cafe with soya milk for hot drinks and then checked out Steampunk HQ.<br />
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This whole place is kind of a weird cool art installation but my favourite part was probably the least steampunk thing ever - A mirrored room filled with twinkly lights.<br />
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I loved it so much! The room got dark and played music and the lights changed colour, it lasted around three minutes and you can bet that I went round more than once. Do you think that I could build one of these in my house? Just the mirrors and the lights... It'd be so fun!<br />
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We'd actually contemplated skipping this whole leg of the journey but it turned out to be one of our favourite sections of our whole New Zealand road trip. Cute quirky towns, delicious food, gorgeous coastline, penguins, nice cafes, weird art. I'm so glad that we decided to make the drive.<br />
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The next place that we zipped off to in our <a href="https://www.hitchcarrentals.co.nz/">Budget Hitch</a> was Lake Tekapo because we had a <a href="http://tekapostargazing.co.nz/">star gazing adventure</a> booked at <a href="http://www.tekaposprings.co.nz/">Tekapo Springs</a>.<br />
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I love looking up at the night sky and since being in New Zealand I'd developed a serious passion for hot pools so combining the two seemed like an amazing idea. The whole experience at <a href="http://tekapostargazing.co.nz/">Tekapo Stargazing</a> was so relaxing and wonderful, we were able to walk there from our lakefront hostel and we were ushered up the driveway and into the warmth of the cosy dark sky reserve. The stargazing tour takes place outside on clear days and inside on cloudy days and we got lucky that the night we were there was clear to start with before the clouds blew in. We were given cosy blankets and gloves and then we headed outside where our guide introduced us to the night sky.<br />
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We learnt so much about the original Maori names and interpretations of the constellations as well as about how old the stars we see are. I'll be honest with you, I mostly wasn't paying attention at school, so a lot of it was new to me and I found it fascinating. I'll never look at the sky in quite the same way again. After this section of the tour you get changed and hop into the pool to stargaze some more. The fantastic guides are there to answer questions and to tell you more about the night sky which is such a lovely way to spend time. Sadly the clouds had well and truly covered the stars by this point in the evening but we still loved this part of the tour, they have these amazing floating hammocks so we just lay on those in the warm water chatting and learning more about the sky. It was such an amazing and relaxing adventure and I'd recommend it to anyone. You can book your ticket online <a href="http://tekapostargazing.co.nz/booking/">here</a>.<br />
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The next morning we were off on our way to the next adventure but I was definitely sad to be leaving Tekapo and the amazing hot pool behind. Luckily we were on our way up to Hanmer Springs for more hot pool fun. Our time at <a href="https://hanmersprings.co.nz/">Hanmer Springs</a> couldn't have been more different than our time relaxing at Tekapo Springs. Hanmer Springs is a huge complex and it has so many different pools to choose from that it's almost overwhelming. It's a very family friendly spot with slides and a big pool for kids to splash around in. My favourite pools were the hexagonal hot pools, the sulphur pools and the adult only hydrotherapy pools. It was a great place to get some relaxation in before bed but I probably wouldn't recommend a visit during the day because it's quite hot and busy - there isn't much shade and there are children running around everywhere which isn't the most relaxing thing. That said we were there during school holidays so maybe it's a little more chilled during a normal week.<br />
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Our final road trip stop before Christchurch was Kaikoura where we were on a mission to see seals in the wild. We weren't sure whether it would be difficult to see them or not but we knew that there was a great coastal walk there so we figured that we'd have something to do even if we didn't spot any seals. As soon as I saw this sign I knew that seeing seals was pretty likely!<br />
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The peninsula walkway is seriously gorgeous, it winds up the coastal path and then along near the edge of the rock face so that you get amazing views the whole way. It's a stunning walk but don't forget your suncream, there's no shade up there at all!</div>
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Seals, just like penguins, will get frightened if they're scared so you need to keep 5 - 10 metres away from them at all times. They will also get aggressive if they get freaked out so it's best to stick to this advice rather than get chased by an angry seal. There's a seal warden in the carpark keeping an eye on people which seemed totally necessary as people are terrible at following rules. There were plenty of tourists getting too close as well as parents just letting their kids walk off towards the seals on their own. The seals were so cute when they were just chilling and these sleepy seals made my day!<br />
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We absolutely loved visiting Kaikoura and would definitely recommend adding it to your South Island itinerary. It's not the easiest place to get at the moment to as the main road leading there from the north of the island is still closed because of earthquake damage so you have to take quite a long route to get there or take a trip up from Christchurch. If you combine Kaikoura with a trip to Hanmer for some hot pool action it's a really fun trip and the road should be fixed in early 2018.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>This post was sponsored by Hitch Car Rentals, Tekapo Stargazing and Hanmer Springs. As always all words and opinions are my own. Posts like these help me to keep bringing you travel content from around the globe.</i></span></span></div>
vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-72723105756382385002017-11-20T06:30:00.000+00:002017-11-20T06:30:10.770+00:00South Island Vegan Road Trip - Part 1When Nick and I arrived on the South Island we were both feeling a little lost, we hadn't had time to sit down and plan our South Island road trip at all and we had no idea where we were headed - just that we had <a href="https://www.hitchcarrentals.co.nz/">a car</a> and the freedom to go anywhere. The very first thing that we spotted as we were checking into our hostel was a flyer for tours of a peanut butter factory! That was clearly a sign and we were sold. I was on the phone booking our spots in seconds. Coincidentally someone I knew from Brighton was in the area housesitting so we hooked up with her and her husband and headed to the <a href="https://www.picspeanutbutter.com/">Pic's</a> factory in Nelson the very next day.<br />
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Pic's are actually a super cool peanut butter company, the founder started making PB in a concrete mixer in his garage and selling it at farmer's markets and it's grown into a bit of a peanut butter empire with stockists all over New Zealand and a chunk of the rest of the world. Pic seems like a cool dude, he's all about employing local people and keeping the business local as it grows. Pic is blind and him and his lovely seeing eye dog made a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlOWQ1VO5lQ">great video</a> about the cool PB journey he's been on.<br />
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<a href="https://www.picspeanutbutter.com/tours-and-events/tours/">Factory tours</a> are free and run every weekday morning at 10am so if you're in the area go along and grab a jar of PB for your journey around NZ. After hanging with Nikki and her husband we decided to head to the Japanese Gardens with our maps and some green tea to do some planning. We sat under the cherry trees for a couple of hours and mapped out our entire South Island adventure. We were still working with <a href="https://www.hitchcarrentals.co.nz/">Hitch Car Rentals</a> so we had the freedom to go anywhere and do anything which made narrowing it down a little challenging!<br />
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The South Island is definitely more wild than the north and we loved getting outside and exploring the coast early on in our journey. We were so lucky with the weather, it was well and truly springtime, and we were able to go on some fantastic walks along the coast, around parks, and to Buller Gorge.<br />
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Hokitika was our next major stop, it's a little town on the west coast and it was a fine place to stop. It has a cafe with vegan options that was closed whilst we were there so we just had a little walk around before getting on with the outdoor activities we had planned.<br />
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Firstly we headed to Hokitika Gorge. This is a stunning spot for a walk and the water really is that colour, no photoshop! The swing bridge is a fun but wobbly walk and there are rocks you can sit on at the end of the walk to marvel at the gorgeous water some more. </div>
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Pancake Rocks was our second destination and all that they made me do was crave pancakes! I kid, of course I was also in awe of the beauty of the coast but damnit why did they have to set up a pancake restaurant right there with no vegan options?! So rude! </div>
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As you can see this place is called pancake rocks because the rocks are layered like pancakes. I think I've spent too much time cooking from American recipe books because I was expecting a few huge rocks piled on top of each other like a classic US pancake stack rather than these thinner more crepe like rocks. </div>
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Whatever they looked like I was still craving pancakes pretty hard when we got back into the car so we set off on a mission to find vegan pancakes. It's at times like this that I'm glad that I'm married to another vegan. I'm not sure that most non vegans would go on wild missions to find and make vegan pancakes! We went to four stores but eventually we struck gold.<br />
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Nick's the pancake chef in our house so he whipped up the pancakes whilst I chopped fruit. This was an epic pancake plate, we didn't have any syrup but the sugar from the fruit was enough and we had margarine. The pancakes themselves were surprisingly good given they they were from a gluten free box mix and they're a good option when you're travelling and don't want to be carrying around a bunch of ingredients.</div>
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After dinner we popped down the road to explore the glow worm dell. It's just a little path off of the main highway and after dark it comes alive with bright little glowworms. It wasn't as spectacular as the Waitomo Glowworm Caves I wrote about in my <a href="https://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com/2017/11/north-island-vegan-road-trip.html">North Island post</a> but it was still pretty cool and it's free so you can't complain. After that we drove to sunset point right by the water to look at the stars, there was a little too much light pollution and it was a little cloudy but it was still gorgeous and I think that getting to see the stars in another hemisphere is super cool.<br />
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One of the main things people come to the South Island for are glaciers. Both Fox Glacier and Franz Joseph glacier are world famous but sadly, just like the Great Barrier Reef, they aren't what they once were thanks to global warming. It was still cool and interesting to see them in real life in comparison to older photos online but it's still sad. They're good hikes though because they're well marked and through interesting landscapes.<br />
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One of my favourite things about Franz Joseph was that there are hot pools. I love hot pools! Nick treated us to a <a href="https://www.glacierhotpools.co.nz/">private hot pool experience</a> which was really fun. We've never done that before and we loved having our own private cosy peaceful space where we could stargaze and hang out together. The only downside was that there was no control over the temperature of the water and we found our pool to be a little on the warm side, I spent quite a lot of the time lying on the decking with just my arms or legs in the water which meant that it wasn't quite as relaxing as it could've been.<br />
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Right opposite the hot pools is <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/king-tiger-franz-josef-71270">King Tiger</a> an Asian restaurant with a couple of vegan options on the menu. We both ordered this tofu in gravy dish that they were happy to make without the peppers. It came with rice and it was really delicious. It was nice to take a break from cooking our own food!<br />
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The next stop on the road trip was Wanaka which is such a cool little town. We weren't going to stay there originally as it's so close to Queenstown but we were so glad that we did. The YHA hostel there is lovely and the lake is gorgeous. There's even a surprising amount of vegan food in Wanaka! We found pizza, hot chocolate, ice cream, and even crepes. We took a lot of walks around the lake and spent time sitting and chatting by the shore. It's a really breathtaking place.<br />
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After devouring hot chocolates and pizzas at cute riverside spot <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/kai-whakapai-cafe-and-bar-wanaka-70469">Kai Whakapai Cafe Bar</a> on day one we stumbled upon this ice cream spot the very next day. <a href="http://www.blackpeakgelato.co.nz/">Black Peak Gelato</a> only have sorbets for vegans but they were really good sorbets and they has some fun and interesting flavours including salted chocolate and nectarine.<br />
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They made a weird combo but they don't do individual scoops so we had them together and shared to save cash. I'm definitely a fan of chocolate sorbet and this one didn't disappoint. I've never had a nectarine sorbet before and I loved it, it was so fresh tasting and bursting with flavour.<br />
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We spotted the <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g612500-d10641939-Reviews-Charlie_Brown-Wanaka_Otago_Region_South_Island.html">Charlie Brown</a> crepe cart when we were walking to our hostel and the sign said vegan options all over it so we had to give it a try. We really got our hopes up when we asked what could be veganised and the dude working said everything. I was imagining a vegan cheese and ham crepe followed by a chocolate berry crepe but it turned out that the guy just thought we meant gluten free. Why does this happen so often? Gluten free and vegan couldn't be more different damnit. It turned out that despite the sign the guy working didn't really have any idea about what was vegan and after asking a couple of times it turned out that even the chocolate sauce contained dairy so we just played it safe and got a simple sugar and lemon crepe.<br />
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It was totally delicious and I loved that there was a vegan option and appreciated that the guy working was super apologetic about the confusion but I'd suggest that they get more knowledgeable about veganism and stop telling people they can veganise everything because it definitely gets your hopes up a little too much. It got me dreaming of an all vegan crepe cart though, wouldn't that be amazing? Let It Be or Oh La La (RIP) in Berlin are the closest I've gotten to my vegan crepe dreams coming true and I can't wait to get back to the city for more one day.<br />
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Zipping all over the south island in our <a href="https://www.hitchcarrentals.co.nz/cars#CDAR">Budget Hitch</a> was so much fun, as you can see we visited a lot of cool spots and ate a lot of delicious vegan food. Queenstown was our next road trip destination but I'm going to save that and the rest of our South Island road trip for my next post. See you then!<br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>This post was sponsored by Hitch Car Rentals. As always all words and opinions are my own. Posts like these help me to keep bringing you travel posts from around the globe.</i></span></span></div>
vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-62742948121696809502017-11-16T19:45:00.000+00:002017-11-16T19:45:44.519+00:00Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2017A couple of weeks ago I touched down in Phuket ready to eat my way around the Vegetarian Festival for the second time. I was last there two years ago and I wrote a couple of pretty substantial posts about the <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com/2015/11/thailands-vegetarian-festival-phuket.html">festival food in Phuket</a> and about the vegan eats you can find at <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com/2015/11/thailands-vegetarian-festival.html">convenience stores</a> dotted all over the country. This years fest' was quieter and a lot more chilled (there were very minimal fireworks this time around and no large processions) because the country was still in mourning for the king so my blog post is going to be more laid back too. This year Nick and I met up with our friend Cici (read her post about the festival <a href="http://vietnamesexvegan.blogspot.com/2017/11/vegan-gang-taking-over-phuket.html">here</a>) and did a whole lot of eating, drinking, and hanging out. Like her I'm going to focus on my very favourite eats of 2017's festival rather than posting every single thing I ate because that might be a little overwhelming! Without further ado, here are my 2017 Phuket Vegetarian Festival Faves.<br />
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<b>Favourite Stall - The faux meat place on the corner</b><br />
<b><br /></b>About halfway up Ranong Road on the left (if you're coming from the roundabout) is a stall in front of a building on a corner which sells mock meats. If you've reached the turnoff towards Jui Tui Shrine you've gone too far. They have so many meats to choose from including three kinds of faux fish, my favourite. Inside the building they have even more faux meats as well as curries and veggies and you can eat there or takeaway. We decided to eat there one lunchtime and we were all very impressed. </div>
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I just noticed that mine and Nick's plates are almost exactly the same!</div>
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The range of mock meats you can choose from is almost overwhelming and I got three kinds. A black pepper steak, a saucy mock duck, and some red pork. They were all really flavourful and very different texturally. These are up there with the best mock meats I've ever eaten. The faux fishes were all excellent too; one had a great texture but it was really salty so you had to eat it with something else, rice or bread, to stop it being too much, another had a drier texture but the flavour was excellent and lastly, my very favourite of the three, was this yuba faux fish which had both the texture and flavour nailed.<br />
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At 80THB / $2.40 / £1.80 (geeze, this exchange rate) it was more expensive than the other faux meats which put me off trying it for a few days but I'm so glad that I decided to buy it in the end because it was oh so good. I love yuba and I definitely need to cook with it more often. That very same stall also sells these meat sticks which are marinated in a sweet sugary sesame sauce and then barbecued. They taste amazing and make the best snack.</div>
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<b>Favourite Street Food - Takoyaki and pandan custard pancakes</b><br />
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This may be cheating a little as my favourite stall was clearly street food but I couldn't just show you one spot. I'm gonna cheat more and choose one sweet and one savory option for the next two categories because it's my blog and I do what I want. The winner in the savory category were these amazing Takoyaki. I love these Japanese konnyaku filled balls but I'd only ever tried them twice before. I was so excited that they were good, better than good, amazing.<br />
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In the sweet category these pandan custard filled pancakes were seriously the best. They were like a little scotch pancake and I was gutted that I was only able to find them twice. They also reheated beautifully in the microwave and made an excellent breakfast snack.</div>
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<b>Favourite Convenience Store Food - Family Mart sandwiches and 7/11 banana muffin</b><br />
<b><br /></b>These sandwiches from Family Mart were new to me and took the crown for my favourite convenience store food. I was very excited to see them because I love bread and whenever I travel in Asia I see these cute delicious looking little sandwiches made with white bread in convenience stores and I'm always sad that I can't try them. One was shiitake mushroom and coleslaw and the other was barbecued pork. It's hard to pick a fave here but I'm going with the coleslaw sandwich because that's an unusual thing to find a vegan version of.<br />
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The 7/11 banana muffin is an absolute festival classic and I always freeze a couple during the first few days so that when the Jay eats have disappeared and I'm getting a bus outa the city I'll still have something delicious to snack on. They're super moist and bursting with banana flavour and I would definitely choose these over the larger banana snack cake every time. Oh and at 10THB / 30¢ / 23p they're a total bargain.</div>
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<b>Favourite Drink - Everything at Phuketique!</b></div>
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I would be hard pushed to choose between <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/phuketique-phuket-74964">Phuketique's</a> Thai Iced Tea, the Iced Matcha Latte, or the Iced Latte, because they were all so good. The drinks are all made with soy milk (something that Phuketique serve all year round) and they all come in huge glasses which all three of us were very excited about. I think that the regular latte was probably my absolute favourite but it's kind of a guilty pleasure because coffee and colitis are not good friends and I really shouldn't be drinking coffee if I wanna be a healthy human. </div>
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<b>Bonus Fave - Torry's Ice Cream</b></div>
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I wrote about <a href="https://www.torrysicecream.com/">Torry's Ice Cream</a> last time I blogged about the fest' and they've only gotten bigger and better since I was in Phuket two years ago. They have an ice cream cafe now and during the festival they make most of their flavours vegan. My favourite flavour is still the Corn Milk closely followed by the Avocado which I believe is a year round flavour. I was also lucky enough to try their passionfruit sorbet which was really fabulous and tart.</div>
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Until next time Phuket!</div>
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vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-32958768441270200342017-11-14T06:30:00.000+00:002017-11-15T02:47:56.724+00:00Vegan in WellingtonWellington was our final stop on our <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com/2017/11/north-island-vegan-road-trip.html">North Island road trip</a> and we made it there just in time for the Wellington Friday Night Market on Lower Cuba Street. It was a super busy and bustling market with a great atmosphere and I was more than a little surprised at just how many vegan options there were. Aside from <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/in-bloom-wellington-82973">In Bloom</a> the 100% vegan stall selling burgers and raw cakes there were stalls slinging vegan dumplings, takoyaki, tacos, churros, and more. We started with dumplings from <a href="http://www.houseofdumplings.co.nz/">House of Dumplings</a> and we chose two each because we knew we were going to do a lot of eating that evening.<br />
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We went for one Spinach, Tofu, and Bok Choy dumpling each and then I grabbed a Japanese Six Mushroom dumpling whilst Nick opted for the special which was an Indian Dhal Coconut Cashew dumpling. Vicky who started House of Dumplings is from Hong Kong so these were legit and they made an excellent starter. If you have cooking facilities you can find House of Dumplings dumplings in <a href="http://www.houseofdumplings.co.nz/supermarkets/">supermarkets</a> all over NZ but I don't know which ones sell the vegan versions.<br />
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Next up was the Takoyaki stall, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/gogotakoyaki/">Gogo Takoyaki</a>, and I don't mind admitting that we loved these so much that we got in line for them twice!<br />
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I tried Takoyaki for the first time when I was living and volunteering in Japan. I found a Takoyaki pan at the volunteer house and set about finding a recipe and the ingredients to make them ASAP. I can safely say that these ones were about a hundred times better than the ones I made! They had the same konnyaku filling but these were actually round and had just the right level of crispiness on the outside without being at all raw in the middle. Making Takoyaki is definitely something that takes a little practice.<br />
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Gogo seemed to be doing a roaring trade in their vegan option and the konnyaku filled balls were right up our street. I loved that they had vegan mayo and that they were keeping the vegan and non vegan things separate. This market should definitely be on your must visit list for NZ, if you're lucky and time your trip right you could even be there for the monthly vegan night market <a href="https://www.facebook.com/theveganvault/">Vegan Vault</a> which takes place on the first Saturday of every month. I won't lie, I was a bit gutted that we missed out on that, but you should go for me and tell me all about it!<br />
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Our next eating adventure took place at <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/sweet-release-cakes-and-treats-wellington-66770">Sweet Release Cakes and Treats</a> because I'd heard that they make epic baked goods have pies on the menu. Sold! I ordered a Chicken Pot Pie because faux chicken is 100% my jam and Nick ordered some kinda potato topped pie. I wasn't really paying attention to his pie because I was too focussed on my amazing pie and his was gone before I could request a taste.<br />
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The chicken pot pie was seriously <i>so good</i>, I'd been eating a lot of pies by this point in our Aus & NZ adventure and this was definitely one of the best. Far better than any vegan pie I've ever eaten in the UK. We couldn't skip dessert once we knew how good their food was so I stuck to the pie theme with a veganised version of a Hershey's pie whilst Nick opted for a PB Brownie.<br />
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These were also completely delicious. I hadn't heard of the pie that this one was meant to be imitating but apparently it's kind of a big deal in NZ right now and I can see why. This chocolatey cookie crusted mousse filled and cream topped delight was, well, delightful. I wish I'd had space for a second slice. It seems that Sweet Release also make something called a Doof Doof which looks like a huge doughnut muffin hybrid. I didn't see any of those when we were there but please swing by and eat one for me if you're in the area. They look uh-mazing!<br />
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The YHA hostel we were staying at was around the corner from <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/commonsense-organics-wellington-427">Commonsense Organics</a> which is packed full of vegan goodies including faux meats, cheeses, and my very favourite treat, Dandies marshmallows. I usually order these from iHerb (Use my code JOJ321 for a discount on your first order) for a very reasonable price but that's not an option when you're on the move all the time and don't have an address. I'm happy to pay import prices for something this delicious though!<br />
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Located a little way away from where we were staying <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/mara-restaurant-wellington-100578">Mara Restaurant</a> in Newtown was another spot on my must-eat list. Thanks to <a href="https://www.hitchcarrentals.co.nz/">Hitch Car Rentals</a> we had a car to zoom around in so we headed there for dinner on our second night despite the fact that it was pouring with rain. The place was cute and I think that they're pretty new but unfortunately the menu wasn't great for me. The only thing that they could make me was the polenta dish topped with veggies but with no sauce, granted the eat in menu was small, around eight or nine dishes, but I didn't feel like they were really trying very hard to accommodate me and it wasn't exactly busy when we were there. The dish itself was okay, decent even, but it wasn't exactly exciting and I don't feel that I got to experience what their food is really like. Mara have some good reviews but I wasn't sold after this course.<br />
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Dessert was where I was able to sample their food as it's meant to be eaten and I tried the Black Doris Plum and Beetroot Custard Tart with house made rose ice cream whilst Nick went for the Reincarnated Chocolate Three Ways which consisted of a chocolate brownie, chocolate mousse, and cookie ice cream. We were none the wiser about the whole reincarnated thing as the waitress told us that it was an inside joke that even she wasn't in on.</div>
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This dessert was pretty good, I enjoyed the flavours of my dish when they were all together, the beetroot, rose, and plum compliment each other nicely but I would have liked more plums and the pastry definitely could have been better. Nick wasn't super impressed with his dessert but I enjoyed the mouthful I tried, the brownie was fudgey and the ice cream had a good flavour but I agreed with him that the texture of the ice cream was a little strange and that the mousse could have been airier. I can't decide whether I'd recommend this place or not, they're new and just getting on their feet so maybe they'll iron out some of the creases in time and for upscale food in NZ it was surprisingly affordable. It's definitely a date night kinda place and if you do try it out let me know what you think.<br />
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<a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/v1-vegan-store-wellington-89044">V1 Vegan Store</a> is a Wellington must visit, the people running this place are so lovely so even if you don't <i>need </i>anything drop by and give them some love. You're sure to be impressed by their range of faux meats and cheeses, the line up of vegan pick 'n' mix, and their bulk nooch bin.<br />
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They also have a little bakery counter selling cakes and cookies including the amazing cookies from Moustache in Auckland that I wrote about <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com/2017/11/north-island-vegan-road-trip.html">here</a>. I loved them so much that I couldn't resist picking up a couple more. I also picked up some of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/savournz/about/">Savour's</a> organic cultured nut cheese in Cheddar. I was tempted by the beer infused cheese but I was pretty sure that Nick would hate it so I played it safe and I definitely wasn't disappointed. We managed to make this last two meals but I desperately wanted to eat it all in one go.<br />
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Speaking of cheese Nick and I also grabbed pizza from a couple of spots around town, firstly from <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/cin-cin-new-zealand-57944">Cin Cin</a>, a non vegan pizza place with vegan cheese and a vegan chocolatey dessert on the menu, and secondly a slice of veg covered pizza from <a href="https://www.tommymillions.co.nz/">Tommy Millions</a>, a take out hut on Courtenay Place which we could see from the window of our Wakefield Street hostel. They're open until 4am and whilst they don't have vegan cheese yet their veggie toppings were very generous and the slices were huge.<br />
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I was definitely impressed with the wide range of vegan options on offer in Wellington, we just kept stumbling upon things, and I would definitely suggest that you spend a few nights here if you're road tripping through NZ. We were pretty food focussed during our time there and we spent one day hiding from some truly terrible weather but there are good museums and walks so there should be plenty to keep you occupied. If you missed parts one and two of our New Zealand adventure so far you can catch up <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com/2017/10/vegan-in-new-zealand.html">here</a> and <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com/2017/11/north-island-vegan-road-trip.html">here</a>.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">This post was sponsored in part by Hitch Car Rentals. As always all words and opinions are my own. Posts like these help me to keep bringing you travel content from around the globe.</span></i></span></div>
vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-75165888224652618992017-11-10T06:30:00.000+00:002017-11-10T06:30:11.975+00:00Vegan Adventures in Shenzhen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
When we were planning our travels from New Zealand to Thailand Nick and I certainly didn't intend to visit five countries in seven days but it happened. It was tiring and brilliant and I'd totally do it all over again. We flew from Christchurch to Sydney and spent 24 hours there. Next we flew from Sydney to Hong Kong where we spent one night before taking the metro over the border into China to check out Shenzhen. We were there for three nights before taking the metro back to Hong Kong, spending a night there, and then flying on to Phuket for Thailand's vegetarian festival. Phew. </div>
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Shenzhen was on my original must-visit list for China but it didn't fit in with our plans as it's just too far south to be a sensible stop on a loop from Beijing to Shanghai. I couldn't stop thinking about how much I wanted to go though and when I realised that getting there from Hong Kong is really easy, you just take the metro, I was sold. Okay, I made that sound a little too simple, you take the Hong Kong MTR to Lo Wu, walk across the border, go through HK and Chinese immigration, before hopping onto the Shenzhen metro at Luohu on the other side. Still, pretty simple as far as border crossings go but I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't tired of carrying my backpack when we arrived. We decided to stay by Laojie station in one of Shenzhen's major shopping destinations which is only two stops on the metro from Luohu so that final section was short and fast.</div>
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As soon as we arrived we decided to get metro cards and I was very pleased to see that Shenzhen has the best metro cards anywhere in the world! Hello Kitty surrounded by desserts?! Yes please. Me and Nick both chose this one despite the lady selling them trying to push some kinda Transformers card on Nick.</div>
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Our first stop in any new place usually involves food and this trip was no exception. We arrived hungry and went straight to the nearest veggie spot on the Happy Cow app. <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/yunlaiju-windlucky-shenzhen-16974">Windlucky</a> is located on the 4th floor of a food mall and the easiest way to find it is to go in the door between McDonald's and Watson's and to go straight up those escalators.<br />
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The menu was on iPads which had English translations for a lot of the items but there were pictures too so they weren't totally necessary. We only got stuck when we had to place the order as we had no idea which of the three buttons we should press. The staff were more than happy to help though!<br />
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We ordered the black pepper steaks, a plate of vegetable dumplings, toon fried rice, and a noodle soup and they brought some delicious tea for the table.<br />
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I was definitely concerned when I saw the soup, bright red foods are normally full of chilli, so I made Nick taste it first but the red colour just comes from all of the tomatoes that are simmered in the broth. I can't even explain how good this soup was, the thick noodles were perfect and the broth was so flavourful. I loved it and basically ate it every day during our time in the city. </div>
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On our next visit we branched out and ordered some toon pinwheels and green dumplings alongside our soups. </div>
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I wish I could tell you more about these but I have no idea what I'm eating a lot of the time. Thankfully you order by picture so if you see something you like the look of here you can just match it up with their menu. I'd go as far as to say that this was one of my favourite eateries in all of China, everything we ordered was spot on and I still think about that soup most days. They have two other locations in Shenzhen which are also listed on <a href="https://www.happycow.net/">Happy Cow</a>.<br />
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One of the main reasons that I wanted to go to Shenzhen was to visit the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_of_the_World">Window Of The World</a> theme park. This place is kitchy, ridiculous, a little run down, and one of China's most visited theme parks. The park has miniature versions of famous landmarks from all over the world, some that we'd been to, and some that we hadn't. Their largest landmark is the Eiffel Tower which we kept seeing popping up everywhere, looming into view behind Tower Bridge, hovering behind the Sydney Opera House.<br />
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I haven't been able to do this in real life yet but this version will do until I can tick Pisa off of my must visit list!</div>
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I can only assume that they did this on purpose after you know who got elected...</div>
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There are even rides at Window Of The World! We took a miniature train ride, rode the monorail, drove a luge around a track, and got unbelievably wet on a log flume. I was totally soaked despite having been given a plastic mac, the boat started leaking as soon as we launched and our feet were hovering uncomfortably above about 6 inches of rising water until we went down the first drop and it all splashed out of the log. I also forgot to put the hood up on my free mac which meant that my hair was dripping wet by the end. It was pretty hilarious! </div>
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Of course we took snacks with us as we weren't expecting to be able to eat at the park. We had date and nut balls from New Zealand and these soya meat snacks from Chinese Walmart. The blue ones are spicy but the green ones are just peppery. </div>
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Of course we ended the day with our favourite soup at our favourite restaurant! The next day we decided to branch out and head to a well reviewed vegan restaurant for lunch after spending the morning exploring the shops in the Dongmen Shopping Plaza but sadly it was closed. I was far too hangry to walk far to get food so I nibbled on a soya meat snack from my handbag whilst Nick fired up Happy Cow to find us a new lunch spot. Times like these are the main reason that we bother getting local sim cards when we travel. It would be so annoying to have to go back to the hotel and start again or to just grab some crisps and a banana from 7/11. Luckily Hong Kong sims work in China so you don't need a different one, they also let you use Google maps although you'll find that Apple Maps actually works better in China. The place we found was <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/dengpin-vegetarian-foods-shenzhen-6603">Dengpin Vegetarian</a> and it's a huge buffet restaurant on the second floor of a large building that was a little difficult to find. It should be easier for the next peeps though because I uploaded a picture of the outside of the building to Happy Cow.<br />
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I'll be totally honest this was one of those situations where the experience was better than the food. I love a huge confusing buffet in a foreign country where you're clearly the only westerners they've seen for a long time. I definitely enjoyed some of my choices although the purple soup was a mistake! The buns were good and I went back for more of the turnip cakes and bacon bits. Be warned that the tea is <i>really sweet</i>, almost unbelievably so, I've never tasted such sweet tea before.</div>
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We only had a few days in Shenzhen but I'd say that that's about right unless you're really into shopping. I bought a few cute winter things from a store called <a href="https://www.6ixty8ight.com/tw/en_tw">6ixty8ight</a> because my Aussie summer wardrobe isn't going to work during winter in Japan and I'm gonna need layers but that was it for me and shopping. Have you been to China? If so did you include Shenzhen in your itinerary?</div>
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vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-1141268158694500132017-11-07T06:25:00.001+00:002017-11-08T10:21:19.076+00:00North Island Vegan Road TripNick and I started our New Zealand road trip in the North Island and the first thing on our agenda was picking up our rental car from <a href="https://www.hitchcarrentals.co.nz/">Hitch Car Rentals</a>. This was a super straightforward process and we were whizzing all over the place in our Budget Hitch in no time. New Zealand is definitely a destination where you'll want your own wheels, even major cities like Auckland are challenging to navigate on public transport and they're sprawling so not everywhere you want to visit will be walkable. A prime example of this is <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com/2017/10/tart-bakery-auckland.html">Tart Bakery</a> which was our very first road trip destination. I wrote a whole blog post about them <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com/2017/10/tart-bakery-auckland.html">here</a> because they're <i>really that good </i>so check it out. Our second stop was <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/moustache-auckland-99598">Moustache</a> a super hipster cookie shop located on K Road. I was a little dubious about their vegan options as two of the three are gluten free but I bravely forged ahead and ordered one of each flavour.<br />
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These cookies seriously exceeded my admittedly low expectations and reminded me that I need to step up my XGFX baking game. I've eaten some epic gluten free baked goods in the past but I've also eaten a whole bunch of awful gf "treats" that would put people off of veganism altogether. </div>
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These were up there with the best I've ever had, think London's Cookies & Scream or Portland's Back to Eden, and if I hadn't known they were gluten free I wouldn't have guessed. The Oreo cookie was your classic soft sugary cookie whilst the PB Choc and Double Choc reminded me of Ben's Cookies (do any other UK vegans remember eating those before going vegan? They were the best!) which is the highest compliment. They were soft on the outside and gooey on the inside and I loved them. If I had to pick a fave' I'd go double chocolate but really you should just get all three.<br />
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After spending a few days in and around Auckland mainly eating baked goods, recovering from a hectic month in Australia, poring over maps, planning our road trip (shout out to Alys from vegan travel blog <a href="http://www.the-wild-life.com/">The Wild Life</a> who happened to be staying in our hostel and who gave us an amazing map and a bunch of NZ tips), and taking little adventures to check out waterfalls and to climb hills, we were off south in our little car who we named Addy after a dog we cared for at a shelter in Japan - the car was white and Japanese just like her so it made perfect sense!<br />
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New Zealand is awash with forests, waterfalls, and truly tremendous views so it's the perfect country for a road trip. We were there in Spring which was weird because I'm not used to Spring being in September, I'd even forgotten that I'd need to be taking allergy medicine and spent a few days sneezing and itching all over before my meds kicked in.<br />
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One of our first stops on our road trip was <a href="https://www.thecoromandel.com/activities/must-do/hot-water-beach/">Hot Water Beach</a> on The Coromandel because one thing New Zealand has in spades is geothermal activity and we wanted to get involved with some hot pool action asap! Hot Water Beach is literally a beach where you rock up, dig a hole, and create your own hot spring. You can visit two hours each side of low tide and most accommodations in the area will have the tide times posted somewhere. Our hostel even loaned us spades! On the day we were there low tide was after dark and we got to lie in our hot pool looking up at the stars. Digging the hole was surprisingly confusing as we weren't sure exactly where to dig and some areas were so hot that you couldn't even dip a toe into the water that was coming up through the sand. Luckily some locals helped us pick a spot and it was a delightful evening. Be warned though, after dark the walk back to the car is really cold!<br />
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Our next road trip destination was Rotorua for more thermal activity and to take a ride through the forest on zip lines. First we visited Tikitere, aka <a href="http://www.hellsgate.co.nz/">Hells Gate</a>, which is one of NZ's most active geothermal zones and let me tell you this place is pretty wild! There are bubbling geothermal lakes everywhere, it was so cool to see.<br />
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Our next stop was a guided forest canopy tour with <a href="https://canopytours.co.nz/">Rotorua Canopy Tours</a> which threw up the first of many vegan problems in New Zealand. When we booked the tour we read on the website that as well as being a place to go zip lining they also help to conserve the forest. Now being a Brit I assumed that that meant that they planted some trees but about halfway through the tour it became clear that what this actually means is that they run a program that eradicates the forest of "pests" aka stoats, rats, and possums, to help wild birds thrive. Now I'm not a conservation expert by any stretch but as an animal activist I don't believe in killing any animals for any reason. It sucks that New Zealand doesn't have many native birds left but that's because European settlers decided to introduce possums, stoats etc and I don't think that it's okay to try to go back on that by killing a bunch of wild animals. I really enjoyed zip lining, the people running the tour were kind and calmed everyone's nerves, and zip lining is so fun! I never thought it would be the kind of thing I'd be into - I'm usually more of a books and tea person than an adventure sports person but I really loved the actual zip lining part of the tour.<br />
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I really didn't love the part where we were shown pictures of dead animals and told how our cash was contributing to their deaths. It was super graphic and quite upsetting. This is an issue all over New Zealand though, it definitely isn't just something that this business is doing, almost any activity you want to do in NZ will contribute to the deaths of wild animals. Towards the end of the trip Nick and I even had a running joke that everything you do in NZ murders a possum. Even some cider companies (UK peeps have seen the Old Mount ad's right?) donate money from every bottle sold to a program that <a href="https://www.kiwisforkiwi.org/what-we-do/how-were-saving-kiwi/predator-control-monitoring/">kills possums and stoats</a>! The NZ government has laid out a plan to rid the country of non native wildlife by 2025 and seemingly <i>everyone</i> is involved. We saw traps in forests that were sponsored by primary schools! Ultimately what you do in New Zealand and where you draw your lines is up to you but I'm writing about it so that you can make an informed decision, I didn't know about any of this before taking the canopy tour and I was definitely a little blindsided.<br />
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Our final stop in Rotorua was the <a href="https://www.polynesianspa.co.nz/">Polynesian Spa</a> where we had our first official outdoor hot springs experience. We'd already hit up hot water beach and we once stayed at an amazing hot springs hotel in Taiwan but this place was on another level. There were so many pools to choose from and we loved bathing in the hot water whilst looking out over Lake Rotorua. I didn't love the weird man who told me he was going to take a photo of me, I politely told him to get lost but why? Why do men have to do this creepy shit? Just leave women alone.<br />
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One cool free spot to visit, and the next stop on our road trip, is Tongariro National Park. There's an amazing hike you can do here through the Tongariro Alpine Crossing but unfortunately it was still too snowy to attempt it when we were there. If you visit in summer or autumn it's an absolute must-do if you're into hiking. We just went on a few shorter hikes and drove as high up as we could get without needing to get Addy any snow chains. One of our walks was so snowy and so beautiful that if you don't mind the cold, or if you're into winter sports, I would definitely recommend visiting in Spring or even Winter. It was stunning.<br />
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The <a href="https://www.kiwisforkiwi.org/what-we-do/how-were-saving-kiwi/predator-control-monitoring/">Waitomo Glow Worm Caves</a> are another must-visit on the north island. There are other places to see glow worms around NZ but none are as spectacular as this, I checked! We took the boat tour through the caves and it was one of the most stunning things I've ever seen. You can't use your camera but if you Google it you'll see some official pictures that'll knock your socks off!<br />
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New Plymouth was somewhere we ended up for a couple of nights of maximum relaxation. There was a <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/loving-hut-new-plymouth-25897">Loving Hut</a> where we could load up on buffet foods and we stayed at a gorgeous <a href="http://www.kingandqueen.co.nz/">boutique hotel</a> with a kitchen where I whipped up some of our favourite noochy buttery garlicky pasta. Perfection.<br />
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Buffets are often challenging for me as there are hidden allergens all over the place but the staff at this Loving Hut really tried to help. On my second visit they let me know that they're putting together an allergy and ingredients guide for every item on the buffet so that there will be less confusion next time someone comes in with an unusual allergy. More of this please vegan businesses! The only disappointment was that all of their desserts were raw but thankfully they make an excellent hot chocolate which hit the spot for me.<br />
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Our final stop was Wellington which was a city that we both really enjoyed, it has a really laid back vibe and there are some great vegan businesses there. More on that next time though! <br />
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We ended our North Island adventure with a ferry trip across the Cook Strait from Wellington to Picton in the South Island, I don't love boats but we sailed on a calm day and the views on the way through the Marlborough and Queen Charlotte Sounds made it well worth it, until next time...<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-kerning: none;"><i>This post was sponsored by Hitch Car Rentals and Rotorua Canopy Tours. As always all words and opinions are my own. Posts like these help me to keep bringing you travel posts from around the globe.</i></span></div>
vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-76479896407282904142017-10-31T06:25:00.000+00:002017-11-08T10:20:32.499+00:00Tart Bakery Auckland<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Nick and I started our North Island adventure in Auckland and one place that was on my radar before the plane even touched down was <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/tart-bakery-auckland-54863">Tart Bakery</a>. I'd seen pic's of their delicious looking baked goods online and peeked at their five star <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/tart-bakery-auckland-54863">Happy Cow</a> reviews but there were a couple of things that I didn't know about them. I didn't know that they'd won the NZ Bakery of the year competition in 2016 - pretty epic for a vegan business! And I didn't know that they run on a business model that focusses on charitable giving. </div>
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Tart's owners are very focussed on caring for animals and spreading the vegan message and one way that they do that is by working with someone who helps farmers convert grazing land into arable land for growing crops. With the majority of New Zealand's countryside being covered in farms this is so necessary for the future of the planet and unless we can find ways to convince farmers that they can make money in other ways animal agriculture is going to take a long time to grind to a halt.<br />
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The other way that Tart Bakery helps animals is by getting people to reduce their consumption of animal products by offering amazing vegan alternatives to classic bakery staples like pies and slices. Their ridiculous bakery case was the first thing that I spotted as I walked towards the store and as I was waiting to order I realised that this place is popular with everyone! The line definitely wasn't just made up of the young vegan hipster crew but roadies, business peeps, and students too.</div>
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One bakery case clearly isn't enough for this biz so they have a second filled with doughnuts and pastries. </div>
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They also have a pie case becuase New Zealanders, like Australians, are really, really into pies. I've never eaten as many vegan pies as I did during this leg of my travels, they're everywhere and I loved it. From classic pies like steak and onion to the more out there mac and cheese pie you can get almost anything you've been dreaming of. I went for a chicken and cheese pie which is basically my dream pie and I was not disappointed.<br />
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Next I moved over to the sweet side of things and picked up a croissant and a simple but classic cinnamon sugar doughnut.<br />
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These were both delicious, the croissant had a generous amount of chocolate inside and the doughnut was one of the best I've tried. Classic baked goods executed well are always exciting and they're such a great way to convince people that they don't need to eat animal products. Lastly, and I've really saved the best 'till last here, I bought and ate a fairly decent amount of Tart's fantastic Danish pastries. More pastries than you would think that one human could eat in two days! </div>
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I rotated between the two flavours on offer, blueberry and raspberry, and if I was forced to pick a favourite I'd choose raspberry, I love the tartness that raspberries bring to the table and I find that they perfectly offset the sweetness of the custardy centre. </div>
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Pastries like these really aren't all that easy to come by as a vegan, I can probably count the bakeries I know that make them on one hand. I suspect that it's because they're labour intensive and hard to transport, they definitely wouldn't be my first choice if I was setting up a market stall, but they are oh so worth it.<br />
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Tart Bakery recently opened a <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/tart-bakery-auckland-101975">second location</a> on Auckland's bustling K Road which is even bigger than this first location and, if what I've heard is true, they even have indoor seating so you can chill there even on the rainiest of days.<br />
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Do you have a bakery like Tart in your hometown? What would you pick if you were visiting?</div>
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font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span>vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-83034661832772529472017-10-27T10:39:00.000+01:002017-11-01T10:51:30.543+00:00Tepla Sustainable Jewellery Giveaway<a href="http://www.sandrateplajewellery.co.uk/">Tepla</a> are a Sussex based jewellery company who work with vegan, sustainable, and ethically made materials. Their beautiful pieces are made using components, processes, and tools that are non toxic, and 100% animal cruelty and animal product free.<br />
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Tepla's founder Sandra started the business because she wanted to bring together her mixed media art jewellery background and her personal ethics which is something that really resonated with me. I'm always looking to work in fields where my passions and skills mesh well with my ethics. Tepla source their materials with the impact on both the environment and human health and wellbeing at the forefront of their minds and I love their commitment to using recycled silver.<br />
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Today I've teamed up with Tepla to give away a pair of these gorgeous recycled silver and organic cotton earrings. You can choose from blue/yellow, white/blue, grey/yellow, or grey/blue so check out Tepla's <a href="http://www.sandrateplajewellery.co.uk/SHOP">online store</a> to pick your favourite.<br />
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<b><strike>This giveaway is open worldwide and all you need to do to enter is to leave a comment below telling me where you'd wear your new earrings and which colour combo you love. Please make sure to leave me your email address or Twitter / Instagram name so that I can get in touch with you if you win. The giveaway closes on October 31st at 11:59pm UK time and the winner will be notified the next day. Good luck! </strike></b></div>
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<b>The giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Emma Timson who will be wearing a pair of these gorgeous earrings very soon!</b></div>
vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-54825662433468967032017-10-23T10:22:00.001+01:002017-10-23T10:22:24.989+01:00Vegan in New ZealandNew Zealand was an interesting travel experience for me. Mine and Nick's preferred travel style is to move slowly, to plan a little in advance but not too much, and to have the option to stick around somewhere if the mood takes us. We did a little of that, an extra night here, another night there, but with our travel budget New Zealand was not the place for that style of travel. If you're under 30 I would seriously recommend looking into working holiday visa's for NZ, Australia, and Canada. Anywhere that will allow you to work. If you don't have ties take these opportunities now because they won't be there forever. If, like me, you're a little older and unable to get the magical visa that lets you earn money whilst experiencing a new culture then you're going to want to plan, book ahead, and scope out deals online because New Zealand is expensive. Australia definitely takes the top spot in terms of pricy places to travel but NZ is a close second. One way that we cut back on costs was by renting a car and working with the great peep's at <a href="https://www.hitchcarrentals.co.nz/">Hitch Car Rentals</a> for the entirety of our North and South Island road trip.<br />
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A whole lot of research led me to Hitch Rentals and they came out on top of my car rental list by miles. They have the <a href="https://www.hitchcarrentals.co.nz/">cheapest rates</a>, they let you take the car anywhere (no qualms about unsealed roads), and if you have the cash available you can hire an <a href="https://www.hitchcarrentals.co.nz/cars#HDAH">Eco Hitch</a>, aka a gorgeous Prius. There is a one way fee but it isn't too high in comparison to other companies. We rented a <a href="https://www.hitchcarrentals.co.nz/cars#CDAR">Budget Hitch</a> and were surprised at how roomy and comfortable it was, in Europe if you hire a budget car you're usually lucky if you can squeeze your luggage into the boot!<br />
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New Zealand is an ideal place for a road trip. It's almost unbelievably gorgeous and I loved having the freedom to stop and snap pictures wherever I pleased - I certainly didn't see the bus pulling over at any lookout points along the way! Bus travel is also quite pricy in NZ and with the amount of stops we were making Hitch's prices worked out much cheaper than bussing everywhere would have done. Our road trip started in Auckland in the north of the north island and we worked our way down the island before hopping onto a ferry and then zig zagging across the south island until we hopped onto a flight out of Christchurch six weeks later.<br />
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I'm going to write two separate North and South Island posts with all of my favourite eats and activities from each area as well as a hot springs guide (I am basically in love with the activity of going to hot springs!) but here are some vegan travel tips that will serve you well on both islands.<br />
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Pack 'n Save is the best supermarket for bargains, we consistently found the cheapest tofu and burgers there and there were often great deals on fruits and veggies. New World has the best bread by far but you can often find good bread at Pack 'n Save stores in larger cities. Countdown is NZ's other supermarket but there are no discernible benefits to be found from going there other than the fact that there are more of them about so sometimes they're your only option. You can also buy nooch at New World supermarkets which kind of blew my mind, why don't any UK supermarkets sell nooch yet?<br />
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These burgers are the best, find them, smother them in sauces and enjoy.<br />
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Vegan yoghurts are everywhere! There are soy yoghurts and coconut yoghurts but coconut definitely takes up the biggest space on the shelves. From locally made flavours like these from Raglan Coconut Yoghurt to imported tubs of Coconut Collaborative you're sure to find a fave.<br />
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These are the tastiest balls around and you should definitely keep some in the glove compartment on your road trip. Annoyingly there are zero chocolate treats that fall onto the good side of the <a href="http://www.foodispower.org/">Food Empowerment Project's</a> list to be found in supermarkets in NZ but there are plenty of other flavours of energy ball to choose from.<br />
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It was definitely harder to find grab and go food to take on hikes than it was in Australia (I miss you Soyco Japanese tofu) but we managed just fine with a little pre preparation. Bio Cheese shreds were a lifesaver on a couple of occasions and we ate a lot of PB sandwiches, but overall we found the cost of food worked out cheaper both at the supermarkets and at restaurants.<br />
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Lastly you're going to want to buy a jar of New Zealand Marmite (I guess they just call it Marmite?!) as soon as you arrive. I know that Brit's and Aussie's won't like this but it's by far my favourite of the yeast spreads and it makes for an excellent PB&M sandwich.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>This post was sponsored by <a href="https://www.hitchcarrentals.co.nz/">Hitch Car Rentals</a> and as always all words and opinions are my own. Posts like these help me to keep bringing you travel posts from around the globe.</i></span></span></div>
vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-231300778101758142017-10-12T09:11:00.001+01:002017-10-12T09:11:47.982+01:00Vegan Eats Sydney<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is probably going to be my final Sydney post and I've been putting off writing it because it means that my time in Australia is really over. No more wallabies, considerably less delicious vegan pies, and no more hanging out with my friend Amanda. Making friends online can be the absolute best because it's a really cool and easy way to connect with people who you have a bunch of stuff in common with (you also get close fast because people like to overshare online!) but the flip side is that sometimes your favourite people live in Sydney, or Austin, or Vienna, or somewhere else far away and you hardly ever get to see them in real life.<br />
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I try not to get too sad about it because it's so fun to be able to meet up with people whilst I'm travelling but my dream is to live somewhere and have a bunch of awesome vegan friends living nearby so that we can have potlucks, and brunches, and sleepovers, and pizza parties, and go for hikes, and get involved in activism, and eat my carefully crafted pick 'n mix together at the movies. One day! I'm also getting to the point in my travels where I can't wait to be settled somewhere so that my friends can actually come and visit me for a change. I miss that!<br />
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Amanda and I have one final dinner date planned during my layover before I fly to Hong Kong and I definitely will not cry when we part ways like I did in Portland that time! I spent about seven days in Sydney and as well as visiting <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.co.nz/2017/09/maker-sydney.html">MAKER</a>, one of the best vegan businesses on the planet, a couple of times and exploring everything that Newtown, Glebe, and the CBD have to offer (blog post <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.co.nz/2017/10/vegan-in-sydney.html">here</a>) we managed to squeeze in visits to a bunch of other cool places including Pineana in Avalon Beach, The Hold in Manly, and Funky Pies in Bondi.</div>
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<a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/pineapple-crush-avalon-beach-84322">Pineana</a> specialise in Asian inspired bowls and they have six options for you to choose from meaning that there's something for everyone. Even I was able to order without making any modifications which is a little unusual! </div>
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Options include the Bali bowl, the Hanoi bowl, the Malay bowl, and the Bento bowl and I went for the Bento bowl (front right) which was full of so many of my favourite ingredients. Rice noodles, salad leaves, edamame, tofu, mushrooms, nori, pickled ginger, and a miso dressing. It was delicious and when I'm not living out of hostel kitchens I would love to eat more food like this, it's just kind of impossible to keep all of those ingredients fresh whilst moving from place to place every few days y'know. Avalon definitely isn't on the tourist trail but if you're a YA fan then you should definitely visit to eat bowls and check out <a href="https://beachsidebookshop.com/">Beachside Bookshop</a> which has shelves and shelves of YA lit.<br />
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On one of our very first nights in the city Nick and I took the ferry over to Manly to meet Amanda after work so that we could try the new vegan menu at <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/the-hold-manly-76715">The Hold</a>. This is a regular meaty burger joint but they've gone to the effort of veganising every single burger on their menu. Whaaaat?! Amazing! This photo is terrible because I was too busy chatting to take multiple shots but this was seriously one of the best burgers I've ever eaten.<br />
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I had to e-mail ahead to make sure that I would be able to eat something and when they said that I could eat almost all of the components of their Captain Jack burger including the vegan mac and cheese I was ecstatic - I only had to replace the BBQ sauce with ketchup which isn't too disappointing a switch. If getting over to Manly didn't involve a ferry ride I would definitely have visited The Hold more than once because the burger was super flavourful and stuffed full of deliciousness. It's definitely up there with one of my favourite burgers in the world.<br />
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Amanda, Nick, and I also managed to squeeze in a visit to Bondi where I had my heart set on trying some <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/funky-pies-bondi-17244">Funky Pies</a>. It turned out that there was only one pie on offer that I was able to eat but it was their Eezy Chic'n Cheezy Pie which is blatantly the one I would have chosen anyway.<br />
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It was stuffed full of faux chicken pieces, broccoli, and mushrooms in a deliciously creamy and indeed cheesy sauce. Their pastry was very impressive too, I hope to learn how to make pastry this good one day! Nick insisted on ordering the pies with mash, peas and gravy as we were sharing but after our packed day of eating I was definitely a little too full for all of that food so I just stuck to pie and Nick devoured most of the sides.<br />
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Have you ever visited Sydney? Do you have a favourite off of the beaten track eatery that I should be recommending to people? Let me know in the comments! If you want to see more of our Sydney eats you can check out Amanda's video of our foodie adventure <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSreZNR6W1M&t=26s">right here</a> on her You Tube channel.<br />
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vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-88429632320941859572017-10-08T23:28:00.000+01:002017-10-12T07:05:41.290+01:00Wagamama Launches Vegan MenuSince I left the UK in January 2015 the vegan options at chain restaurants have blossomed, with chains like Zizzi's adding vegan menu items and Tofurky launching their range of vegan sandwiches I'm going to be coming back to a country that's a whole lot more vegan friendly. One of the few downsides of travelling is that I don't get to go and eat all of these delicious new things the very second they're launched but when <a href="https://www.wagamama.com/">Wagamama</a> contacted me about trying their new vegan menu I decided to do the only sensible thing and pay it forward. After scouring Instagram for Brighton peep's who take excellent photos I found Stevie, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thebrightonvegan/">@thebrightonvegan</a>, who was more than happy to attend the event on my behalf. Hopefully I'll be bringing you more guest posts as I try to keep on top of the UK's growing vegan scene from a continent far, far away. Over to Stevie...
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For some time, the word on the vegan grapevine has been that <a href="https://www.wagamama.com/">Wagamama</a> was launching an all new vegan menu. Vague news articles and the occasional insta-story indicated that it was tantalisingly close.</div>
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Well friends, it's here. And, oh, it's good.<br />
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I was always surprised at how few vegan options were on offer at Wagamama – Asian cuisine is usually pretty veggie friendly – so when the opportunity arose to sample a sneak preview of the new menu at their Brighton restaurant, I grabbed my trusty vegan pal Caitlin and practically broke their door down.</div>
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Before we sat down to eat, Karl, the development chef in charge of the new menu, took us through a quick history of its evolution. He was keen to get across how serious they are about keeping vegan food vegan, speaking as enthusiastically about their plans for a dedicated vegan fryer as he did about the menu itself. Honestly, their dedication to doing it properly was heartening.</div>
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But the food, what about the food?</div>
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Rather than having to order from the giant allergen file brought over by the manager (you know the one), the veggie menu is the same as the regular one, but with the added benefit of not having to trawl through the meat and dairy dishes to find the vegan options.</div>
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As diligent (and greedy) reviewers, we ordered three mains, three sides and two desserts between us (it's a tough job):</div>
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<b>Kare Buruso Ramen</b></div>
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Silken tofu coated in shichimi (a kind of Japanese seven spice) and deep fried served with mixed mushrooms, veggies and udon noodles in a curried vegetable broth. This dish was designed from the ground up to be their new vegan flagship, and it was absolutely delicious. Fragrant and spicy, it’s like the ramen version of a katsu curry.</div>
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The great thing about it is that it’s not just a ‘regular’ meal with some bits taken away to make it vegan; it’s whole, satisfying, balanced and deeply flavourful. Particularly those mushrooms, full of garlicky umami goodness, I could’ve eaten a bowl of those without coming up for air.</div>
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<b>Warm Chill Yasai Salad</b></div>
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This was an unexpected favourite. We ordered the salad to freshen things up a bit (plus, we're vegans, it's all we eat right?), but it turned out to be the winner of the evening.</div>
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Tofu, fresh veggies and cashew nuts nestling in baby gem lettuce and tossed in a curiously addictive sweet chilli sauce, the zingy freshness really hit the spot. If you’re dining with a friend, splitting this between you is a great alternative, or addition, to the usual sides.</div>
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<b>Yasai Salma Curry</b></div>
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Despite being full of fragrant ingredients, this one didn’t pack quite as much punch as the other two. It was pretty good, but maybe a little underseasoned – nothing a splash of soy sauce couldn’t fix. </div>
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Flavoured with lemongrass, coconut and coriander, if you’re a fan of thai green curry, this is the one for you.</div>
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<b>Sides</b></div>
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The vegan sides aren’t a great departure from the regular menu. Yasai gyoza, edamame and japanese pickles have always been in my Wagamama order, pre- and post-vegan days. Always a solid combo, and they complemented the main dishes perfectly.</div>
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At the moment, the dessert selection will be a familiar sight to any vegan that has ever eaten out: Sorbet.</div>
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That said, they were pretty good. Out of the two flavours, pink guava and passionfruit or lemon, the former was definitely the best – reminiscent of a more grown up Solero.</div>
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We were assured by Harry (who, incidentally, was the friendliest waiter I think I’ve ever met) and Karl, that better things in this area could be on the horizon.</div>
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If you’ve been keeping an ear to the ground, you may have heard rumours of a seitan katsu curry coming to the Wagamama vegan offering. The bad news is that it hasn’t been included in this iteration of the new menu. The good news is that we were reliably informed that it is currently being trialled in their test restaurant in London. </div>
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Seeing as Wagamama sells more chicken katsu curry than it does Coca Cola (no, really), you’d think that rolling that one out would be a no-brainer. Here’s hoping.</div>
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Wagamama is the latest adopter in the growing trend for bigger, better, more readily available vegan options. <span style="font-family: inherit;">No longer doomed to constructing weird pseudo-meals out of side dishes (chips, salad and mediterranean medley anyone?), vegans can look forward to eating proper food at high street chains. With everyone from Pizza Express to Bailey’s and now Wagamama catching on, the future is looking a lot more vegan.</span></div>
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<i>You can find more of Stevie's excellent photos on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thebrightonvegan/">@thebrightonvegan</a> and watch this space for more guest posts about vegan eats in Brighton. </i><i>This post was sponsored by Wagamama, as always all words and opinions are the writer's own. </i></div>
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vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-45832856813567358852017-10-03T09:57:00.003+01:002017-10-03T09:57:56.797+01:00Vegan in SydneyThere's something about visiting cities with iconic buildings that really floats my boat. NYC, Paris, Barcelona, and now Sydney are all up there with my favourite cities in the world and that's what links them in my mind. The other thing they all have in common is amazing vegan food!<br />
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Sydney can be a challenging place for a traveller on a budget but the good news is that the centre of the city is very walkable. We walked from our hostel, <a href="https://www.yha.com.au/hostels/nsw/sydney-surrounds/railway-square/">YHA's Railway Square hostel</a>, up George Street towards the Art Gallery of New South Wales, harbour bridge, Museum of Contemporary Art, botanical gardens, and the opera house almost every day during our stay. Their super central location means that you're literally inside the station surrounded by pricier accommodation options but paying a fraction of the price. It really is considerably cheaper than anywhere else in the area. As well as being by the train and bus depots which will whizz you to vegan destinations all over the city it's basically on top of a <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/lord-of-the-fries-haymarket-79998">Lord Of The Fries</a> (the chicken and chips is a total bargain by Aussie standards and I love their $5 mini chicken burger), in amongst multiple bubble tea spots (<a href="http://cocobubbletea.com/">Coco</a> forever!), and close to <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/brew-street-haymarket-76892">Brew Street</a> for your breakfast muffin and coffee. </div>
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The Railway Square YHA is also walking distance from Chinatown where you can get yourself some cheap vegan eats at <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/blossoming-lotus-haymarket-75085">Blossoming Lotus</a> which is located in a delightfully scuzzy and slightly disorganised mall food court. The one vegan stand is easy to spot!</div>
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My food photos are too horrible to share but the BBQ buns are excellent as is the Pad See Ew. If you aren't contending with a bunch of allergies the rice + one, two, or three sides is an excellent budget option.<br />
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For our first two nights in Sydney we made use of our <a href="https://www.yha.com.au/promotions/">ePacks</a> and stayed in a dorm room in a train carriage on the platform at the <a href="https://www.yha.com.au/hostels/nsw/sydney-surrounds/railway-square/">YHA Railway Square hostel</a>. I honestly thought that this room was a delight; I'm a pretty solid sleeper so the station announcements didn't bother me (Nick was pretty unamused about the 03:40 train to Newcastle though) and I liked the layout of the room - it reminded me of my favourite sleeper train journeys just with less jolting and cleaner sheets.<br />
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There are two absolute must visit areas in Sydney for vegan travellers, Newtown and Glebe. We started in Newtown where we headed straight for 100% vegan fish and chip shop <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/bliss-and-chips-newtown-65679">Bliss and Chips</a>.<br />
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I loved this place! I've always been a faux fish fan and it's much harder to come by than fake meat. I went for the fisherman's platter whilst Nick went for the classic battered fish and we shared an order of chips. My platter consisted of all sorts of faux fishy deliciousness including prawns, tofu fish, calamari, and crab sticks. I loved it! This is also the place where you can get battered and deep fried vegan mars bars and peanut butter cups. Amazing. If fried chocolate doesn't float your boat then consider popping down the street to <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/doughnut-time-newtown-78342">Doughnut Time</a> for dessert. I can never resist the Fairy Godmother doughnut although their specials always look and sound amazing.</div>
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Our next meal was at <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/soul-burger-glebe-80851">Soul Burger</a> in Glebe where I have to admit to being slightly disappointed. I could tell that my burger was delicious but I think that it may have waited around a while for all of the components of Nick's ridiculous hash brown and pineapple topped burger to be ready meaning that it was a little cold when it arrived at the table.<br />
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There was only one person working the register and a decent line so I didn't complain but I probably should have. I'm sure that this isn't a reflection of what this popular local chains burgers are usually like. Nick's burger was piping hot throughout and he thoroughly enjoyed it. All of the reviews on Happy Cow are glowing so definitely don't skip this place because I didn't love it. We checked out The Cruelty Free Shop after lunch and grabbed some delicious snacks to take into the outback with us, they sell a range of cheeses, protein bars, chocolate, and mock meats - everything you'd hope to find at a vegan shop!<br />
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One absolute must eat spot in the city is <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.co.nz/2017/09/maker-sydney.html">MAKER</a> which is located on Paramatta Road. This self described coffee bar is so much more than that, they make killer desserts, amazing sandwiches (including ridiculous specials) and delicious scrolls and on top of all of that they're just the nicest people. Check out my post about them <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.co.nz/2017/09/maker-sydney.html">here</a>.<br />
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Back over to Newtown and this time we decided to eat at <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/gigi-pizzeria-newtown-63893">Gigi Pizzeria</a>. This totally vegan place doesn't take reservations unless you're a large group so arrive early if you don't want to wait around. We rocked up at 6:20pm, 20 minutes after opening, and they were able to squeeze us in. Service was swift but I was slightly less excited by the menu than I expected to be. I'm a total faux meats and cheese kinda girl and the fact that I ordered the Funghi e Radicchio, a pizza basically covered in veggies, is pretty out of character and goes to show that this menu is very veg heavy!<br />
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This pizza did have cheese just not your usual abundance of melty cheese favouring a little touch of vegan blue cheese and roasted walnuts to give that cheesy vibe. It was topped with an abundance of radicchio and mushrooms as well as garlic and olive oil. I definitely liked this pizza, the base was some top notch stone roasted wood fired deliciousness, but <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.co.nz/2017/07/vegan-faves-in-melbourne.html">Red Sparrow</a> in Melbourne is where my pizza slice shaped heart lies. Nick's really not a vegetable fan so he ordered the Marinara which he said was solid but not the best he's ever had.<br />
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Gigi Pizzeria is definitely somewhere I'd visit again if I was in the city, I enjoyed the cosy atmosphere and there are definitely more pizzas on the menu that I'd like to try. Gigi's is located just around the corner from another 100% vegan spot <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/gelato-blue-newtown-43262">Gelato Blue</a> which makes for the perfect dinner plan. Get to Gigi's for an early dinner and then head around to Gelato Blue for dessert. Top tip- Gelato Blue actually has seating upstairs!<br />
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Gelato Blue has such an abundant selection of flavours that I found it genuinely hard to choose. Usually I hone in on something nutty and something chocolatey and I'm done but this spot made it much more challenging. During my time in the city I tried the milk chocolate cookie, tiramisu, mint choc chip, pistachio, and chocolate hazelnut and they were all delicious. The pistachio didn't quite meet my super high standards but the chocolate cookie and the tiramisu were ridiculously good, this should definitely be on your must eat list if you're into ice cream and really, who isn't?<br />
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Sydney is a super awesome spot for a city break and it's a great jumping off point for a trip into the red centre to visit <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.co.nz/2017/09/planning-self-guided-trip-to-uluru-kata.html">Uluru</a>. I definitely recommend the super central YHA Railway Square hostel, whether you're travelling on a tight budget and grab one of their $35 dorm rooms (lock it in for even less with an <a href="https://www.yha.com.au/membership/epacks/">ePack</a>) or wanting a little more privacy in a double you won't find better value for money anywhere else. Nick and I will have stayed there three times by the time we leave Australia and you can't get a better endorsement than that.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>This post was sponsored by YHA Australia and as always all words and opinions are my own. Posts like these help me to keep bringing you travel posts from around the globe.</i></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #bd081c; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 153px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 2734px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span><span style="background-color: #bd081c; background-position: 3px 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: 14px 14px; border-bottom-left-radius: 2px; border-bottom-right-radius: 2px; border-top-left-radius: 2px; border-top-right-radius: 2px; border: none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; left: 153px; line-height: 20px; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; top: 2734px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span>vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-41060635900146063512017-09-29T11:30:00.000+01:002017-10-02T06:14:36.099+01:00MAKER SydneySydney based coffee bar / bakery <a href="http://www.makersydney.com/">MAKER</a> is one of the coolest vegan businesses in the world and I'm here to tell you why! Firstly, look a this sign. Self love and vegan treats are basically what I'm all about. I visited another popular vegan business in the city and they had a sign letting me know that their products are guilt free. Nope! Not cool. Eating isn't something that we should be made to feel guilty about and businesses buying into damaging rhetoric about guilt free foods and clean eating makes me super angry. Bring on the self love and vegan treats!<br />
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Secondly Maker are a social enterprise. Annabelle who makes beautiful bespoke cakes at <a href="http://www.mylittlepandakitchen.com/">My Little Panda Kitchen</a>, and Kate of <a href="http://www.theveganteahouse.com/">The Vegan Teahouse</a> who specialise in vegan cafe classics, got together to run a 100% vegan commercial kitchen where anyone can join in and make and sell epic baked goods. I mean really?! How perfect are these people? I want to move to Sydney and be a part of this.<br />
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Thirdly their baked goodies are uh-mazing which is exactly what you'd expect from baked goods that are made and sold in a supportive environment. When I saw their cabinet full of treats I basically freaked out. How was I meant to choose? I just got everything I could fit into my belly and my bag and then went back for more the next week.<br />
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Lemon meringue pie <i>and </i>cherry pie! Which would you choose? I couldn't decide so I just got both.<br />
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As you can imagine from a vegan owned and operated community focussed business the people working there were <i>the freaking best</i>. They were so friendly and welcoming and beyond patient with our um-ing and ah-ing as well as with my allergy questions. The first time I went I was with Nick, Amanda from <a href="http://thebookishmanicurist.blogspot.com/">The Bookish Manicurist</a>, and my buddy Josh, and we were there for ages pestering people's dogs, being indecisive, taking photos and shooting video, and popping back in to order more and more food.<br />
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As well as sweet treats MAKER offer an amazing range of savouries from sandwiches and breakfast rolls to hangover scrolls. I wasn't hungover but I grabbed one of those beauties as soon as I saw them being delivered!<br />
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The scroll was filled with tofu scramble, sausage, vegemite, and cheese and it was off the hook. I think scrolls are my new favourite food group. On our second visit, Nick, Amanda, and I were a little more chilled but we still ate as much as we could reasonably fit in before another day of Sydney based eating adventures. I started with a delicious baked doughnut because baked doughnuts are my fave' (I know. I know.) and I can't resist something pink and covered in sprinkles. </div>
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I chased it with a slice of passionfruit meringue pie which wasn't something I'd heard of before but that's not surprising as the northern hemisphere is kind of lacking in the fun fruits department! This slice of pie was exceptional. Somehow it was even better than the lemon meringue pie I tried the previous week which I didn't think was possible at the time. The meringue itself was even more impressively fluffy than before and the passion fruit totally works here. To say that I loved it would be an understatement.<br />
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Of course I also had to try one of their cheese toasties especially once I saw that they make them on sourdough bread. This was another thing that MAKER made ridiculously well. It was perfect! I was super tempted to have a second toastie but there was just no more space in my belly.<br />
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Last but by no means least MAKER's ethics are spot on, aside from being vegan they're super queer friendly and inclusive. They're vocal about their support for gay marriage. They acknowledge the Gadigal people, the traditional owners of the land, both on their website and on a sign in their window. They also run workshops in conjunction with Sydney Community College to offer <a href="http://www.makersydney.com/workshops/">affordable cooking classes</a> with local makers. If I lived in the city you can bet I'd be checking out <a href="https://www.sydneycommunitycollege.edu.au/course/learn.vegan.cake.decorating">this cake decorating workshop</a> to up my cake sprucing game.</div>
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<a href="https://www.sydneycommunitycollege.edu.au/course/learn.vegan.cake.decorating">MAKER</a> are located on Paramatta Road which is easy to get to from the centre of the city, just hop on a bus towards Parramatta from stand M at Railway Square and you'll be there in 20 minutes. If you're staying at the YHA Railway Square hostel (which I definitely recommend if you're travelling on a budget) the bus stop is super close.<br />
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Which of these treats will you be ordering when you visit MAKER? Do you have a cool business like this near you? Lemme know, I might come visit! Oh and if you'd like to see more food fun from MAKER check out Amanda's video of our eating adventures on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-SsYTYXZyQ">You Tube</a>!<br />
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Here's what our five day trip looked like.<br />
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<b>Day One</b><br />
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We flew to Alice Springs from Sydney and spent a night at the YHA hostel there. We'd pre-booked a rental car from Central Car Rentals but to save money we weren't picking it up until they opened the next morning. The car rental was expensive but we chose a deal that included everything we'd need for camping which significantly reduced our accommodation costs. Our ride came with swag bags, sleeping bags, a table and chairs, a gas stove and gas bottle, and an Eski (that's a cool box to us Brit's!), as well as crockery and cooking equipment.<br />
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As soon as we'd checked into the hostel we walked to the closest Cole's supermarket to buy almost everything we'd need for our time in the outback. There's actually a really well stocked IGA in Yulara (where the campsite is located), just outside Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park, but we didn't know that before we left. I'd still recommend getting most of your food at Cole's in Alice Springs as it's cheaper than at the IGA but you'll be able to stock up on produce and bread and stuff once you're there if you need to.<br />
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<b>Day Two</b><br />
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We packed up our bags and walked to Central Car Rentals to pick up our car as soon as they opened. We then drove to Cole's for water and ice for the Eski before swinging by the hostel to grab our bags from the room and our food from the fridge. We loaded up the Eski and then got on the road. It's about a 4 1/2 hour drive from Alice Springs to Uluru and it took us around 5 hours because we stopped to use rest stop bathrooms, take pictures, and eat snacks. Ideally you want to be on the road by 9 - 9:30 so that you'll make it to Uluru in time for some activities before sunset.<br />
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As soon as you arrive you'll want to visit the cultural centre before doing anything else. Here you'll learn about Anangu culture and why it isn't okay to climb Uluru. Do not skip the video, I learnt so much about the land treaty of 1985 and the treatment of the Anangu people both before and after the treaty. I'm pretty appalled that the government at the time agreed that they would stop people climbing Uluru whilst talks were happening but rescinded that part of the deal after the treaty was signed as they were worried that it would affect tourism.<br />
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After visiting the cultural centre we took the Liru walk and got our first view of Uluru up close. It's so stunning.<br />
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Our final stop of the day was watching sunset from the sunset carpark. If you drive towards the end of the parking lot you'll get the best views and it's less busy there. If you take a tour you'll be watching sunset from further away on the dunes above the road next to the tour bus carpark. Getting to see the colours changing as the sun set at Uluru was an amazing experience, don't forget to put your camera down and enjoy the magic!</div>
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After sunset we drove back to the campsite at the Yulara resort area, cooked dinner, and then rolled out our swag bags for our first night sleeping under the stars. </div>
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<b>Day Three</b></div>
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We woke up at 5:30, shoved our swag bags into the car and drove into the park for sunrise at the Talinguru Nyakunytjaku viewing area. My main advice with this would be to get there way earlier than you think you need to. First light is really early here and whilst we didn't miss the sun rising and illuminating Uluru we were a little disappointed by just how light it already was when we arrived. </div>
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As soon as sunset was over we hopped back into our car and headed to the Kuniya car park to do the base walk. The walk is a 10.6 km loop and it seems that most people start this walk from the Mala car park. We decided that we'd rather be on the sunny side earlier in the day before it got too hot rather than later on when the sun was higher and hotter and I definitely think we made the right decision there. Our anti-clockwise walk around Uluru was one of my favourite Aussie experiences. It's such a beautiful place.</div>
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We stopped once along the way at the Mala carpark to use the bathroom and to eat some snacks and the walk took us under three hours. I was pretty irritated that there were people climbing Uluru. There are signs everywhere telling people not to climb and explaining why in most languages. I can't understand why people think their personal "need" to climb and conquer is more important than the feelings of the Anangu people.<br />
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Our next stop was Kata-Tjuta where we planned to do two walks. The first through the valley of the winds to the Karu Lookout and the second through Walpa Gorge. I'll be honest the Karu Lookout walk wasn't that great, if you have the time and energy to continue to the Karingana Lookout then I'd include it in your itinerary but if you only have time for one walk here Walpa Gorge is where it's at. This gorgeous walk takes around an hour and goes right in-between two of the heads - Kata-Tjuta means many heads in the local language.<br />
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After all of our walking we had time to pop back to the campsite for a shower before catching a second sunset at Uluru. We took the opportunity to just chill and watch and not take any photos which was lovely. After sunset we headed back to the campsite for dinner and more stargazing. The moon was really high and full whilst we were there which meant that seeing the stars was difficult but it didn't take away from the experience of sleeping outside under an outback sky.</div>
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<b>Day Four</b></div>
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We were up very early on our final day so that we could catch one last sunrise. This time we just drove as far as the bus sunset car park and then walked along the dunes to a quiet spot. Take a torch if you're planning on getting there before first light like we did! It was pretty magical watching Uluru come into view and it was a much quieter and less crowded place to watch the sunrise than Talinguru Nyakunytjaku. That said you don't see the colours changing here so much so I'd only include this spot in your itinerary if you have time for two or more sunrises.</div>
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As soon as it was light enough we drove to Kings Canyon. This is an absolute must visit, do not even think about missing this! We'd read about the rim walk and um-ed and ah-ed about whether we should / could do it as it's described as challenging and we knew that we'd be arriving around 11am and hiking through the hottest part of the day. We did do it though and the rim walk is exactly as amazing as everyone says it is. The initial climb is kind of brutal but we made it to the top and once you're up there the landscape flattens out a little. </div>
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This really must be one of the most epic landscapes in the world, I feel like this must be what Mars looks like! The circular route is the only one that takes you through rockscapes and through the Garden of Eden which is a gorgeous section full of plants and trees, we even spotted a rock wallaby.</div>
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After our Kings Canyon hike we started driving back towards Alice Springs, we planned to drive until around an hour before dusk and then stop at the nearest road house. We made it as far as the Erlunda roadhouse which wasn't ideal as it turned out that they had some kind of dubious kangaroo enclosure there. Unfortunately all of the stops along this road have something to do with animals, whether they're on an emu farm or part of a cattle ranch there's really no way around it, and you can't drive after dark. Despite our annoyance at the animal cruelty it was a lovely evening. We cooked dinner before dark for the first time since leaving Alice Springs and the moon wasn't as bright or high in the sky which meant that we could lay out in our swags looking at the stars before falling asleep.</div>
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<b>Day Five</b></div>
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We woke up around sunrise and enjoyed lying in our swags and warming up as the sun rose before packing up our things. Once we were up we had time for a leisurely breakfast before driving to Alice Springs, returning the rental car, and hopping on to a shuttle bus to the airport to catch our flight back to Sydney.</div>
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Nick and I took this trip in late winter and I would highly recommend that time of year. It was a little chilly at night but the daytime temperatures were perfect, I couldn't have handled most of the walking we did in hotter temperatures and in summer some of the trails are closed because it's just too hot.</div>
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I hope that this post helps you plan your Uluru adventure, don't be scared to go on your own, you get so much more freedom this way and you'll get to spend far more time exploring that you would on most tours.</div>
vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-89417183759105023052017-09-21T18:00:00.000+01:002017-09-28T08:37:55.873+01:00Vegan in HobartAfter spending a little time in Melbourne after driving the <a href="https://veganinbrighton.blogspot.co.nz/2017/09/road-trip-great-ocean-road.html">Great Ocean Road</a> Nick and I flew to Hobart to start our Tasmanian adventure. We saw the rest of the state first, check out that post <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.co.nz/2017/09/vegans-explore-tasmania.html">here</a>, before ending in the capital for a city break that involved a little walking, a spot of culture, some grade A eating, and a whole lot of relaxing. Our very first stop was the Salamanca Markets which we'd only heard good things about. <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/bury-me-standing-coffee-hobart-82388">Bury Me Standing Bagels</a> was the place we were most stoked about trying, they have great <a href="https://www.happycow.net/">Happy Cow</a> reviews and they sell boiled bagels, otherwise known as proper bagels.<br />
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As well as decent bagels that you can buy to go they also sell baked goods like cookie sandwiches and brownies, some of which are gluten free. We opted to get our bagels sliced and filled to eat right away and I went for a potato bagel with a schmear of vegan cream cheese and pickles whilst Nick opted for a plain bagel with Nuttelex (Australia's Vitalite / Earth Balance), sugar, and cinnamon. They also had vegan lemon curd which I was sorely tempted by but a vegan cheese option will sway me every time.<br />
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Nick's Nuttelex and cinnamon bagel was like an epic doughnut bagel and I definitely ate more than the one bite I was meant to try! Mine was completely perfect too, it was everything I want in a bagel, a chewy dough and a simple creamy filling. Spot on. I was gutted that we weren't able to get our hands on any more of their bagels or treats before heading to Sydney but maybe one day. That cookie sandwich was one of the best I've ever eaten, it had soft flavourful cookies and the creamy filling wasn't so sweet that it hurt my teeth. I think I'll have to try to recreate them at home one day. As well as their stall at Saturday's Salamanca Market <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/bury-me-standing-coffee-hobart-82388">Bury Me Standing</a> also have a hole in the wall spot on Bathurst Street. They just serve hot drinks on a Sunday and they're closed on Mondays but you can get your bagel and dessert fix any other day of the week.<br />
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The other spots we tried at the market were Spiced Lotus where I grabbed a delicious beetroot stuffed spring roll whilst Nick enjoyed a samosa. We also split a bean and vegetable pie from another stall with marked vegan options which we got covered in their homemade chutney. It was delicious but a little hard to eat with the chutney on the top and no cutlery!<br />
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Whilst we were in town we stayed at an Ibis Styles hotel using some points that we built up a while back and wanted to use in a country where we couldn't afford to stay somewhere so nice. It was super relaxing and we had a couple of bed picnics, watched movies together, and swam at the pool. I also really enjoyed having my own bathroom after weeks of hostels. The only stressful part was the breakfast buffet as nobody else seemed to understand that putting the meat tongs all over the tots was gross. I mean really? Obviously that's disgusting y'all! We developed a system where we'd wait for the new tots to come out of the kitchen and swoop in with a bowl for scooping, I think that everyone thought that we were a little strange but I'm okay with that. If you'd rather eat your breakfast somewhere vegetarian then <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/straight-up-hobart-51772">Straight Up</a> is a ten minute walk away. I didn't realise before I went that everything they make is gluten free and that they don't have wifi (not ideal when you're meeting someone, have no phone, and no idea when they'll arrive!) but I still enjoyed relaxing with my book and one of their granola muffins.</div>
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A lot of places in Hobart are closed of an evening but one night we popped out for a meal at conveyor belt sushi spot <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/sush-track-hobart-67887">Sush Track</a>. It wasn't the best sushi I've ever had by a long shot but it also wasn't the worst. I was pleased that they had a vegan menu available and the iPad ordering system was pretty fun.<br />
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One of the main reasons that we decided to visit Hobart was contemporary art gallery MONA and I would suggest that if you're considering that too that you think again. I hate bashing anywhere on the blog because everyone has such differing opinions, especially when it comes to art, and I'm not an expert, just someone who has visited a lot of galleries and has an appreciation of contemporary modern art. For me there was barely anything enjoyable about MONA, the works seemed, for the most part, completely devoid of meaning and it wasn't worth the $100 price tag for the two of us. Not at all. There are much better places to see good art for free in Australia so if I were you I'd skip it and spend the cash on bagels instead. The major plus in favour of MONA is that their cafe has an irritatingly excellent vegan chocolate cake, unfortunately the boat ride over there probably means it isn't worth travelling for but if you have a friend who's going definitely get them to grab you a slice!<br />
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Overall I'd say that Hobart is a great place to spend a night or two after road tripping your way around Tasmania, just make sure that you're there on a Saturday so that you can visit the wonderfully vegan friendly Salamanca Markets and don't forget to @ me in your bagel pic's!<br />
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vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-66149233398244297732017-09-18T06:00:00.000+01:002017-09-28T08:40:28.181+01:00Vegans Explore TasmaniaWhen I was a little kid Tasmania was one of those mysterious far away places that I never imagined that I'd travel to! Hilariously as I grew older I realised that Tasmania is just part of Australia, a cool part but still, somewhere that you could feasibly travel to. When I saw photos of the stunning scenery whilst planning my Australia trip I knew that I had to go asap. Nick and I flew to Hobart from Melbourne, picked up a rental car at the airport, and headed out into the wilderness. Our first night there was challenging, it was 4 degrees outside, the hostel had no heating in the rooms, and the building wasn't well insulated, we were very, very cold. We didn't let that dampen our spirits though and hopped out of bed bright and early the next morning assuming, correctly, that it would actually be warmer outside. Our first destination was Freycinet National Park where we had set our sights on hiking up to the wineglass bay lookout.<br />
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This hike was, of course, mostly uphill but it was manageable and we were glad that it was a little chilly in parts. There's usually a slightly longer hike that takes you down to the beach but it was closed for maintenance and we were more than happy with this shorter hike. The bay is gorgeous and the hike was challenging enough to feel like a proper work out. After descending from the lookout we had a look at the park map and headed on to our next location.<br />
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The walk down to Sleepy Bay was relatively short and downhill all the way, at the end you reach a very quiet beach studded with rocks and covered in seaweed. Photos can't really do it justice and it was definitely some of the most stunning costal scenery I've ever seen.<br />
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We sat on some rocks here for a good long while enjoying the calm and the views. It was a really peaceful spot and the weather was just right for chilling on the rocks.<br />
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As well as being awesome for hikes and beautiful views Freycinet National Park is also a great place to spot some Aussie wildlife. There were wallabies everywhere! This one hopped over to me when I was tying my shoelaces next to the car near Friendly Beach. One thing to keep in mind about wallabies and all other wild animals is that however friendly they are you should still never feed or touch them, no matter how soft and cute they look. It's really damaging for them to be fed the wrong kinds of food and feeding them anything creates a human dependent wild animal population which means that they often forget how to forage for food, which often leads to culls which I'm sure is the last thing you want to contribute to.<br />
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Whilst we were in the national park we took a short walk on Friendly Beach. The view was beautiful and the sand was such a gorgeous bright white. You can take a short or long hike along the sand which I imagine would be amazing in warm weather as you could stop to take a dip in the ocean whenever you needed to cool off.<br />
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I really loved Freycinet and I would strongly suggest that you add it to your Australian itinerary if you love hiking, spotting wildlife, and the outdoors. Our next stop was Latrobe where we stopped to look for platypus. Yes, that was our entire reason for visiting! We stayed in a cabin at the <a href="http://www.latrobemerseycaravan.com.au/">Latrobe Mersey River Caravan Park</a> and spent an hour or so before dusk searching the slow moving water with no luck. Luckily this very large platypus was happy to have her photo taken!<br />
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Refreshed after an truly amazing amount of garlic bread and a great night's sleep we got up in the morning determined to spot the elusive and peculiar looking egg laying mammal. After an hour or so we succeeded and saw not one but three platypuses. Two were just swimming along and we only caught a glimpse but the third hopped out of the water close to where we were standing and went about an elaborate cleaning routine on a log where we could see her every move. It was so cute and we were so excited that we were able to spot them in the wild. Did you know that when a drawing of a platypus was first sent to the UK from Australia it was assumed to be a hoax? Nobody believed that this otter / duck creature could possibly be real!<br />
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Penguin was our first stop on the northern coast and it really did live up to it's name. Residents have fully embraced the penguin theme, little penguins come out of the water here and onto the beaches to nest between September and March, and there are penguin statues, murals, and ornaments all over the place. Nick and I particularly enjoyed this large penguin and an amazing penguin mural. I also tried my first ever soya flat white at <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/letterbox-cafe-penguin-99549">Letterbox Cafe</a> who can also make you a vegan meal upon request and who always have a raw vegan dessert option.</div>
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We contemplated not visiting Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair national park. We worried that there would only be super challenging hikes that we wouldn't be able to tackle with the snow still on the ground and that the weather might be too bad to enjoy it but as soon as my friend Shell told me that this was prime wombat spotting country we were there in a flash. We were so glad that we visited, we arrived about an hour before sunset on our first day and just had time to do a short walk along the boardwalk adjacent to the car park before dark. We spotted three or four wombats on this walk and this definitely seems to be the best place to guarantee a wombat sighting. It was also a reasonably clear evening so we were able to catch this great view of Cradle Mountain.</div>
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The next morning we arrived bright and early to start the Ronny Creek / Dove Lake Circuit hike. It was drizzling and there was a mist hanging over the mountain so the visibility wasn't great but for me this was a lovely temperature to tackle a challenging hike.<br />
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The estimated time for the hike is four hours but we made it in around three including our break for snacks. I imagine that we would have taken longer on a warmer day as the heat would have slowed us down and the lack of mist would have meant that there were more photo taking opportunities. Some areas of the hike had boardwalks, especially towards the beginning, but they soon tapered out and most of the hike was across pebbles and boulders. There was still snow on the ground in a few spots but mostly off of the track. You definitely had to watch your footing though and I was so glad that I was wearing my Vegetarian Shoes <a href="http://www.vegetarian-shoes.co.uk/womens_boots/approach_mid_brown/15470_p.html">Approach Mid hiking boots</a>. I've posted about them a couple of times but not since I wrote about <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.co.nz/2017/05/vegan-in-australia-volunteering-at-farm.html">volunteering at Farm Animal Rescue</a>. Since then they've been all over Australia with me and they're still very much in one piece and super comfortable which cannot be said for Nick's hiking boots, the sole has fallen off them twice and he's had to repair them and they've had the exact same wear and tear as mine. He'll definitely be getting a pair of Vegetarian Shoes boots as soon as we get back to the UK.<br />
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I loved Tasmania and would go as far as to say that alongside Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park it's one of my favourite parts of Australia. There are so many great opportunities to get outside and enjoy nature and a week was only just long enough to fit everything into our itinerary. If you can spend ten days in Tasmania I'm sure that you wouldn't regret it. Next time I'll be filling you in on vegan eats in Hobart some of which are probably worth the visit all on their own.</div>
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vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-68608463810106856702017-09-14T17:45:00.000+01:002017-09-17T05:26:59.266+01:00Road Trip! The Great Ocean RoadThe Great Ocean Road has been on my must visit list since I was a teenager so when Nick and I were planning our trip around Australia this was on my must do list. As I may have mentioned upwards of a hundred times we love a road trip but car hire can be pricy so we kept our eyes peeled for relocations. If you haven't heard of a relocation before it's exactly as it sounds, a rental company needs to get a vehicle from one location to another and so they let you hire it for a nominal fee (in our case $5 a day) in return for you moving it for them in a timely manner.<br />
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We had three days to get from Adelaide to Melbourne which was just right. If the weather was nicer I guess it would have been fun to have an extra day to fit in some beach time but as you can see from my photos it was rainy and windy for the majority of the trip so the slightly tighter schedule was no problem. On day one we drove, drove, drove (well Nick did!) from Adelaide to Port Fairy, about six hours, so that we could kick off our first proper day on the road with a walk at Tower Hill Wildlife Reserve near Warnambool. We'd read that this was a great place to spot wildlife especially early in the morning and our getting out of bed at dawn was rewarded with some fantastic kangaroo, wallaby, and emu sightings.<br />
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Aren't emus just ridiculous? They move in a really bouncy way which is so fun to watch. We also had the pleasure of spotting a koala high up in a tree nibbling on eucalyptus leaves which was pretty cute but not as amazing as the koala sightings later on in this post! There are signs at the park telling you which walks are best for wildlife sighting, flora & fauna sightings etc so you can choose which things you're interested in and get walking.<br />
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Our next stop was Warnambool where you can watch whales from the Logan's Beach lookout. Female whales come into this protected and sheltered area to calve and nurse between June and September so you'll see small whales playing as well as larger whales. My camera's zoom wasn't good enough to capture the whales and you'd definitely benefit from some binoculars but we could definitely see them out there which was fantastic.<br />
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The Twelve Apostles is definitely the most famous rockscape along the Great Ocean Road but there are many, many others that are both as stunning and far, far less busy. We kind of came at the road backwards as most travellers come from Melbourne towards Adelaide. They often just visit some of the hits as part of a short trip or, if they're on a longer trip they don't make it to these locations until much later in the afternoon. I really enjoyed our way of doing things as we built up to the star attraction and we hardly saw anyone at any of the spots further west.<br />
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Bay of Islands was our first stop closely followed by The Grotto. These were two of my favourite spots, Nick suggested skipping the walk down to the grotto itself but I overruled him and insisted and it was well worth the extra walk even in the pouring rain!<br />
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London Arch came next and it was actually raining so much that I couldn't get my camera out! You'll just have to trust that it's worth checking out. It's basically a larger version of The Arch (pictured below) but further out to sea. It was getting more and more blustery by this stage but I loved the way the waves looked, the sea was so moody and there was mist on the horizon which made it super atmospheric and cool looking.<br />
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The Razorback and Tom and Eva came next and I loved both of these unusual rockscapes, there are some great walks you could do along the cliff face here if it isn't blowing a gale when you visit.<br />
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Loch Ard Gorge is where things started to get really busy. We'd barely seen a single other person at any of the preceding lookout points but this car park was jam packed with cars and tour busses and just getting up and down the stairs to the beach was a waiting / shoving game as everyone decided to stop on the stairs to take photos / wait for the rest of their group / generally dither about.<br />
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Last but by no means least we arrived at the Twelve Apostles. The visitor area for this place can best be described as a clusterfuck and we were there in off season! We managed to find a spot in the car park without too much trouble but the building itself was clearly built before Australia had an influx of tourists from Korea and China who like to travel in large groups and it isn't handling it well. I could barely get into the building to shelter from the rain let alone contemplate the queue to buy a cup of tea. That said the crowds thinned out towards the viewing points and we were able to see everything and take photos which is all that really matters. Peace is nice but it's not something that I would ever expect at a large tourist attraction.<br />
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This was such a stunning way to end our day! So cool right? We were pretty tired after all of our adventuring so we drove on as far as the <a href="https://www.yha.com.au/hostels/vic/great-ocean-road/apollo-bay/">YHA eco hostel at Apollo Bay</a> where we planned to sleep that night. I loved this hostel so much, the design was amazing and it has the comfiest sofas in front of a log fireplace in the communal lounge. It was recently built with eco credentials in mind so there were loads of cool things going on to save energy and water.<br />
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The next morning we backtracked a little as we'd skipped the Cape Otway lighthouse the day before and Nick had read that you can often spot koalas on the road leading to it so we swung by to check that out. The lighthouse was a bust as there was a huge entry fee to even get into the area and look at the lighthouse so we just took a short walk that left from the carpark and went to a lookout where we could catch a glimpse of it from a distance. The trip wasn't wasted though because there were indeed koalas in the trees along the road towards the lighthouse. This was by far the best koala sighting of the whole trip. I zoomed quite a lot to get the first photo but we could still see her clearly (those ears!!) but the koala in the second picture was just really low down in the tree.<br />
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Aren't koalas amazing? I can't even handle how cute their ears are. They were both moving around a lot, eating, changing position and climbing up and down. It was lovely to watch. The best thing to do if you want to see koalas on this road is to just drive slowly and look out for groups of people standing around staring into the trees! Sounds ridiculous but that's how we found these little cuties.</div>
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Have you ever driven The Great Ocean Road? Would you like to? I think it's up there with one of my favourite travel experiences so I'd definitely recommend it if you're panning a trip down under.</div>
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vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-10420381956305395962017-09-11T04:59:00.001+01:002017-09-11T23:40:13.131+01:00Vegan in Adelaide and Broken HillAfter exploring Perth and Fremantle Nick and I flew east to Adelaide. It's a smaller and less touristy city than Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane and I really enjoyed it. On our first night there we went for a walk and saw protesters showing the earthlings experience, drank bubble teas, and went to <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/zenhouse-vegetarian-yum-cha-adelaide-9275">Zen House</a> for vegan yum cha. It was the perfect first glimpse into the city and we were excited to return. We stayed at the <a href="https://www.yha.com.au/hostels/sa/adelaide/adelaide-backpackers-hostel/">Adelaide Central YHA hostel</a> which worked out great for us, it really is very central which is a theme with YHA hostels, when they say they're central they really are. It's within an easy walking distance of vegan eats, there was good wifi which is a must as a travel blogger, a huge lounge area, a book swap (so great!), and a decent sized kitchen which was always very clean. It was the perfect jumping off point for a trip into the outback as they even have a car park out back where we were able to park our rental car whilst we loaded it up with food, water, and our backpacks.<br />
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Our road trip was taking us six hours north of Adelaide to Broken Hill where we planned to stay in a cabin for a couple of nights. </div>
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Nick and I love to take road trips and this one was extra fun because we'd never seen scenery like this before. We love to snack on the road rather than stopping to make a meal especially when we have six hours of driving to do in one day and my favourite way to get my protein in Australia is this Japanese marinated tofu by Soyco. You can find it in most decent sized Cole's stores and if you can handle the spice there are Malaysian and Thai versions. Just watch out for the Chinese one because it contains honey.</div>
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We arrived in Broken Hill in time for sunset but there isn't really anything to do in town after dark aside from bars or restaurants and we were staying somewhere with a kitchen so after sunset we just cooked dinner at the cabin, played cards, and got an early night. The next morning I opened up the <a href="https://www.happycow.net/mobile">Happy Cow app</a> on my phone to see whether there was anything decent nearby and was surprised to see a cafe called <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/the-silly-goat-broken-hill-97332">The Silly Goat</a> which looked like it had vegan food as well as plant milks for drinks! So cool. We hopped out of bed and headed straight there.<br />
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We ordered slices of chocolate banana bread as well as drinks and my matcha latte was actually the best I've ever has outside of a Starbucks. I know that sounds ridiculous but Starbucks make an annoyingly good matcha latte. This one had the right amount of foam and creaminess and there was none of the bitter taste or grittiness that cafes often seem to have going on. I also tried the cold brew which was huge. I grabbed some macadamia nut milk as that's how I enjoy cold brew but it was still far too much caffeine for me; after breakfast we headed to the Flying Doctors museum and I had to sit outside for a bit because I felt super weird. I was having heart palpitations and I felt anxious and shakey. I've been laying off of the coffee since that experience! After the museum we drove to Silverton because Nick had read that it's an old silver mining town and he wanted to check it out. As soon as we arrived we saw donkeys roaming around. We heard that they moved into the town one day and just hang out there now, they were very cute and friendly.</div>
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I enjoyed checking out the former mining town, I had a XXXX at a local pub and we wandered about a bit. It's definitely a very touristy spot but 89 people do actually live there. One thing that wasn't on our list before travelling to Broken Hill was a trip out to the Broken Hill Sculpture Park which we heard from a local was an amazing place to see sunset. We decided to head up towards the sculptures on foot via the 900m walking trail from the picnic & BBQ area car park and we were so glad that we did. About 1/3 of the way up the path we spotted this kangaroo with a joey in her pouch. She was just chilling out and eating and she didn't seem at all bothered by our presence.<br />
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We ended up just standing on the path watching her snacking for about 20 minutes. We almost missed sunset because we were so mesmerised. Kangaroos are so beautiful and to get this kind of one on one time to just stand quietly and watch what they're up to in the wild is incredible.<br />
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Nobody else came past us on the path and there were no other cars in the car park when we left or when we got back which means that everyone just drives up for sunset. This seems like a mistake to me, a walk is always nice but getting to see this gorgeous marsupial doing her thing was really the icing on top of the cake. Sunset was beautiful albeit quite busy but I've never seen one quite like it, the sky is just so vast that it's a bit like a 360 degree sunset and the colours were amazing.<br />
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If we'd had more time we definitely would have gone on the Cultural Walk Trail and the Flora Trail at the living desert but we had to get back to the city. We were headed back to Adelaide for a few days of chilling before picking up a relocation and driving the great ocean road towards Melbourne. We stayed at the <a href="https://www.yha.com.au/hostels/sa/adelaide/adelaide-backpackers-hostel/">Adelaide Central YHA hostel</a> again which worked out great for us, they have a cool deal where you can <a href="https://www.yha.com.au/membership/epacks/">pre purchase ePacks</a> to get discounted dorm room accommodation. If you're travelling as a couple or with a group of friends you just need to leave a note in the booking or drop them an email to make sure that they book you into the same room.<br />
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Whilst we were in town we ate at Zenhouse again but this time we discovered a place to get vegan rolled ice cream on the way there. I was so excited! I've been seeing rolled ice cream all over the place and I was beginning to think that I'd never get the chance to try it. <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/scroll-ice-cream-adelaide-98673">Scroll's</a> options include two fruit sorbets which I didn't try because their other option is a coconut based blueberry and lychee ice cream which was just as amazing as it sounds.<br />
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It was super creamy and the fruit flavours really popped. I loved it. We also got Baklava from <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/al-mina-mediterranean-patisserie-adelaide-40462">Al Mina Mediterranean Patisserie</a> which is conveniently located on the road out of / into town if you're heading to Broken Hill. I love baklava and finding it without honey is always such a treat.</div>
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We also ate at <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/cherry-darlings-bakehouse-adelaide-48809">Cherry Darling's Bake House</a> which is a fantastic all vegan bakery located a short tram ride away from the centre of the city. There were a huge range of goodies to choose from including savoury pies, cupcakes, slices, and doughnuts. The pies were particularly delicious and the flavours on offer were so fun, the mac and cheese filled Bromac and the cheeseburger pies sounded great but my allergies foiled my plans to try those and I ended up with an utterly delicious steak, potato and mushroom pie. The doughnuts were some of the best I've ever had, Nick and I shared one that was stuffed full of Oreo's and it was ridiculously good. We also swung by <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/everything-vegan-adelaide-38211">Everything Vegan</a> and tried some wonderful blue cheese made by Studio Voodoo, definitely check that out if you're in the city. </div>
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What are your favourite road trip snacks? Have you ever taken an epic road trip? Talk to me in the comments!</div>
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<i>This post was sponsored, in part, by YHA Australia. As always all opinions are my own.</i></div>
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vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-80452939459396725082017-08-29T12:37:00.003+01:002017-08-30T07:14:21.009+01:00Aussie Adventures with Quokkas and Ice Cream <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
My travel itinerary has been jam packed and almost totally wifi free for the last week or so so I'm just posting a short(ish) but pic heavy post today. When Nick and I were looking into flights from Bali to Australia we realised that we would be able to fly into Perth and then from Perth to Melbourne for far less than it would have cost to fly straight to Melbourne. It made sense to have a little Western Australia adventure! We stayed in Fremantle and the way that our cheap flights worked out meant that we were there during the week, unfortunately all of the vegan spots there are closed during the week! If you want a foodie adventure then try to visit from Friday to Monday when most of the cafes and the markets are open. We went into Perth to visit museums (I loved the <a href="http://pica.org.au/">Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts</a>), drink bubble tea, explore the Asian food stores, eat at Lord of the Fries, and to watch The Big Sick at the cinema on Cheap Tuesday. Have you seen The Big Sick yet? I loved it! I'm a huge rom com fan but as a feminist they definitely push my rage buttons. I don't think there were any moments that made me angry in The Big Sick though! There was even a decent joke about mansplaining and the whole movie was laugh out loud funny as well as cute.</div>
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Another of my very favourite thing about the Perth / Fremantle area was 100% vegan gelato spot <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/gelato-101-vegan-artisan-perth-89617">Gelato 101</a>.</div>
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This epic ice cream spot is located in Cottesloe which is right between Fremantle and Perth on the main train line and we were blown away by their ice creams. <br />
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They were so creamy and there were some interesting flavours to choose from. It was smaller than <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/re-visiting-vienna-part-1.html">Veganista in Vienna</a> but the quality was just as good. I rate that place super highly so this is definitely a solid compliment. On our first visit I had a cone with scoops of Chestnut and Chocolate Hazelnut and they were both so good that I had to get them the next day when we squeezed in another visit. Pistachio is my favourite ice cream flavour of all time but I think that chestnut is now a close second, the nutty creaminess is just so damn good. On our second visit I tried them with the waffles which I enjoyed but I think that I prefer my ice cream straight up in a cone or cup when it's this good. I don't need any distractions y'know!<br />
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Gelato 101 is right by the station so it's well worth the trip even in the pouring rain. The weather was pretty terrible the whole time we were in Perth and Fremantle (hence managing to justify a cinema trip!) so we put off our Rottnest Island day trip until the very last day - there was no way that I was getting on a boat when there were 6 metre swells. Hell no! The 2 metre swells on the day we went were quite enough, we took anti sickness meds which stopped us throwing up everywhere but they had a terrible side effect. They made us so sleepy! I'm very susceptible to drowsiness, I can't even take most non drowsy allergy medications because they just make me fall asleep but Nick's normally okay. Not this time though! We'd been walking for about an hour when we both started to feel really, really tired. Our limbs felt heavy and we had to keep stopping, it was so weird. At first I was like "Oh no, are we getting horribly sick" but then I remembered the tablets! In the end we stopped on a picnic bench for a nap (Yes. Really.) and we totally dozed for a full hour! It was ridiculous. So many people must have walked past us and wondered what on earth we were doing sleeping on a bench before lunch. When we woke up there was a quokka under the table which was incredibly surreal but oh so cute. Look at her!!! TOO MUCH!</div>
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Rottnest island is a great spot for a day trip, there are plenty of great walks to do and there really are quokkas everywhere but there is some truly terrible colonialist history hiding behind the cute furry animals that draw people to the island. Rottnest was a prison for aboriginal people. I'm no history expert so I won't try to explain what went down there save to say that it was awful. Check out <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-25/rottnest-island-black-prison-to-white-playground/7962940">this link</a> to learn more whether you're considering visiting or not.<br />
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I'm going to leave you with these little cuties and I'll be back soon with a review of a great vegan friendly resort in Lombok and more of my Australia travels. I've been working with YHA Australia so I'm excited to bring you some hostel reviews and tips along with some more awesome vegan food finds.<br />
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<script async="" data-pin-height="32" data-pin-hover="true" data-pin-shape="round" defer="" nbsp="" src="//assets.pinterest.com/js/pinit.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div>vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-30107165747021432672017-08-25T14:00:00.000+01:002017-08-30T06:59:18.090+01:00Vegan in The Gili Islands When Nick and I were planning our trip to Bali I knew that we had to visit the Gili Islands. These tiny islands seemed like the most amazing place to live out our dessert island fantasies so we blocked out ten days and got researching. We decided that Gili Trawangan wasn't for us, it's too loud and too much of a party hotspot and it definitely doesn't have the chilled out vibe we were looking for. We decided to split our time between Gili Air and Gili Meno spending a few nights on mellow backpacker hotspot Gili Air and then the majority of our time on the even smaller and quieter Gili Meno.<br />
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Our trip to the Gili Islands didn't start wonderfully as I started to feel unwell on our last morning at the resort we were staying at on Lombok. I wasn't sure if it was food poisoning, a stomach bug, or a colitis flare up at this point but it wasn't great. We managed to get to our Airbnb on Gili Air without too many dramas but because I wasn't feeling good we took a speedboat which cost far more than we were hoping to spend on the journey. It got us from A to B as quickly as possible though which was all I cared about.<br />
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I was feeling light headed and Nick was super hungry so we walked to the nearest vegan friendly spot on the island, <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/good-earth-cafe-gili-air-87723">Good Earth Cafe</a>, and I ordered the only chilli / paprika / capsicum free thing on the whole menu whilst Nick ate a delicious looking vegetable curry.<br />
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My bruschetta was fine but it came on wholewheat bread which is basically my nemesis. I love it but my body struggles to digest wholewheat so my heart aways sinks a little when the only thing I can make OK for my allergies is going to mess with my colitis. After this I basically spent two whole days running between bed and the bathroom and sleeping a lot. I still don't know 100% what was wrong but Nick got a little unwell after I did so I suspect that it was a bug that then caused my colitis to flare up creating what can only be described as a total shitshow.<br />
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On our last night on Gili Air I managed to venture out with Nick to <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/classico-italiano-gili-air-97915">Classico Italiano</a> the place he'd been eating at at least once a day whilst I was unwell. They have a vegan pizza on the menu, The Vegana, which I was more than happy to try.<br />
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This thing was huge but with a super thin crust. It had the perfect amount of toppings, a delicious base, and perfectly seasoned tomato sauce. I couldn't have been happier (well, no, I'd have been happier if I was feeling well enough to eat all of it!) and of course this spot is run by super friendly Italians. I love that you can find good vegan pizza somewhere as remote as the Gili Islands. Before dinner we managed to catch one of Gili Air's famous sunsets, it really was beautiful. We wandered a little way along the east side of the island to find the perfect spot at a quieter bar and watched the sunset whilst sipping on a fresh mango juice.<br />
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Our next stop was Gili Meno and despite the previous evening's burst of energy I still wasn't feeling great so again we dropped some cash for a speedboat. The cost of this one was totally ridiculous but I was feeling super weak and could barely walk to the beach with my backpack let alone to the port where we would have had to wait in the sun and then squeeze onto a boat with a bunch of other people. I was kind of cursing my body by this stage, it's ability to ignore our travel budget is highly annoying!<br />
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Our <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/7549198">Airbnb</a> on Gili Meno was the perfect next stop. It was located in the village only a five minute walk from the beach we were dropped off on and I couldn't wait to get there. It certainly didn't disappoint - there were even cats waiting to greet us alongside owners Claudia and Made. This place is described on Airbnb as a back to nature experience but it was just like most of the places Nick and I stayed on the islands in Thailand just with far less bugs and air con. <br />
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We woke up most days with the call to prayer and then dozed until it was a reasonable breakfast time. We'd read all about Made's famous pancakes in the Airbnb reviews but we didn't know whether it would be possible to make them vegan. We needn't have worried though, Made and Ketut were more than happy to whip up vegan pancakes each morning with rice flour, coconut milk, and bananas</div>
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You just need to ignore the honey that comes to the table with them and this plus the delicious fruit plate makes for an excellent start to the day. It wasn't quite enough food for us so we'd either eat one of the bars we packed (the PB stuffed Clif bars are my jam), or just get lunch early.<br />
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If you haven't used Air B&B before you can sign up using <a href="http://www.airbnb.com.au/c/jhuxster">this link</a>. You'll get £30 off of your first booking and I'll earn travel credit that will help me to keep travelling for longer.<br />
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Most of our days started here navigating the dusty streets of the island's centre whilst we decided which way to go. </div>
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All roads lead to the beach but they're all different. The best swimming beach is in the south east of the island but the more isolated northern beaches are fantastic for snorkelling. </div>
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The beaches on Gili Meno are truly breathtaking. If you have the energy and can handle the heat I would highly recommend taking a walk around the whole island, it takes around an hour and a half with some stops to cool off in the water and to grab a snack. Nick loved it so much that he did it twice.<br />
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I adored the Gili Islands, if I could only choose one I'd pick Gili Meno time and time again but if you have time you should visit both islands. Gili Meno has the benefit of being remote enough and quiet enough that it doesn't attract a party crowd, there are plenty of cheap accommodation options (I don't think that you can beat Claudia and Made's Airbnb though!), and whilst eating vegan isn't easy everywhere on the island it's totally possible and there are some great spots listed on Happy Cow. My favourite was Ryan's Cafe which is run by a local dude and makes some great simple but flavourful tempeh dishes as well as fruit plates and simple western fare like French fries. Between Gili Meno and <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/blissed-out-in-bali.html">Ubud</a> I've found some new favourite places and I hope that I can get back to Indonesia someday.</div>
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vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-12472721303946764362017-08-18T06:45:00.000+01:002017-09-25T01:58:44.814+01:00Reducing My Plastic ConsumptionI've been into the whole reduce, reuse, recycle thing for as long as I can remember. I'm always the person encouraging everyone to bring their own plates and cutlery to the vegan potluck and removing your juice bottle from my kitchen bin as soon as you turn away. Yep. That's me! When I lived in Brighton I supplemented our kerbside recycling with monthly trips to recycling points dotted around town to recycle things like tetra paks of soy milk (did you know that you need to remove the plastic spout and lid before recycling these?) and textiles. I also paid a little bit of cash each month to <a href="http://www.magpie.coop/">Magpie Recycling Co-op</a>'s opt in scheme so that I could recycle things like yoghurt pots and tofu tubs. So I was kind of a champion recycler and I always washed out my zip seal bags so that I could reuse them until they fell apart, but the whole reduce thing? Not so great!<br />
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Since taking a tour of the Sea Shepherd ship the Bob Barker in Melbourne and reading a few articles and blog posts about the impact of plastics on our oceans I've been trying to do more. By putting more of a focus on reducing my plastic consumption I feel like I'm stepping up my game! It definitely isn't an easy thing to do when you're travelling; you can't buy in bulk, often have to avoid drinking the tap water, and are given plastic bags and straws all the time but here are the steps that I've taken so far.<br />
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• R<b>efuse plastic carrier bags</b><br />
One of the few things that I can say confidently in Japanese is <i>fukuro wa kekkou desu </i>which roughly translates to I don't need a bag. It's a very helpful thing to know how to say if you don't want to be given a carrier bag for the smallest of purchases. I'm working on the same for chopsticks, straws etc for when I return to Japan this winter. I travel with a fabric tote bag and a larger fabric shopping bag for those times when I'm in one place for long enough to do a proper food shop.<br />
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• <b>Buy some metal straws</b><br />
I've wanted to get glass straws for ages but they aren't practical when you're backpacking. I was pretty excited when I saw bamboo straws being used all over the place in Bali and when I spotted these stainless steel straws at Atman Cafe in Ubud I knew that I had to grab a set, they're the perfect solution!<br />
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<span style="text-align: center;">They were affordable and they can travel with us in our backpacks without getting damaged. They're a good reminder to ask for drinks without straws but we aren't having 100% success with that yet. We recently stayed at a resort on Lombok and we asked for our drinks without straws </span><i style="text-align: center;">every single time </i><span style="text-align: center;">and </span><i style="text-align: center;">every single time</i><span style="text-align: center;"> they still came with a straw. It was incredibly frustrating! By this point you know the straw is going into the bin whether you use it or not so there's little point saying anything but damn, is it that ridiculous a request? Our new straws haven't solved the bubble tea dilemma yet either as it requires a much thicker straw and always comes in a plastic cup with a cellophane lid. I'm definitely ordering less bubble tea but I don't think that I can quit it completely.</span></div>
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• <b>Travel with a water bottle</b><br />
This is easy and fantastic if you're travelling in places where you can drink the tap water. My only issue is that I'm on my third water bottle in two and a half years as I'm prone to leaving stuff in the seat pockets on busses and trains. I like to think that some other traveller has picked them up!<br />
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• <b>Don't use travel size toiletries</b><br />
This is a tough one especially if, like me, you're only travelling with hand luggage. It's definitely tempting to use the cute little toiletries provided by hotels but just think of all of that plastic going into the ocean and you'll quickly go off them. I travel with as many solid products as possible including LUSH's Godiva shampoo bar and their Jungle solid conditioner as well as a solid bar of soap for my body and another for my face.<br />
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I'm just trying to be more mindful of my choices at this stage. When I eventually stop travelling I'd like to look at my cooking routine with a more critical eye and try my hand at making my own margarine, bread, and tofu but until that point I'm just trying my best. Is reducing your plastic consumption something that you're thinking about doing? Are you already on a similar journey or are you already the queen of zero waste? I'd love to hear what you're doing to help save the planet!vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-79356759425665061842017-08-15T03:00:00.000+01:002017-09-25T01:39:42.241+01:00Vegan Eats UbudIf you read my <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/blissed-out-in-bali.html">last blog post</a> you're probably already dreaming of a trip to Ubud and this post might just push you over the edge. The food in Ubud is excellent and even I managed to find enough to eat - no mean feat in a country where everyone loves chilli. One of the spots that Nick and I ended up visiting the most was <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/alchemy-bali-28110">Alchemy</a>. It was located around 10 minutes from our gorgeous Penestenan Airbnb (seriously if you haven't already check out my <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/blissed-out-in-bali.html">previous post</a>!) and we headed there for breakfast most days. They have a smoothie bowl bar which I was deeply suspicious of because I don't even enjoy smoothies let alone pretending that they're a meal. It turns out that smoothie bowls are actually amazing though! Who knew?!<br />
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The options were different every single day and you could mix and match your smoothie, fruit, and topping options to mix things up and keep breakfast exciting. My favourite days were the ones when they had strawberries in the fruit section and blueberry or turmeric whipped coconut cream in the topping area. I always went for chocolate granola because it's the best and I was wild about the bright purple dragonfruit soursop smoothie.</div>
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These gorgeous bowls were the perfect start to the day especially when they were paired with a glass of cashew milk cold brew. I'll be honest though, I wouldn't eat here for any other meal. Their menu after breakfast is 100% raw / salad bar based and that's basically my very least favourite way to eat. Raw foods don't jive well with my stomach! Alchemy Cafe also have a honey problem. They insist that their food is 100% vegan but when asked they also say that they use honey. Thankfully they can tell you which dishes and items have it but it's definitely annoying. Words have meanings and calling something vegan when it isn't just confuses things for real vegans who are out there trying to avoid all animal products. If you can't quit honey just use another word like beegan or almost vegan or even plain old dairy and egg free vegetarian.<br />
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Somewhere that did recently drop honey from their menu entirely is <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/earth-cafe-bali-12414">Earth Cafe</a>. They're now vegan and their huge menu was full of things that I wanted to eat no matter my mood; from seitan steak and chips to brown rice maki filled with veggies and tempeh, they have something for everyone. <br />
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Nick ordered the spaghetti and meatballs one day and got this huge plate of pasta whilst I chose to dine on the tofu omelette. This was probably the only dish I was a little disappointed by. I enjoyed it, it was a delicious and simple plate of food, but an omelette this was not!<br />
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The service at Earth Cafe was great, they were so amazing with my allergies and a surprising amount of the menu was actually chilli, bell pepper, and paprika free which is not something that often happened in Bali. In fact on one memorable evening we tried to eat at one of the cheaper local vegan warungs and after trying to explain and eventually showing the owner my little homemade allergy card she just looked horrified and told me to try Alchemy instead! I totally understand, small restaurants in Indonesia often cook one meal a day and everyone gets the same thing, but I was definitely bummed to miss out on this side of the local dining scene. Nasi goring was something that I was excited to try in Indonesia and this chilli free version from Earth Cafe was a delight.<br />
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Brown rice, tempeh, edamame, and pickles with a dressing of sesame oil, tamari, and ginger made this an unusual and healthy version of the dish but it was just right. The other cool thing about Earth Cafe is that you can order take out over the phone or via WhatsApp. Nothing we ordered arrived at our Penestenan Airbnb in a particularly photogenic state but it was all delicious and getting to spend the whole day chilling by our private pool whilst someone brought food to us was a real treat. I also ate a lot of their power balls which were filled with crispy rice and dried fruits and covered in chocolate. They only cost 19000 / £1 / $1.40 which is a bargain for these perfect bites which made a great pre-yoga or post run snack.<br />
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<a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/sage-bali-67565">Sage</a> is my final recommendation and it's somewhere that you need to put on your must-eat list if you're heading to Ubud. It's a little out of the way, south of the Monkey forest and definitely a cab ride from Penestenan unless you're feeling very energetic. The menu leans heavily towards Mexican food so there were limited choices for me but I ate the best tempeh sandwich of my life there.<br />
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The bread was so amazing and there was so much tempeh on there. They even realised partway through putting my plate together that the side salad contained capsicum so they quickly whipped up a different salad for me. I'm always so appreciative when people notice the little things, since being diagnosed with allergies I've had to get used to not being able to eat the dip that comes with my summer rolls or having to skip my sides because nobody thought to check them. Nick went wild with the small plates and ordered a whole bunch of seriously gorgeous looking dishes.<br />
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I couldn't try any of this but doesn't it all look amazing? The tempeh wings especially looked fantastic, as did the corn cakes and Nick said that he loved the empanada type things. I'd heard really great things about Sage's coconut cake so we couldn't skip dessert even though we were already verging on too full. </div>
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I thought that the coconut cake was very good and I would definitely have ordered it again if I'd had the chance. I preferred it to Nick's chocolate cake but he definitely disagrees! Ubud has a couple of other vegan dessert spots, <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/kokolato-bali-55168">Kokolato</a> is a 100% vegan and raw ice cream spot that makes an decent coconut coffee sorbet and <a href="https://www.happycow.net/reviews/tukies-cafe-bali-55170">Tukies</a> is a coconut focussed spot on the main drag which makes an uh-mazing mango coconut ice cream float with the creamiest homemade coconut ice cream.<br />
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Did reading this make you want to book a flight to Bali? Have you been to Ubud already? What were your favourite vegan eateries?vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-81642701935129842752017-08-10T17:45:00.000+01:002017-08-10T17:45:15.424+01:00Blissed Out in Bali<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
After volunteering at the farm animal rescue for two months followed by a fun filled and action packed road trip up the Australian coast from Brisbane to Cairns Nick and I decided that Ubud in Bali would be our next stop. We chose Ubud because it has a reputation for being a laid back kind of place with plentiful vegan options and it's not too far from Australia. It sounded like a great place to rest and recharge our batteries and I'd say that it exceeded our expectations quickly becoming one of our favourite places in the world. </div>
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We chose to stay in Penestenan at an amazing Air BnB located a little way into the rice terraces. We were about a 40 minute walk from Earth Cafe in the centre of Ubud but if that's not your vibe taxis were around 70,000 and we took them once or twice. The area is beyond gorgeous and I think that we'd have had a very different experience if we'd chosen to stay in the bustling, traffic filled, touristy centre of Ubud.<br />
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Here I could wake up early and sit and listen to the world waking up whilst drinking tea, head out for an early morning run around the quiet lanes and surrounding streets, or pop around the corner for a restorative yoga class followed by breakfast at Alchemy Cafe.<br />
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We were welcomed with a fresh coconut and I immediately got into my bikini and into the pool. I love having private outdoor space when I travel. It doesn't happen often but when it does it's blissful. I can't think of a nicer place to relax than this.</div>
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I really can't recommend the area or the Airbnb more highly. If you're heading to Ubud and want to stay at Oming's place you can find it <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/15074617">here</a> and if you've never used Airbnb you can book through my link in the sidebar and get a discount. I'll earn some Airbnb bucks too which can help me travel for longer!<br />
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One thing I've always struggled with whilst travelling in Asia is dressing appropriately <i>and</i> being comfortable. My usual style isn't really appropriate for a lot of the muslim areas I've been too and whilst I can cover up my top half with a looser t-shirt, scarf, or plaid shirt my struggle with covering my legs is real. I hate trousers. Like I seriously hate them. I've never found a pair of trousers that fit me and are comfortable enough to sit down and eat in, and the ubiquitous one size fits all elephant trousers do not fit me <i>at all</i>.<br />
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Everything changed when I found these high waisted leaf print trousers made of a super thin material at a store in Ubud. I love them. They're high waisted enough that there's enough stretch for my hips and they're wide enough that my thighs do actually fit in them. They even have a pocket! They're a little tight around the middle for me to eat a huge amount of food whilst wearing them but they are high enough that they eliminate the need for chub rub shorts. I love my chub rub shorts but having to wear them <i>and</i> my black harem pants (that totally double up as my pyjama bottoms) when it's 30 plus degrees is seriously the worst. Because doing a little shopping and supporting local people trying to make a living is fun I also bought a couple of cute bracelets.<br />
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When you're only travelling with hand luggage every single purchase needs to be carefully thought out because there just isn't any room for new things. The addition of one too many t-shirts or even a chunky fridge magnet could push my backpack to breaking point so bracelets are the perfect souvenir. I'm going to post about all of the excellent food in Ubud next time but I wanted to share that I finally got into coffee! I dabbled in coffee a while back but it never agreed with me, I'd get hyper for 5 minutes and then need a nap after one latte. Don't even get me started on espresso. Disaster! Apparently cold brew with cashew milk was the answer all along. It's actually decent and not overhyped hipster nonsense. This was news to me but I should've known that I'd love it as other apparent hipster things like artisan bread and avocado toast are right up my street.</div>
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It seems that cold brew just has less caffeine than regular coffee which is a win in my books. As you can see I fell head over heels in love with Ubud, I just felt so comfortable there. Does it look like somewhere you'd enjoy? I can't wait to show you all of the delicious food next time. See you soon!</div>
vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4572519749749123334.post-64238464868514139652017-08-07T06:30:00.000+01:002017-08-07T06:30:00.210+01:00Vegan in Cairns and The Great Barrier ReefAfter spending two weeks road tripping north up the Bruce Highway from Brisbane Nick and I arrived in Cairns and camped there, at the <a href="http://www.coconut.com.au/">Cairns Coconut</a> site, for two nights. We had a trip booked out to The Great Barrier Reef for the day after we arrived in town and the tour company we booked with were picking us up at 6:20am. Sadly unlike our <a href="http://veganinbrighton.blogspot.co.id/2017/08/vegan-road-tripping-brisbane-to-cairns.html">amazing experience</a> with Whitsunday Bullet the vegan options on Reef Experience were terrible. We started badly at breakfast time with a spinach, carrot, and cucumber roll with some balsamic drizzle (what the what?!) whilst everyone else ate bacon and egg rolls. Lunch was just more salad with some roasted pumpkin in place of all of the meaty things everyone else was eating. I was getting pretty irritated by this point especially as the woman in charge kept calling us her "little vegans" which felt super patronising. Ugh!<br />
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There were also snacks for after snorkelling, cheese and crackers I think, and they didn't even try to find us a vegan option for that. It was definitely one of the worst vegan catering experiences I've had in recent memory and I was pretty annoyed that they'd told me that they can cater for vegan guests. I brought emergency snacks with me, ate all of them, and was still starving when we got off of the boat at the end of the day. When you have hours of physical activity ahead of you you can't just eat salad! It's ridiculous that in 2017, in a country with plentiful vegan options, people still think vegans basically just eat vegetables.<br />
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Getting to see The Great Barrier Reef was cool though and I was glad that we went, I'd just pick a different tour company next time. Even getting into the water wasn't great as we had to ask for lens cleaner for our masks and the woman helping people into the water was eye rolling at the people in front of us behind their backs because they were taking a while to get in. The sea was pretty choppy (you need to take anti sickness medication on these journeys, at one point about 12 people were throwing up at one time) and I was feeling pretty rushed. I even forgot to get a pool noodle and had to go back for one. As soon as we were out there snorkelling everything was great. We saw a reef shark almost immediately which was terrifying - they have no interest in humans but still, it is a shark! It was so cool. We also saw maori wrasse, fusiliers, cute butterfly fish, shoals of damselfish, and my very fave' parrotfish. The coral situation was really sad though. It's basically dead and from the research I've been doing since visiting I'm not sure that tour groups are helping the reef. Economically I think that it would ruin Cairns if the trips out there were to cease but I think that the reef needs it. I'm not an expert but as soon as I get back to a country where Netflix works I'm excited to check out the documentary <a href="https://www.chasingcoral.com/">Chasing Coral</a>. It's made by the same team of people who made Chasing Ice which is one of the best environmental documentaries I've ever seen.<br />
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The day after our reef trip and just before returning the van we drove into the centre of Cairns to check into the Cairns Central YHA hostel as we thought that it made a whole lot of sense to do it that way round rather than lugging our backpacks back across town from the van hire place to the hostel on the bus. This turned out to be a smart plan and we even had time for a little cupcake stop at <a href="http://www.cakesannietime.com.au/">Cakes Annie Time</a>.<br />
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Before I travel anywhere I check for options on <a href="https://www.happycow.net/">Happy Cow</a> but I also scope out local hashtags like #cairnsvegan and #vegancairns to see what's new and then hopefully I can discover somewhere to add to Happy Cow. Like this place! Hopefully more vegan travellers will find it now that it's on there because this place is a gem. It's not all vegan but it has a good range of options for both drinks and cupcakes. I chose a lamington cupcake whilst Nick went with cookies and cream.These were a delight and I wished that I'd had the chance to go back for more. Another great Instagram find was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WaffleOnCairns/">Waffle on Cairns</a> a popular brunch spot that has both sweet and savoury vegan waffles on the menu. The savoury waffles weren't really an option for me as I'd have had to make a bunch of substitutions to keep my stomach happy so I went with sweet which wasn't exactly a hardship.<br />
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These coconut based waffles came with fruit, syrup, and coconut whipped cream and I was very impressed with the fruit selection. It included so many of my favourites; strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, as well as banana which is a must for waffles in my opinion. The coconut cream could have been a little better as it was a quite thick and heavy, I would have preferred something a little lighter like Isa's <a href="http://www.isachandra.com/2011/04/rad-whip/">rad whip</a>. This was a solid brunch option though and I would definitely recommend it. I love that more and more non vegan places are adding vegan options to their menus. The more options there are the easier it'll be for people to go vegan and then more 100% vegan places will appear because of demand. Bring on all of the food!<br />
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Cairns isn't a big city and I don't think that you'd need to spend more than a day exploring, we were only there for one full day and we fitted in everything we wanted to do. We found a great shop for souvenirs and things just down the street from Waffle on Cairns called <a href="http://makinwhoopeefnq.wixsite.com/gift-shop/about">Makin' Whoopee</a>. This little gift shop is cooperatively run by three friends who put on art pop ups and sell the work of over 40 local artists as well as some from further afield. I got a cute postcard and a vinyl sticker for my suitcase for when we are eventually reunited one day!<br />
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The lagoon on Cairns esplanade is a fun place to while away a few hours. There's plenty of shade and the pool is huge, free, and has great facilities including showers and a changing area. We also stumbled upon a brilliant tree full of flying foxes which isn't technically a tourist attraction but I was pretty mesmerised by it! I've never seen so many bats and I love that they've declared the trees a conservation area to make sure that nothing happens to their homes.<br />
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Lastly I loved the <a href="https://www.cairnsartgallery.com.au/">Cairns Art Gallery</a>. It was another free attraction and I thought that it was the perfect size for an afternoon wander. All of the exhibits were fascinating; ranging from a photography exhibit chronicling Australia's frontier wars, to the examination of narratives of the Pacific Islands as paradise and the life of islanders in relation to slavery and the sugar cane industry. I didn't take any pictures of those exhibits but I snapped some shots of the gorgeous textile pieces in the Lei It On show which focussed on the contemporary lei and body art of the Torres Strait Islanders.<br />
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They're so beautiful. Each piece was collaboratively made and had so many different meanings and memories sewn into it. The whole museum was fascinating. I love it when I can learn something from art, those are the pieces that tend to stick with me rather than the exhibits that were only aesthetically pleasing. Nick and I chatted about art (and bats!) over matcha lattes and tasty raw desserts at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pineapplecafecairns/">Pineapple Cafe</a> before heading back to the hostel to grab our backpacks and catch our flight to Bali.<br />
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We've been having an amazing time exploring Bali, Lombok, and the Gili Islands so stay tuned for more travel fun coming your way on Friday. Have you had any disappointing vegan catering experiences recently? Commiserate with me in the comments!vegan.in.brightonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08022017381983993283noreply@blogger.com6