AUSTRALIA
Welcome to the land down under! Australia is a BIG place. Its actually about the same size (bigger minus Alaska) as the USA so travel from city to city contains large jumps with not much in between.
Air: New Zealand Air or Qantas – You typically depart from L0s Angeles at 11pm on a nonstop flight and wake up in Australia 8am… You can start your trip in Sydney or Melbourne easily, we recommend flying into one and flying out of the other since they are far apart and both connect to the USA. Soon there will be a Real Food Daily at LAX airport (Terminal 4) so you can enjoy some local vegan food before you depart if you’re not an SoCal resident. Priceline has the best deals!
Rent: Budget / Hertz – Car rental only makes sense if you are driving the Gold Coast, from Brisbane down to Sydney.
Speak: ENGLISH- watch Crocodile Dundee to get the accent down pat =)
Wear: From chic cities like Melbourne, Brisbane & Sydney to outback adventures and beach activities it can be a daunting task to pack it all!
Bring: Quikpod, Garmin nüvi
Read: Lonely Plant Australia
Watch: Baz Luhrman”s Australia ,Crocodile Dundee
Eat: Subway (veggie delight no cheese), Shake Away, Hells Pizza
DAY 1 & 2: Melbourne
If you can swing it we recommend flying into Melbourne. Your plane might actually connect through Sydney or Auckland, but starting your Australia journey here as a vegan is pretty fantastic! Melbourne is a super chic cosmopolitan city with vegan eats on every street and great shopping from local artisans.
Stay: Hotels in Melbourne are really expensive, along with the rest of Australia. We recommend you build up your Starwood Rewards and shoot for the Westin. There is free internet in the lobby and it has a very prime location. The hotel experience in Australia will leave you a bit unnerved. Over priced and under served.
Eat: Melbourne is the best vegan destination in Austrlia, if not outside of the USA in general. Just popping into random cafes around town is likely to yield vegan finds.
Veggie Bar
Baked Potato Cafe (Spud Bar?)
Trippy Taco
Lord of the Fries
TOFWD stands for The Organic Food (and) Wine Deli
Las Vegan
Mr. Natural Pizza
Shake Away
See: Melbourne is a cosmopolitan city and its more about being seen than seeing anything. Your goal is to take the trolley around town and stop at shops & vegan establishments and live as a native taking in the local culture. Adventure down alleys and to different parts of town seeking out the vegan establishments will pay off with discovering happening areas that provide loads of local culture. Also pick up some fabulous fashions and arts handmade by local artisans on Brunswick St or Chapel Street.
Getting from place to place in Melbourne: Gomaco Trolley, Walk!
Getting from Melbourne to Alice Springs/ Uluru: Airplanes! Australia is so large that air travel is the only way to get from city to city. One thing you don”t have to worry about are security lines and loosing your bottle of water. Air travel in Australia is like it online casinos was in the 80s in the USA.
DAY 3 & 4: Alice Springs (or fly into Uluru directly)
We made the foolish attempt at flying into Alice Springs and then renting a car (which all come with LIMITED MILES that don”t cover the trip to the rock and back). Alice Springs, however, was interesting in that you can witness the aborigines as they are today. Its a nice small town, all walking distance and a bit of the outback experience is why you come here. The drive from Alice Springs to Uluru is miles of the same scenery which equates to one dead kangaroo after another. We counted hundreds and crossed our fingers that we wouldn”t be joining them. IF you want to see the rock, we recommend you just fly directly in and spend one night, enough time to climb the rock (which is scared so be polite). The rock climb is not easy and you must be in tip top shape, don”t stay up too long because the winds pick up as the sun sets and can blow you right off of it.
Stay: Uluru- Sails in the Desert Hotel (total rip off! ..but only hotel in the middle of nowhere).
Alice Springs: Crowne Plaza Hotel Alice Springs
Eat: Tea Shrine
See: Aryer Rock, Aboriginal Culture
Getting from Alice Spring to Uluru: RENT from Budget! Most rental companies in Alice Springs will charge you per mile or have a mile cap so you have to be very careful. We ended up missing some sites on our road trip because of the mileage restriction. Budget rent a car did seem to be the most reasonable and trustworthy. There is a gas station between Alice Springs and Uluru with some vegan snacks. Get ready to play count the dead kangaroo on the side of the road, if was massively disturbing!
Getting from Alice Spring / Uluru to Cairns/ Great Barrier Reef: Quatnta
DAY 5 & 6:
DAY : Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef
Stay: Shangri La Hotel
Eat:
See: There are many options of boats that can take you out to the reef. We lucked upon one that had a vegan option, we packed our own lunch just in case, but it turned out to be a delightful veggie wrap. I highly suggest you bring your own goggles and snorkel because everyone spits in them and they BARELY clean them, gross!!! The reef itself is a bit of a buzz kill. You”re lucky if you aren”t hit with a million jellyfish stings. A clown fish and overly positive guides over hype the experience, a few blue star fish and a sea cucumber and you”ve seen it all.
Getting from place to place: Quantas Flight to Hamilton Island or skip to Brisbane
DAY 6 & 7 : Hamilton Island
Stay: Reef View Hotel
Eat: There is an italian restaurant that will make up what ever you desire. We enjoyed some risotto.
See: The Whitsundays (bring deet and a fly swatter), Passage Peak is a nice trail behind the hotel where you can take pictures of the Whitsundays from afar if you can survive the insane carnivorous giant flys. Windsurfing & Sailing lessons are quite delightful in the protected harbor. Check the equipment to make sure its not broken or cracked before participating.
Getting from place to place: Quantas
DAY 7 : Brisbane suffered some heavy flooding, but its a fancy town with great vegan food and a wonderful place to start your trek down the Gold Coast.
Stay:Emporium Hotel
Eat: Wagamama, Hell Pizza
See: Australia Zoo for vegans going to a zoo can be a kin to visiting a prison full of innocent inmates. The only zoo I”ve ever been to where this could be more untrue is Steve Irwins Australia Zoo. All the animals are rescues in the process of being rehabilitated for release back into the wild. Their enclosures are HUGE, you can walk among many of them and feed kangaroos and have your photo taken with Koalas.
Getting from place to place: a rental car is needed for your stay in Brisbane, you must drive up the Sunshine Coast to the Australia Zoo and then down the Gold Coast to Byron Bay and on to Sydney.
DAY 8: Gold Coast is the quintessential down under surf-side experience. The towns along the range from extravagant luxury to granola hippie.
Stay: Byron Bay
The Byron at Byron Resort and spa
Eat: Soy Ice Cream & Shakes in Byron Bay
See:
This Australian beach town, just south of Brisbane, is a much loved surfing and snorkeling center. This former New South Wales whaling station turned tourist town is still strongly influenced by its more recent bohemian past, when hippie lifestyles flourished. Bongos and didgeridoos sound in parks, sarongs and dreadlocks are sported and vegetarian restaurants abound. Set foot on the most easterly point on the Australian mainland at Cape Byron Lighthouse or simply stroll between beaches and bars.
Getting from place to place: Car
DAY 9 & 10: Sydney
Stay:
Eat: Bodhi In the Park this was our go-to place in Sydney for dinner. We went here two nights in a row because its in such a good location (just opposite the park built into back side of a really cool swimming/recreational complex, thus explaining all the healthy options!!! Don”t let the rec complex fool you, its an ultra futuristic place with tons of water features and a tranquil setting in a park. Bodhi”s furnishings are very modern and sleek. You can sit outside or inside, but at night I recommend inside because the park is teaming with native wildlife! The juices are great, but since its such a nice location we also had beer and wine because they so appropriately fit with the candle lit atmosphere. The service is bar none, they”ll basically do/alter/prepare you what ever you can come up with if they have it on hand. The steamed buns are amazing, don”t miss those! Both nights we ate an off menu item of steamed asian greens with brown rice (splitting one order since it was so massive). Absolute rarity to get healthy food in such a nice setting with such friendly service!
http://www.happycow.net/australia/new_south_wales/bondi_beach/
See: The harbor bridge, oprah house, Bondi Beach (book surfing lessons with _)
Getting from place to place: bus, walk, rent a car for Bondi Beach
No Comments