If you don't already know, I am vegan, meaning that I don't eat anything that comes from an animal. A lot of people who first find this out about me are very apologetic and act as if I am torturing myself in order to save a few animals. WRONG. I love being vegan. It is so much fun and I absolutely love when I find cafes and restaurants that are very supportive of the food that I choose to put in my body. Before coming to Australia I made a list of vegan/vegan-friendly cafes/restaurants to check out. When I was in Sydney last weekend I got the chance to go to 5 of the cafes/restaurants on my list. You don't even understand how excited I was. So, I thought that it would be helpful and just as exciting to make a post for my fellow vegans out there, or just anyone in general who loves a plant based meal once in a while.

The first cafe I went to was Speedo's Cafe in North Bondi. If you read my post last week about my trip to Bondi I briefly talked about how amazing it was. Speedo's isn't a fully vegan cafe but it has tons of options so if you are out in Bondi looking for a place that serves all types of eaters I would definitely recommend it. I ordered the Coconut Chia Pot which is pictured below. It was cocowhip (the love of my life) on top of granola, watermelon, strawberries, and chia pudding. SO GOOD. The best part about cocowhip is that it is literally just made from coconut water. That means no dairy, no preservatives, no refined sugar. Basically it's healthy, vegan and SO YUMMY. What more could you ask for?

I want like 10 more right this second

My next stop was Funky Pies which is also in Bondi. If you are from Australia or know about Australian culture, you'll know that meat pies are a huge deal down here. As a vegan, I can't really partake in the meat pie culture. Funky Pies is a completely vegan pie cafe in Bondi which made me so excited. I grew up eating meat pies on my trips to Australia before going vegan, so I was extremely happy to come across this cafe. I ordered the "No Wurry Curry" pie and it was excellent. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of it, but it was yummy and cute and I ate it very quickly.

Later that night my friend Jackie and I wanted to find a place to have dinner and drinks. She isn't vegan but is very supportive of my eating choices. We went to Bodhi in the Park, a vegan yum cha restaurant/bar right in Hyde Park. It was such a cool environment. There were lights through all of the trees and people literally dancing with fire. It was really cool. I've never been to a vegan restaurant that also doubles as a bar so that was really exciting. There was the option to order small, shareable meals or larger, single meals. We went for the share plates and each had a cocktail as well. I totally recommend going to Bodhi with a group of friends for a drink or two (maybe just one cause they are on the pricy side), and some tasty vegan yum cha.

I am so obsessed with tree lights I was way too excited

Soooooo much good food

The next day I went to Henley's Wholefoods in Alexandria. Again, not a fully vegan cafe, but extremely vegan friendly. I had a large salad plate with two salads; a vegan kale caesar salad and a roasted carrot salad. I haven't had caesar salad for about two years so I was super excited to finally find one that was totally vegan. If you can't already tell... I get excited about pretty much all vegan food. I love it. Henley's Wholefoods is in a really cute location. I would definitely recommend going on a nice, sunny day because there is tons of outdoor seating and it's just a really awesome environment. Again, I didn't take any pictures. I am very sorry. They also serve cocowhip but I had to skip out on it because I was keen for the next vegan spot, Gelato Blue.

Gelato Blue is, if you can't already tell, a gelato parlour in Newtown. Newtown is known as vegan heaven in Sydney and I can definitely confirm that this is true. Half of my list of vegan spots is in Newtown so I can assure you that I will be back to cross more off. It is also the home of Sadhana kitchen from my previous post where I tried cocowhip for the first time. A very special place in my heart. Anyways, back to Gelato Blue. This gelato parlour has TONS of vegan desserts, including donuts(!!!!). Honestly check them out on Instagram. I go through their feed once a day because everything looks AMAZING. Unfortunately, they were sold out of donuts when I went, but that just means I will have to go back again. There are non-vegan versions of everything as well so everyone can be happy. But, the vegan ones are probably just as good, if not better, so it wouldn't even be a problem if it was all fully vegan. Since I couldn't get a donut, I went for the gelato and got Salted Peanut Butter Gelato with Caramel Popcorn on top... yeah. Amazing. Honestly the best thing I have ever tasted.

UGH I WANT MORE

Hopefully you took some notes and are ready to go on a vegan marathon in Sydney. If you have any recommendations of vegan cafes or restaurants in Sydney (or the rest of Australia for that matter) please let me know and I will add them to my list. I am so excited to try more. Vegan food is my best friend.

As it is currently pouring rain and has been for 24 hours straight I am going to take the time to reflect on my wonderful Saturday spent at Bondi Beach. This past weekend I ventured two hours north to my favourite city, Sydney. I had never been to Bondi Beach before, so I decided that I would spend the day exploring. If you aren't familiar with the layout of Sydney, Bondi is on the east coast of Sydney and is one of the main beaches in the city. If you are ever in Sydney and it's a nice day out - head to Bondi. Although I am more of a fan of empty beaches where I can lay out and tan without a single person disturbing me, I totally fell in love with it. If you're looking for a relaxing beach I would recommend somewhere on the south coast rather than a city beach. But, if you want to hang out with friends in a beach town, then Bondi is the place for you. The entire environment was absolutely amazing. I felt like I had escaped into summer vacation mode which is my absolute favourite mode to be in. Did I mention that it's still winter here and it was 27 degrees Celsius. Yeah. I really am loving my life right now.

Me loving life in Bondi

I met up with my friend Olivia who I met through Twitter 4 years ago. This was our first time meeting in real life and it was just like two old friends meeting up. I love internet friends. We started our day off at Speedo's Cafe at North Bondi. It was packed full of beach goers and people who just wanted to embrace a beautiful sunny day. We were lucky enough to sit outside where we got an amazing view of the beach. Of course, the cafe had cocowhip and of course, that is what I had for lunch. Will talk more about the cocowhip and Speedo's Cafe in an upcoming post. (All I will tell you was that it was SO GOOD. But that is probably obvious).

We then took a walk down the boardwalk admiring all of the murals. You have no idea how badly I wish I had artistic skills. We actually saw some people painting a new one which was so cool. I can't wait to go back later this summer to see the finished product. I am such tourist everywhere I go so I was taking pictures of absolutely everything. I get so giddy and childlike whenever I'm near the ocean so my camera roll was getting filled fast.

If I had a beard this mural would be the story of my life. Pretend it says hair.

This one got me super excited because I absolutely love dogs. So much.

Something that we didn't do was go through all of the shops on the main stretch. We went into two but ran out of time as we had to head back to Bondi Junction because Olivia had to catch the train. So I will definitely be back to Bondi the next chance I get and will take a look at all of the cute boutiques. Beach areas are my favourite because they have so many little shops and little shops are my favourite too. I think I'm defeating the definition of my favourite by saying that everything is. Anyways, moral of the story is that I love Bondi and I want to go back asap. I need the rain to go away because the beach lifestyle is the life for me.

Can i live in one of those flats? Please?

Let me know if you have any recommendations of new places to explore in Sydney! I've done most of the tourist things already but would love to see more of it from a local perspective.

This post is a little different from normal, but I thought I should start sharing some of the things that I've learned and am learning about myself through this experience. Moving to Australia so far has really opened my eyes to different aspects of my life that I thought I had already figured out. I’ve had a lot of time to myself over the last month as I’m still in the process of adjusting to this new environment and making friends. Something that I have realized is that my perspective on marriage is totally different to what I always thought it was. Before I moved, literally every single person was telling me how excited they were for me and that I was going to find an Australian husband and live happily ever after. I’m not going to lie; I was thinking the exact same thoughts. But I’m just realizing that it really isn’t my focus. I literally just had a meeting with a financial counselor at my uni and the first question she asked me was: “Why did you move to Australia? Did you get married to an Aussie?” Why is it so incredibly crazy that I moved for my own personal reasons (aka I was too cold in Canada and had to get closer to the beach)? I admit that a lot of my life has been focused on the final goal of getting married one day. I really have never had a boyfriend for the sole reason that I wanted to move to Australia and I didn’t want anyone holding me back. When I got to Australia I was like, well I’m here now I guess it’s time for me to find a husband.  But, after developing a better understanding of myself, it’s definitely not the most important thing right now.

Growing up, I always wanted to get married. It was always my top priority. I used to tell myself that if I wasn’t married by the time I was 30, there was something wrong with me and that I would be a total failure. Until recently, that is exactly how I felt, and to be perfectly honest there is still that nagging voice in my head telling me that it’s true. But, being on my own and trying to figure out my own life for the last month has really taught me that I am good on my own. I have developed, or simply just discovered, this whole level of confidence that I didn’t know I had. Although I still am incredibly socially anxious and nervous a lot of the time, the confidence is in there, I just don’t exactly know how to express it.  

Right now, I am doing really well. I do miss my friends and family and do feel a bit lonely at times, but I am happy. It’s so funny how people seem to view marriage as happiness. Like if I were to get married tomorrow it would be seen as me finally finding my happiness. Why can’t being on my own indicate happiness? I have really developed a friendship with myself, which may sound a bit strange, but I get on well with myself. Something that I’ve discovered is that I don’t need a man in my life. I have my own schedule, my own plans for myself and I really like the way that things are going. I’m sure if I met someone that fit into my life and made it even better, then I would be totally open to it. For now though, I am a confident in my singleness (is that even a word? Microsoft Word didn’t underline it so I’m going to go with yes).

Just a little affirmation from Carrie Bradshaw

It’s so crazy how social constructs control our lives. The literal only reason that I wouldn’t feel confident about not getting married is that I would worry about what others would think. I am completely and totally fine with the idea of being single for the rest of my life. I just wouldn’t want others to look at me as some sort of failure. People tend to look down on women who never marry as failures and blame them – what’s wrong with her? Why doesn’t anybody love her? But people never question her intentions. What if she actually chose to be single? What a shocking concept. I also never want to be someone who settles. I don’t want to eventually marry someone because I feel that I need to in order to please an audience. I am realizing how important it is to live my life for myself. I need to forget about what society wants and focus on what I want. I’m not saying that I’m never going to get married and that I don’t want to. I’m just saying that it isn’t the end of the world if I don’t. Yeah I have dreams about having a husband and kids one day, but I mean if I never find the person that compliments my life perfectly, what’s the point?

            At the moment, the most important thing to me is furthering my own life. I’m focused on finishing my degree, finding an internship, getting a job, etc. There are so many things that I need to do for myself before I have to focus my time on another person. Who decided in the first place that there is a set age for marriage? Even if I were 100% like I absolutely need to get married, I would not want it to be anytime soon. I am still a child (I’m 20, but same thing) I am not prepared to commit the rest of my life to another person.  I just want to have fun, figure my own life out and the rest will just have to happen as it happens. I’m not going to force myself into relationships to please everyone else around me. It’s my life, and the choices that I make are for myself, and myself only.

I've been in Australia for almost a whole month now... how crazy is that?! I am absolutely loving it here. I just started at my new uni last week and I love that as well. I know it is going to get a bit hectic and stressful soon, but it would be the same if I were still in Canada. At least here I can go to the beach in between assignments. It is a bit "cold" at this time of year (coldest it has been so far during the day is 12 degrees Celsius.. and that's like extreme cold here), but it's really not bad at all. I've already been to the beach twice and it's the middle of winter. I mean I'm used to negative temperature for 3 (or more) months straight. I think I'll survive this "chilly" time of year.

It's literally the middle of winter. What is my life?

I definitely miss everyone back home, but I know for sure that I made the right choice moving here. I have been genuinely happy every single day. There is no sense of regret at all and I am just so glad that this is all working out. 

After I arrived I had a with chat Giftbuzz about my move. You can read it here. Giftbuzz is a website where you can make wish lists for any occasion. Clearly one of my top wishes in life was moving to Australia, and although it isn't a tangible wish,  I still really like the idea of creating lists and putting your wishes out there. There is so much power in spoken word that if you truly want something you have to make it known. 

I know this has been a super brief post, but I will definitely be on here more once I start exploring the country and doing exciting things. But for now it is time to read a textbook and do my uni work (or watch Netflix while i neglect my uni work)... 

So I have been in Australia for just over a week now, and I have already crossed one thing off of my bucket list... COCOWHIP! You guys... if you are ever in Australia, look up cafes that serve Cocowhip because it honestly changed my life. It was amazing. It's vegan soft serve made from coconut water and it's not even bad for you. How much better can it get?

Salted Caramel Cocowhip

On Thursday my Aunt and I went on a little trip to Sydney to attend a raw vegan cooking workshop at Sadhana Kitchen. The workshop itself was amazing. It was so inspiring. The owner of Sadhana Kitchen, Maz, was so knowledgeable and passionate about what she does. It was so great to learn more about the way that I eat, to encourage me to keep going in the direction that I'm headed. My Aunt also learned a lot, and it opened her eyes to vegan eating, and some of the reasons that people choose to eat this way. Everything we learned cleared up any misconceptions about the nutritional value of a vegan diet. I really wish I was filming it so that I could send it to everyone who asks me if I get enough protein.

Of course, before attending the workshop, we had to try Cocowhip. Sadhana Kitchen offers three different sundaes... Tim Tam, Wagon Wheel, and Salted Caramel. We both went for the Salted Caramel and I am so happy about that decision. It's crazy because you would think a salted caramel sundae has to be super unhealthy, but it wasn't at all. The caramel sauce was made out of superfoods, and the caramel slice on top was fully raw, made from all natural ingredients and no refined sugars. It is so much easier than we all think to find nourishing foods that will meet our sweet, sugary cravings.

I also ate 3 meals at Sadhana... Vegan Lasagne, Vegan Eggs Benedict (made with avocados instead of eggs), and a Coconut Curry. Everything was delicious and it was all packed with nutrients so I didn't have to feel guilty about anything that I ate. I always get so excited at vegan restaurants because there is so much to choose from, rather than a menu at a regular restaurant where there are usually only one or two options.

Avo Benedict with Coconut Bacon

I am literally so obsessed with Sadhana Kitchen, I will definitely be going back to try everything else on the menu. Also going to travel Australia just to try every flavour of Cocowhip that the different cafes offer. If you are ever in Sydney, whether you're vegan or not, I really recommend that you check out Sadhana Kitchen.

Just a disclaimer before I start I'm writing this quickly between flights as I am literally on my way to Australia right now so if there are any grammatical errors or the writing just sounds really bad... I am so sorry. 

I have lived 10 minutes outside of Toronto my entire life, and I have truly loved living there. It really is one of my favourite places in the world, and I really wish it was hot all year round so that I could stand living there forever. But, unfortunately the Canadian climate just does not agree with me, and it is time for me to go somewhere that doesn't experience negative temperatures very often (or ever). After deciding to move to Australia, I realized that there was a lot of Toronto that I had never seen before. So, I dedicated my last few months in Toronto to exploring the city as a tourist would. My mom decided to join me on most of these excursions, as she wanted to spend time with me and explore the city as well. 

Earlier in the Spring my friend, Ko, invited me to do the edge walk at the CN Tower for free. It's normally really expensive so this was such an awesome opportunity, I couldn't say no. It was so cool. Like I probably wouldn't ever pay to do it but it was a really amazing experience. I could literally see all of Toronto from the highest point in the city, and I was outside, on the edge of the CN Tower. I was definitely apprehensive at first, and it was quite cold and windy which added to my nerves and apprehension, but I am so glad that I did it. I know that I will never get an opportunity like that again. It's also awesome cause they film the whole thing so you get to watch yourself scared out of your mind as you lean over the edge of what once was the tallest building in the world. 

The first thing that my mom and I did together was a city sightseeing tour. It was so interesting to learn about history of the city that I had never known. It also gave us the chance to see many different spots in the city that we wouldn't normally have gone to before. I really love sightseeing tours, and I think it's so important to do them in your own city. We are all so used to living where we live without seeing it from the perspective of a tourist. The tourist perspective made me appreciate Toronto so much more. 

The ticket to the sightseeing tour also gave us the opportunity to take a tour on the Toronto harbour. I will admit, it wasn't the warmest day, and the harbour cruise was super windy and cold. But, it was my first time ever taking a boat onto the harbour, through the Toronto islands. It's a whole side of Toronto that I had never seen before. I also loved being able to take a picture of the classic Toronto skyline shot. I'm definitely gonna make my own postcards with it. 

While we were on the tour, we drove through old Toronto where the St Lawrence market is located. I realized that I hadn't been there since I was about 8 on a class field trip. So a few weeks later my mom and I took a little trip to the market. I love markets. I love the local feel of them. Everyone just seems so happy and appreciative of the town or city that they are in. Literally right when we walked into the market there was a stand for vegan strudel. I was so excited. So naturally my mom bought a massive wild blueberry vegan strudel for me and over the course of the next week I ate all of it without a single regret. 

I love Toronto, and am going to miss it so much. My entire life has been there and it really is hard to say goodbye. But I know that my heart is in Australia and I would regret it forever if I let this opportunity pass me by. Who knows, I could move back to Toronto one day... once winter disappears forever.

I have never moved from one country to another before, so I am clearly not an expert on the topic. The furthest I have moved was literally to University an hour away... so I mean this is a whole new experience. But as I go along, preparing myself for the move (less than 2 weeks to go!!!!), I have come up with a few good tips on what to do as you prepare to move. I know it's not really the most common thing to look up tips for, but if you ever do find yourself moving from one country to another, I hope this can help.

1. Use up any health care/benefits you have.
If you are lucky enough to live in Canada, use up as much free health care as you possibly can. You really don't want to get to a different country without free health care and have to make a simple appointment that you could've had for free. Also if you have benefits of any sort, use them!! In the last few weeks I have had my wisdom teeth removed, I got new glasses and I've filled basically every prescription that I have ever had prescribed to me. And the government covered all of it. Bless the Canadian government.

2. Stock up on your favourite products.
It is very likely that the country you are moving to will not have the same products that you love in your home country, or they will just be more expensive where you're moving to. I know for a fact that drug store make up is like double the price in Australia, which means I am going to go on a shopping spree at Shoppers before I go. That brings me to number 3..

3. Redeem all of your rewards points.
If you have rewards points with any stores that don't exist in the country that you're moving to, redeem them!! As I said before, I am going to go on a shopping spree at Shoppers, and I am going to use all of my Optimum points to do it. Don't waste free money!

4. Plan get togethers with your friends and family.
As much as I said that I would take the time to see every single one of my friends and family members before leaving, I really have not had the time. So, I decided to plan get togethers with all of them at once so that I won't miss saying goodbye to anyone, and I don't have to panic over not having enough time. Leaving my friends and family is the hardest thing about this transition in my life, and I want to make sure that I get the chance to see every one of them before I go.

5. Renew all important government documents.
I have been at more government offices in the last two months than I have in my whole life. I have had to renew my driver's license, health card, and passport. It is so important to make sure you get all of these things renewed because you really don't want them to expire while you're in a different country. Also, it makes it easier for you to get new documents in the country that you're moving to. Do research as well to find out what documents you qualify for in the new country. Australia is awesome and will let me get my full driver's license automatically because I have my full Canadian license.

6. Work and save as much as you can.
I have no idea where or when I am going to work when I get to Australia, so I have been working as much as possible to save as much as possible for when I get there. This is the main reason that I haven't had the time to see my friends and family as much as I would like, but it is really important to have money so that I can survive when I get to Australia.

7. Explore your city.
My mom and I have been going on a bunch of little day trips to different parts of Toronto in the last few weeks. I have lived just outside of the city my entire life, but there is so much of it that I haven't seen. It is so awesome to explore your own city as a tourist. When you live somewhere, you don't see as much of it as someone who has come to visit it. I have learned a lot about Toronto and have seen parts of it that I had never seen before.

8. Pack ahead of time.
Okay.. this is something that I haven't even started yet, and this is why I am putting it on the list. People have been asking me for the last two months if I've started packing yet, which I always laughed at and thought, "I have so much time what are you talking about." Well, time has come and gone, and I am leaving in 2 weeks and have not even thought about how/what I am going to pack. So, as a person who is currently freaking out about how/what I'm going to pack... get started early and you will be cool, calm, and collected in your last weeks at home.

This can be a really stressful time. I am currently feeling every single emotion as the days creep by and my departure date gets closer and closer. I know that at the bottom of my heart this is 100% what I want to do, but obviously I am starting to feel apprehensive and sad about leaving the country I have lived in my whole life. I have been reassured that it is so normal to feel like this. I just need to remind myself that yes, I am going to be homesick, I am going to be sad, but this is just a new chapter of my life and I just have to take it on day by day. I just have to remember how so incredibly excited and happy I am, and how proud of myself that I am that I'm actually doing this. Less than two weeks to go!!! I really can't believe it.