Im in to the Sanitarium Sausages (NOT the canned ones though!!!)

Canned... sausages...?!

Just the thought causes taste failure on a massive level...

G'day g'day... Melbournian here! Anyone else think Vincent (of Vincent's Vegetarian Food) is a god?

Hello (or should that be g'day?) All.

Currently travelling a bit around Australia, been in Sydney for a few weeks now, also went to Katoomba for a few days, that place was so vegan friendly. I leave on Wednesday for Melboune. Anyway just wondering if any of you have have cheap vegan recomendations for me in Sydney/Melbourne? Also anyone know if there are there any brands of vegan margarine that are widely avalible? Or other yummy vegan foods i should try before i head off to NZ?

Murrumbateman. NSW.
(errrr, thats just out side the ACT. think between Canberra and Yass.)

Anything happerning downunder?

Whoa, small world. I lived in Murrumbateman for 6 years. But that was 8 years ago (wow, that long??) Now I'm in the 'big smoke'. ;)

Hi all!

Seems like Australia is very vegan-friendly? I travelled already longer through US where it was so in supermarkets and especially in restaurants near universities. so was my experience, i dont want to say, US wouldnt be vegan-friendly, in opposite to germany its already paradise :surprised

And through the carebbean three months was a little more difficult for vegan, but very tasteful for rawfood- though the smaller an island is there, they must import more which then is very expensive. I had bought there the most expensive pineapple of life for 21 EC-Dollar (eastcarebbean dollar, divide through 2,67 and you have the US Dollarprice...)

Now for this winter i would have last chance for a travel+work permission to visit australia, what is available for people up to 30 years of age. And i have already looked, there are organisations who are like agencies for seasonal work, where i could get help to find jobs for that time. (but do i need that? I must bring 5000 Australian dollar to come there and isnt that enough for some months?? )

But this year i am in a horrible twist, as in october another healers school would start for three years for a new, relatively unknown way of healing. So now i am thinking here and there- the school also starts next year october again, and its the last year of getting that visum - but on the other hand, australia is a continent which will get not feet to runaway from the planet, so even when its more difficult concerning visum, i can still visit it in 3 years...


confused, dolores

So, hi,

decision is taken- it fell for Australia. As it´ll be never that easy to get the work+travel Visum i will take this chance and start that school a year later. Finally i am already 30, so it doesn´t matter anymore whether i finish all educational things i want with 33 or 34...:tired:

I was recommended Cairns very much, but read now in a guide, that it´s a total tourists place- what i don´t like too much. Can anyone tell me "live" how it is there? Or would be Port Douglas better or "the other side" of the tropic north, like Darwin? I´d like to go to tropical or at least subtropical area because if i´d love winter too much or any big seasons change at all, i can stay where i am. :nigel: On the other hand, i think i must try to find work in a hotel, whether for massages or service, cause thats the only thing i can whats worth anything for international jobs (not according to german law or taxsystem)

love, dolores

My Australia Trip
7/2006

http://community.webshots.com/album/552414500xcvTmu

Hi!

Thanks so far!
How is it to travel in Australia, is flying, e.g with Virgin air easy and cheap, or better by trains? When i stay there so long, i´d like to do some trips over the continent.... *dream* :-)

love, dolores

Interstate trains tend to be more expensive than flights now. Jetstar always has sales in the middle of the day, I think Virgin Blue does too.

land transport is very expensive by distance,
strange that i don't see many cyclists on the road.

Hi!

When i stay there so long, i´d like to do some trips over the continent.... *dream* :-)

love, dolores

Have a look at my friend's site. It has panoramic views of NSW, Victoria ( where we live) and Tasmania. Enjoy!
http://www.daviddyson.com.au/index.html

hey there im in aus too.
its awesome that we can all get together and help the animals!

Hi!

So many thanks so far. I try now to get not too excited as i still must wait until january... I hope i know now all what i need for the start and the rest will fall in its place when i am actually there.
Do you have meetings of vegetarian groups anywhere? Like we have this once a month each different "group" (like the rawfoodists meet, the vegetarians, the vegans, the animal rights groups or the keepers of special pets like the dog-adopters etc) in a special vegetarian restaurant. That would be nice to make there contacts with people where i at least know there is one common interest. I am still little nervous of knowing i´ll be -for me- "on the other side of the planet" alone... Okay, i know as soon as being there i´ll go out and it´ll turn out to be easy to make friends but the time before i am always wondering "how will it be,will you feel lonely, will the people there like you, will you get along with their mentality" and all that.

Ah its soooo exciting! Such a big nervousity before anything starts!

love, dolores

I was recommended Cairns very much, but read now in a guide, that it´s a total tourists place- what i don´t like too much. Can anyone tell me "live" how it is there? Or would be Port Douglas better or "the other side" of the tropic north, like Darwin?

Hi, dolores. I can tell you 'live' something about Cairns. Being one that doesn't like a tourists' place but anyway moved here last year and even bought a house near Cairns. It's true there are plenty of tourists here but fortunately they are not everywhere. There is just the city centre and specific tourist resorts where they are spending their time. Most of us local people don't see them too often, maybe only in the morning traffic. What I want to tell is that don't believe too much what you read in tourists guides. There is the tourist world but on the other thand there is the local life that is completely different world. What I like in Cairns most is the nature around the town, the hills, mountains and rainforests, rivers, lakes and the sea. It's raining here quite frequently so it's green everywhere. And the climate. At first it felt a bit too hot but after a few months you'll get used to it and don't even want to visit places where the temperature goes below +15. I am originally from Scandinavia where the temperature went way below zero in the winter.

If you miss a bit cooler places it's easy to get to the Tablelands area. There is a lovely small village with people supporting alternative lifestyles. It's called Kuranda (http://www.kuranda.org). It's only 17 kilometers from Cairns up in the mountains. You can take a scenic train or a cable car to go there. I definitely would love to move to Kuranda if ti would be more aaccessible or I wouldn't have to travel to the town for work.

About social activites of veg*ns, animal rights activists etc. In cairns we don't have much activites like that. Sometimes we have tried but, well it's not easy always. As I know most of us just are practising our veg*isms by ourselves. Fine with me too. Not taking too much pressure getting organised. Though having personal veg* friends would be nice sometimes.

Hmmm.. Did I actually answer any of your questions? If not and/or you want to hear more just ask. Anyway, the best of luck in your efforts in Australia.

Hi!

Wow buckhead, that was a nice "look into" what you ´ve given me! Well as originally german the last winters here have tortured me with temperatures below -15 degrees -- a kind a humid cold which slowly goes through the nose and ears into your bones and once in there seemingly never wants to leave you... but i am one of those who easily can stand desert heat, humid tropical heat- main thing is that its heat at all. have you temperatures in Celsius there or Fahrenheit?
15 is not so warm...

Well, the organized things are not so mine also, but i love it to sit like once a month or so together in a special vegan or vegetarian restaurant and change experiences and feel the support. grown up in a omnivores family and living in a region where they hide meat in noodle-mass on fridays (yes, on top "strong" catholics...) i feel a little bit alone sometimes...

So i would love to keep contact with you to maybe meet up there, when i come :D

love, dolores

Hallo, dolores,
Ich bin aus Finnland und ich habe Deutsch im Schule gelernt, aber jetzt habe alles vergessen :D

I know very well what you mean when describing your winters. It makes be freeze up here. :sick: They measure temperatures here in Celsius like in Europe. +12 has been the coldest winter night temperature. It feels freezing cold to me as +15 too but fortunately it doesn't happen too often. Most of the time temperatures are above +20. Even at night. And even Cairns is by the sea, there is not that cold sea-wind. Daytime temperatures are mostly over +25 even in Winters. Only very rarely they go above +40. Lovely climate for me to live indeed Me too love the hot. Thouh still miss my sauna to get sometimes a bit hotter :D

There are not special veg*n restaurants here. Oh, actually, one is, Hare Krishna maintains Gaura Nitai. Whenever I eat in a restaurant I have to go to a place that gaters for omnis too. That's not a big problem for me because I rather cook and eat at home. Though at home there is meat as well because my wife and animals eat it. I just try to maintain peace of my mind in the middle of all that. Not very difficult. I just go away when she cooks. Though she isn't trying to hide any meat in my food but respects my decision.

Sure, we can keep in touch and meet up when you're here if you want to.
Before that if you got any more questions, I would be happy trying to answer.

Hallo Buckweat,

ich wußte gar nicht, dass ihr in Finnland deutsch in der Schule lernt! Ich bin beeindruckt!

Seems like i still need another holiday place for the times with the 12-15 degrees to escape that. And oh yes, the saunas...i love it. From september to april here i go all weekend and so i can say "once a week no cold feet for some hours".... ;)

Thats nice to have a partner who is so tolerant what concerns eating- i know some sooo intolerant people around here, that they would rather break up before trying to find a compromise. Well, my dog is also vegan, but cats i would never raise like this- i think its according to their best what you can feed them. But luckily a dog can be vegan without problems. (In the opposite, was able to leave away renal pills after some months. I got him when he was 7 already and had diverse diseases.

So, well, don´t worry i won´t be shy to ask whenever questions arrive in my head, but at the moment at first i must sort those informations i found already...thats so much new things!


love, dolores

Hey, im a newbie and an aussie! aussie aussie aussie! oi oi oi! btw, is anyone else sick of those "eat lamb on Australia day. Its Australian" adds?

hey im a newbie and aussie! (to be exact, a sydneysider). btw, is any1 else sick of those "eating lamb is Australian" adds?

wah! i posted twice! srry.

Hey I live in oz too :)

yay! best country in the world! so pretty, so many beautiful animals you cant find anywhere else!

Hi!

I am a little desparate now, can anyone help please:
When i come with the working holiday immigration permission, i have the impression, they want those people help with harvest or in environmental or humanitarian help projects.
But i have two other things in mind, whether in gastronomy service, wellness massages, which would be both in a hotel, or the alternative healing which would be in a clinic.

For the second i need a health test and a complete x-ray which i would have to pay here myself which costs some hundred euro- so now wheres the difference in wages, is that still profitable then? Because when i can get only like 100 Euro more a month (about 250 AUD) in a health job, the health test is not rentable and so i stay in the gastronomical part. Only when the difference is bigger, because i won´t stay the whole 12 months, only like 3-6. I had once a link to a wage-comparing homepage of australia but i don´t find it again...


love, dolores

So, found out what i needed to know. :-) Thanks for those who helped me here and so: hopefully i can meet the one or other when i am downunder :-)

love, dolores