TRAVEL – CLARE HOPKINS

Last week I travelled with my best friend to Byron Bay – a beachside town in New South Wales, Australia, known for it’s laid back beach & hippie culture. We purposely booked this trip over Valentines Day, as a cheeky ‘romantic’ getaway for the two of us.

I’ve traveled with friends and family to Byron many times, but this was the first time I noticed HOW DELICIOUS and diverse all the food options were.

They have everything – vegan cafes, vegetarian restaurants, chocolaterie’s, wholefood cafes, Egyptian cuisine, fancy bars, Contemporary Australian cuisine, Indian takeaway, Asian fusion, Japanese dining, pizza and pasta… the list goes on.

What I was especially amazed by was how easy it was to eat healthy. With green juices, fresh coconuts, protein balls, fresh fruit, and superfood slices, on offer all over the place, I was spoiled for choice.

Breakfast

Safya Cafe

Safya Cafe serves Egyptian inspired dishes, in a beautiful spot where the ocean breeze flows right in. We went here three times for breakfast (because I could not get enough of their avo/dukkah toast & dandelion latte), but they also do a delicious lunch and dinner menu.

Bayleaf Cafe

If you want to enjoy the contemporary Australian brunch scene, head to Bayleaf. They offer all-day brekkie options in a beach-shack setting. Think house-made bircher, corn fritter stacks, and dill/salmon eggs. The place was packed for a reason.

Lunch/Dinner

Balcony Bar & Oyster Co

$1.50 oyster specials, daily sunset happy hour, live music, and $12 Espresso Martini’s – you can’t say no. Obviously we went for the oyster deal and then finished the night with an abundance of cocktails, a King Crab Salad and Lamb/Beef Pappardelle.

Th e Mez Club

We booked this for the night of Valentine’s day and readied ourselves for a Mediterranean feast. O went all out and ordered the Share Mezze Platter (for herself..), which hosted kofte balls, hummus, pita bread, oven-roasted tomatoes, falafels and more. I went for two dishes; stuffed bell peppers (with basmati rice/whipped fetta/dukkah) and the lamb kofte balls. Safe to say both were delightful.

Dessert

Byron is known for organic/wholefood food spots that do mouth-watering raw treats like vegan strawberry cream and caramel donuts. Check out Combi and Fundies Wholefood Cafe if that’s your thing.

However, if I’m having dessert I’m always going to have chocolate or ice cream. Safe to say we had more than our fair share of In The Pink gelato that week.

They are constantly introducing eclectic flavours like strawberry chocolate fudge, Nutella caramel, Gingerbread, and Orange Sorbet. On the last night I treated myself to a double scoop of chocolate fudge and Nutella caramel.

P.s. if chocolate is your thing – be sure to check out Love Byron Bay – Crêperie & Chocolate Boutique.

Having the motivation to workout every day is tough and it’s even harder when traveling. Usually, when I’m on holiday all I want to do after a day of sight-seeing is crash on the hotel bed.

However, exercise makes me feel so good AFTER that I try to squeeze in 3-4 sessions per travelling week. Of course, there’s the excuse of not having a gym. If I don’t have a hotel gym or a gym nearby I use YouTube workouts or, if I feel like a lighter workout to get my body moving I do Tabata training.

Tabata training is a Japanese workout method that involves high intensity interval training for short periods of time, with shorter rest. There are lots of different Tabata workouts, so I created one that works my whole body:

For each set (each number), there are 5 repetitions, 20 seconds each with 10 seconds rest.

Star jumps
Push ups
Sit ups
Tricep dips
Lunges
Jumps (getting your knees to your chest)

The workout itself if quite short, which keeps me motivated to do it. It means that I can boost my heart rate and activate my muscles so that they are not complete jelly when I return home. If you want to work out for longer, you can do more reps or do the whole workout twice through.

If I am feeling like a more intense workout or I need a source of motivation I use a video I have downloaded onto my phone from Youtube.

Again this workout doesn’t require any equipment, which is essential because who wants to fill up their suitcase with 10kg of weights.

I know that sometimes it does get really tough to exercise on holiday but once you get into a rhythm you’ll feel so good!

Category: TRAVEL