Wake up, you're in Sydney!

Well, we made it. We've been here for four days, exploring this exciting new city.

Now the next step: adapting to Sydney life.

Acclimatising ourselves to the hotter temperature, getting our bearings on the city, and setting things up to move into our new apartment this weekend. So far, everything is going smoothly.

Taken during my first morning run in Sydney.

But one thing that is requiring a bit more of an adjustment: getting used to the coffee.

We've been pretty busy since we got here, so our morning coffee fix has been absolutely essential. But the coffee here is different to what we are used to - and, so far, decidedly worse.

For starters, milky coffee is made with only one shot of espresso. And one shot of coffee doesn't really count if you ask me.

Truth be told, I wouldn't get out of bed for a one-shot coffee.

So if you want something resembling a caffeinated beverage, you have to ask for your latte or flat white 'strong', and it will cost a little extra. 

A long black will have two shots of espresso, as you would typically expect. But beware of black coffee. Like I said, the coffee here is worse than in New Zealand. And black coffee is completely unforgiving. On Sunday, I had a long black that made me want to gouge out my own tongue to make the badness stop. 

So white coffee it is. 

Thankfully for me, almond milk is really common here, more common than in New Zealand. And you'll find lactose free milk offered in a lot of cafes, too. Some cafes use a really delicious almond milk, designed for making smooth and silky coffee - Almond Breeze barista blend. To give Aussie some credit where it is due, it is much better than any of the almond milk I've had in New Zealand cafes.

On our travels so far, we have found two places that produce quality coffee on par with Wellington and that also provide decent almond milk.

Two black sheep - Sydney CBD

This award-winning wee gem is two minutes from our hotel on Pitt St in an underground complex. Its central location is easy to access for travellers and workers, and it is frequented by lots of busy commuters on their way from Town Hall station. Along with tasty coffee, gluten-free snacks are also available. 

Rogue - Surry Hills

The best coffee I have had in Australia, hands down. And perhaps one of the reasons we fell in love with Surry Hills from the outset - we move into an apartment there this weekend. The gluten-free food here is also spectacular (more on that another day), making Rogue a strong contender for our new weekend brunching favourite.

We are still exploring the city and I'm sure we will find more good coffee, especially once we start work. No one demands good - and plentiful - coffee like government employees. 

But these delicious options are a great place to start. 

The best coffee I've had in Sydney - Rogue, Surry Hills.

This gluten-free foodie's pre-travel checklist

Moving city calls for a lot of life admin. It's a logistical test that has challenged even this spreadsheet-loving planning enthusiast. 

Lists. So many lists.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ross and I are moving to Sydney for two-year secondments. We have spent the last week packing our belongings, moving out of our apartment, finishing up at work, saying goodbyes, flying across the ditch, and acquainting ourselves with a new city. 

Of course, we are super excited about our Sydney adventure. But there are lots of things about New Zealand that we will miss. The people, for sure. Plus there are a lot of things about living in Wellington that we we are sad to leave behind, too.

This photo was taken during my last run along the Wellington waterfront. 

One thing that we will miss about Wellington is the food, not to mention the coffee. And this is hardly surprising, given my prolific blogging about it. 

So, to make sure we experienced all of our favourites before leaving, we have been working through our gluten-free foodie pre-travel checklist - arguably the most important list of them all. And being homeless after we handed over our keys means we have had the perfect excuse to do it.

Ross and Liz's pre-travel checklist - gluten-free eats in Wellington

1. Dinner at Long Xiang. This was so good we did it two nights in a row.
2. Cocktails at Alice for a last strawberry doddle (avoiding the biscuit sticks).
3. A visit to Capital Market for delicious Korean food and treats from Miss Kangsta's gluten-free bakery. The chocolate chip cookies are my favourite; Ross goes gaga over the strawberry and cream cheesecake. 
4. Weekday breakfast at Mixed Business for top-notch gluten-free bread and hash browns.
5. Dinner at Great India for the best onion bhajia in town.
6. One last lunch at Pita Pit - my number one low-FODMAP lunch option. 
7. A celebratory dinner at Royal Thai on our last night in Wellington.
8. Followed by decadent gluten-free desserts at Library. 
9. Breakfast at Ti Kouka, eating from their exciting low-FODMAP menu.
10. Lunch at Neo, where they serve buckwheat pancakes made of happiness and dreams.  

Our last night in Wellington, celebrated at Royal Thai.

Caramel-peanut popcorn and vanilla bean sundae from Library.

Buckwheat pancakes from Neo, served with banana, greek yogurt, and cinnamon-crusted almonds.

As I'm sure you can imagine, we had a lot of fun sampling these goodies before flying out. 

And now that we have arrived in Sydney, the eating out continues - and so too do the logistics. 

We are having lots of great adventures over here and we have found some mind-blowing gluten-free options, too (although, I'm not going to lie, I'm starting to crave meat and three veg - emphasis on the veg). 

But then that's a post for next time... 

Our descent into Sydney.