Shiba

Hi, I haven't read through this entire thread yet, though I will.  What prompts me to come here is that my husband has talked for decades about wanting to see Australia and New Zealand, but we haven't been able to because he gets only two weeks vacation time and he thinks it would take way longer than that.

He is retiring effective March 1 of next year and I found a four week vacation package that looks ideal for what he would want to see.  I can tell he likes it but he is concerned I won't be able to find anything to eat.  (A river cruise in Europe last summer was problemmatic -- they could handle gluten-free, they could handle vegetarian: they couldn't handle the two things together and vegan threw them for a complete loop.)

I don't want to be stuck at home worried about food.  So how easy would it be to find gluten-free, soy-free, vegan food over there?  I'm pretty flexible -- a baked potato or some rice, some veggies, fruit, perhaps supplemented with gluten-free bread, etc. bought at local stores, and I would be happy.  Like I said, I don't want to avoid traveling, one thing we're really looking forward to in retirement, just because food might be a challenge.  I'll even eat fish in a pinch, what I had to do last vacation to avoid starvation.  What is the general awareness level of restaurants as to what gluten is?  Can I find gluten-free fare in local stores?  How hard is it to stick to a plant-based diet there?

This is where that particular tour goes:
http://www.smithsoni...ption#pageTitle

Thanks for any insight you folks can provide ...

Even the supermarkets here have plenty of gluten-free etc foods.
The good health food  stores have freezers stocked with goodies that are gluten-free, dairy free, etc etc.
The big towns like Alice have full on major supermarkets, the smaller towns aren't so good, but in desperate times my husband has grabbed a bag of plain fries - potatoes, salt and vegetable oil. And there are always heaps of fresh vegies and fruit. The Barossa also has some amazing dried fruit on offer.
The Barossa has plenty of places that have gluten-free options.
Breakfast can be a hassle, but you could always carry some of your own food and restock as necessary.
If you were on a tour to more remote places, then you would need to carry a lot of your own food, but that itinerary looks fine.
Most restaurants here will do a specail gluten-free etc meal if they have advance warning. And nearly all of them offer a vegetarian option as part of the standard menu.

Hope this helps - your tour looks very full on, specially for the Australian part.

There are now oven fries that are gluten-free!! Found them in Coles last week.

Re the Fountain sauces - i get confused because they say gluten-free, yet some of the ingredients indicate otherwise. As my two are so sensitive, we're playing it very safe. One warning too - I bought Fountain sweet Chilli sauce - it was gluten-free. BUT that was the small bottle. I stupidly bought the large one and didn't check properly - under the list of ingredients, which doesn't list anything with gluten, in green writing on orange - really easy to read -not (specially with my eyes) it says contains gluten!!! Sadly my daughter had already used one biottle, but at least we knew why the skin broke out and the insomnia went mad!

I also cook the Auntie Kath gluten-free cookies - both in the oven or in a frypan.

And today we had fun making cupcakes - gluten-free - with gluten-free icing and decorations - using a recipe for sponge cake from the CWA. They taste great!

Being gluten-free sure makes it hard to have take away - it's something I curse regularly, and my celiac 18 yr old daughter even more so.
If freezing big meals for 7 is a problem, try doing some base sauces that you can thaw and throw stuff into. I do that with things like Butter Chicken. I also make huge dishes of gluten-free lasgana, then cut them into portions before freezing them. That makes heaps of meals. Do you have microwave rice? that's a wonderful standby, likewise gluten-free pasta with a jar of sauce.
For yummy snacks I bulk cook gluten-free muffins, and freeze them in little ziplock bags.

We're going bush next week, and the catering is giving me nightmares! Waht to do for a quick lunch in the rain, when it's also cold, and there's no time to heat it up? Eveyone else will use fresh bread rolls - I just don't know what my hubby and I will eat, as salad will not do the trick, and who likes cold rice?

One good thing tho - a couple of weeks ago I decided to read the ingredients for oven fries - wooo hooo!!!! there were three varieties that had no gluten!!! another easy (if not too healthy) meal - fried eggs and chips. That's what celiac does to you- gives you a high when you find a previously untouchable food in the supermarket:

Reverting to skin products etc that contain gluten - our daughter was diagnosed after being made to use makeup remover at her school. She told me it had stung, and later that her face 'felt like it was going to break out'. That was Friday - Monday she had a  horrendous rash - huge blisters incredibly painful - missed a week of school. I do not know if the remover had gluten in it - didn't get to see the actual bottle - and caused the rash, or if her celiac and anaemia had made her skin very sensitive.
In the long run, I'm glad it happened, as she had no gastric symptoms and turned out she was very ill - of course, I am still so very guilty about it not being investigated sooner - but that's another thing

We've found an Indian restaurant that marks its menu, eg, everything with Gluten has a big G in a circle.
That means they don't have to have a separate menu, and that my DH doesn't have to check with the staff(which he totally loathes) about the ingredients.
It would be great if more restaurants did this.

Re fries or hot chips, we've found that many many places buy in ones that are slightly dusted with flour - to make them more brown and crunchy - so have given up on ordering them as the staff doesn't actually know the full list of ingredients. One way to eat more healthily!