Vegan eating NZ - Otago Rail Trail

When we headed off on our adventure on the Otago Rail Trail, I wasn't expecting a whole lot in the way of vegan food. After all, once you leave the big cities behind in Australia, you're pretty much left with chips or salad at the pub. Not so in NZ. Not only is vegan not a dirty word, I actually found that people went out of their way to please me. Obviously, there were a couple of times when I resorted to a bowl of wedges at the pub, but considering we were on the road for 4 full days, that's not too bad.

Here are a couple of the highlights, starting with the Dunstan Hotel in Clyde. This is a baked potato stuffed with stir-fried vegies. I asked for no dairy & voila! This monster of a meal was promptly delivered. Awesome. I struggled to finish it, but forced myself to swallow every last mouthful, because I was worried I wouldn't see that many vegetables again for the next 4 days. I was wrong (happily).

Dunstan Hotel
35 Sunderland St, Clyde
7 days 11am-11.30pm
www.dunstanhotel.co.nz

My other highlight was the Oturehua Tavern. Grahame & Liz run this awesome country pub & were our saviours after we were caught in 30min of drenching rain on the final leg into town. After settling into our room & changing into dry clothes, we wandered into the pub in our socks, put our shoes by the fire to dry & pretty much spent the rest of the evening curled up next to the fire sampling the local reds.

Having been told I was vegan (because our room came with breakfast), Liz very kindly went out of her way to make me a special lentil pie (& also made the bro a vegetarian version of the same pie). It was so awesome I can't really describe it in words. Because it wasn't just that the pie tasted good (& it tasted really really good). It was the friendliness, the welcoming atmosphere, the willingness to go out of their way to please & the feeling of having a warm, delicious meal at the end of a long day's cycling.

I highly recommend paying Grahame & Liz a visit. If you're planning to visit for lunch or dinner I would call ahead because I don't think there's anything vegan on the menu, but the tavern is equally worth a visit for a drink & a good chat.

Oturehua Tavern
Main Rd, Oturehua
Not sure about opening hours - give them a call 03 444 5856