Food
School holiday baking just got easier thanks to this easy, no-nasties recipe as featured back in Issue 7. Combine your favourite mix of nuts and seeds with raw cacao powder, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla to create your own fuss-free chocolate nut bars.
Wellbeing
Newcastle gym Urth Fitness is offering FREE gym access to high school students aged 14 - 18 during the April school holidays, at their Lambton, Charlestown or Belmont locations.
Food
This granola recipe first appeared in issue 7 of Swell and is a simple but fun way to get the kids involved in the kitchen! Choose your favourite mixture of nuts and seeds, plus dried fruits, and allow the kids to mix until their hearts are content. With simple, healthy ingredients, this granola makes for a great breakfast option or snack!
Travel
Newcastle locals may have fond memories of school excursions to historic Morpeth, where they learnt all about the former major port town, toured the original Arnott’s Bakery and snapped a photo by the famous bridge. While the heritage vibes of this quaint village are still very much a draw card, thanks to a few more recent additions, food and wine lovers from near and far are also adding Morpeth to the must-visit list - and we encourage you to do the same.
Culture
The Newcastle Writers Festival is back, and it's one of our favorite times of the year! With an incredible lineup of speakers and events, this highly anticipated festival promises to be bigger and better than ever. Don't miss out on the exciting literary celebration coming to Newcastle from April 4 - 6 2025!
Home
Port Stephens’ stylist Maret Larnach is not afraid to be bold, experiment with colour and push the boundaries. So it’s no surprise that her own home is a reflection of that! Come with us as we tour this vibrant, colourful and quirky home where secondhand mid-century and retro pieces are as plentiful as the plants!
Culture
We Australians live for coffee. Meeting for a coffee has become deeply ingrained in our culture. A way of life. People who don’t like coffee are a rare breed, and quite frankly, often frowned upon. So how did our love of lattes become so strong, and is it ever a bad thing? Hannah shares with us how her own love of coffee began and how she believes it’s shaped her world for the better.
Food
Like many of us, local baker Shivangi Maheshwari started experimenting with sourdough during the Covid lockdown era. But unlike a lot of people, it’s a hobby that quickly became a passion and now a successful business. From her early days of experimenting and gifting loaves to friends and family, to eventually securing a commercial spot in Stockton with high demand for her bread and other European-inspired baked goods, the Starter Stories journey is full of heart. We chat with Shiv to find out more!
People
“Wouldn’t it be cool if we made a magazine...” It was during a coffee break that sisters Kristy Coady and Rebecca Geraghty realised they shared a dream of one day creating a magazine. Even though they had built a successful design agency, Design Bug, the thought of launching a new business was daunting. But they were confident in their ability to design a magazine that would look good on coffee tables, so they took a chance by deciding there and then to make their dream a reality.
Food
The news that beloved local pastry chef Gareth Williams had teamed up with hospo legend Ben Richardson to open a brand new spot in Lambton was met with absolute pure joy by Team Swell! With doors set to open on March 15, Crumb has already created a buzz among locals far and wide. We chat with Ben and Gareth to find out more!
Culture
We love our local stockists and we love to see a small business thrive! The wonderfully eclectic Hunter Street Newcastle boutique fashion store Hey Jude Love Pete is celebrating four years in business this week and we thought this was worth celebrating. We chat to owner Emily about all things bricks and mortar, bucking against the trends and bringing joy and colour to the local community!
Wellbeing
We blinked and somehow it’s now February, and the dust from those well-intentioned New Year’s resolutions have well and truly settled. If you’re beating yourself up because you’ve let your health and wellness goals fall by the wayside, firstly - stop that negative self-talk! - and secondly, have a read of our chat with Gjenae Rosekelly from local gym Urth Fitness. Gjenae shares her tips for setting and sticking to your health goals, and how we can all be a little bit kinder to ourselves in the process.
Food
The Mayfield community has been abuzz since locals recently noticed movement at the historic Coliseum Antiques cafe, which has reopened as Sonny & Betty, under the reins of none other than Cakeboi himself, Reece Hignell.
Culture
There’s nothing better than receiving a book recommendation from someone who knows the literary world inside out. When thinking about the must-read titles to devour this summer, we knew we’d be in safe hands with our friends Rosemarie Milsom and Amy Lovat, two of the masterminds behind the annual Newcastle Writers Festival.
Life
If you’re anything like us, you probably feel like you’re crawling your way to the finish line of 2024. The days are getting hotter, the party invites are plentiful and it feels like every second day the kids require money for something at school. We’ll all be taking a few much-needed weeks off soon, and are looking forward to some extra reading, watching and listening time. Here’s what we’ll be consuming over the holidays (along with plenty of good food and wine, no doubt).
