Dicksons Hill

We found some cheap tickets for the Cadbury tour so thought that it would be rude not to go! The price to pay for them being so cheap is that we had to be there at 8:50am so it was a very early start.

I knew this tour would be good when no sooner had it started we were given a little bag with some free chocolate! Our tour guide started by talking about the main chocolate bars that this particular factory makes and considering the chocolate addict that I am, I hadn't heard of hardly any of them! This is because the majority of what they make here doesn't even leave New Zealand. Their speciality are Jaffas which are a firm Kiwi favourite and apparently inspired by our Jaffa cakes. They don't look anything like a Jaffa cake though as they are round chocolate balls covered in a red candy, orange flavoured coating. They also specialise in marshmallow bars which include the 'Perky Nana' a banana marshmallow covered in chocolate, the 'Pinky' a strawberry marshmallow covered in caramel and chocolate and then the 'Chocolate Fish' which is a fish shaped marshmallow covered in chocolate. These Kiwis sure like their marshmallow. By the end of the tour we had a selection of these chocolates to try and if I'm honest marshmallow is completed overrated. If I have a chocolate bar and the majority of it is fluffy marshmallow I feel a bit cheated! Think I'll stick to the hard stuff.

Our first stop was the sensory station. After a quick explanation of how Cadburys make their chocolate we were handed a small plastic cup and were let loose on the liquid chocolate train! It was only around 9:30am and we hadn't long had breakfast but that didn't stop us. You could choose from melted white, milk and dark chocolate and then choose some toppings to put on the top. We both went for half white and half milk chocolate with a sprinkling of pretzels! Whilst we were tucking into the chocolatey goodness a lady showed us how they tempered the chocolate to give it its shine. Our guide then took us to see the special machines (sugar pans) that coat the Jaffas and gave us a little packet to take home! This is where we also learnt that we missed the famous Cadbury Jaffa Race which is where 25,000 Jaffas are numbered and rolled down the steepest street in Dunedin (and the world). The owners of the first five Jaffas to reach the bottom win a prize.

On the way into the factory we passed a giant purple silo which was our next and final stop. Here we got to see a ridiculously large 28 meter high chocolate fountain which, if nothing else was pretty cool to watch.

After the tour we were still feeling very disappointed that we missed the Jaffa Race, so we decided to drive to Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world to check it out. Well all I can really say is, it's a bloomin steep street that we felt obliged to walk up. At the very least I thought it may help burn off the significant amount of chocolate I had already eaten that morning. On the way up we could see the remnants of the many Jaffas that hadn't made it to the bottom of the hill. As we had been given a packet of Jaffas we thought that it would be rude not to roll one down the hill (only one mind as it is chocolate after all and we don't want to waste them). We watched it bounce down the hill, rebound off the curb and then land in someone's garden. We took that as our cue to walk back down the ridiculously steep hill and head back to the van.

Turns out that you can achieve a lot in a day if you get up really early so as it still wasn't even midday and the sun was shining we headed over to the Otago Peninsula for a scenic drive along Portobello Road. It was a gorgeous drive. At the end we stopped for some lunch before heading back to Dunedin via Allan's Beach to see if we could spot some seals. On our short stroll along the beach we passed two seals sunbathing on the sand. They weren't bothered by us at all and were happily napping in the sun. They were pretty cute and it was cool to see them so close.

Now on our Cadbury tour, the guide mentioned that the All Blacks were playing Australia on Saturday in Dunedin so after hours of pondering we decided to head to the ticket office to see if we could get tickets. It does involve keeping the van for an extra night and tickets are nearly $100 each but when else are we going to get to see the All Blacks play in New Zealand! We will just have to do a lot of Woofing (volunteering in exchange for accommodation and meals) when we get to Australia. The joy on Simons face when he came running back from the ticket office with two tickets was a picture!

We then made our way to Oamaru which is around an hour north of Dunedin so that we could have a full day of exploring the next day.Read more