New Zealand

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We got up late and made the most of not having to be anywhere for a change. We’d decided to do a Cadbury factory tour and a Speights ale brewery tour but as they ran every hour there was no rush to get there. The weather was cold and wet so we enjoyed the feeling of being tucked up indoors with the heater on.

The Cadbury tour took place in a working factory although we weren’t able to see much of the production, despite the fact we were made to wear silly hairnets and take off all of our jewellery. We were kept behind fencing the whole time, and our tour guide whisked us through various rooms and rushed us along before we could ask any questions. This was probably because ours was the last tour of the day and the factory was closing down for the night. At certain points on the tour we were given mini bars of chocolate, and there were opportunities to earn more by answering questions. We did get to see some massive catering sized bars that weighted 12.5kg and cost only $130 which seemed like a bargain (Matt was quite tempted) but it was cooking chocolate rather than dairy milk so probably looked better than it tasted.

We watched a few dvds on the way that showed us the process of making things like Easter eggs. They make the equivalent of 10 eggs per person and start the production in June in order to have enough ready.
At one point we went through a pointless chocolate fall where a mass of melted chocolate was dropped from a height of 28m down a funnel in front of us. The tour finished in the shop where Matt insisted in buy a few big bars that we don’t get back home - crème brulee flavour and chocolate brownie flavour.

The Speights brewery tour was a bit more welcoming and less rushed. Our tour guide had a sting of very bad jokes that seemed to get worse as the tour went on - some were almost so bad they were good. Unfortunately all that walking with a cracked rib wasn’t doing me much good so I turned off a bit and just started looking forward to the tasting at the end. We saw all the ingredients used for making the ale, but the workers had all finished for the day so there wasn’t a lot going on in the various brewing rooms. The tasting was done in a mock bar, and when we arrived we all had a small glass of ale waiting for us. We drank that while the guide took us through the various ales in the pumps, then she told us we could all help ourselves. There was a massive stack of glasses and seven different ales to try as many times as we liked.

As you can imagine we made the most of the half hours tasting by going back many times. It was a great opportunity to try some different things without having to risk buying a glass - if you didn’t like it you just tipped it away and went on to the next one. Once you’d worked your way through them you started again to remind yourself which ones you liked best. By the time we were shooed out of the bar we’d probably consumed two or three pints (me the former, Matt the latter!)

We tried to find somewhere for a quiet dinner but all of the bars and restaurants were blaring out loud music so we caught a cab back to our van and cooked ourselves some food instead. After another couple of glasses of wine we were well away and by 9pm I fell into the heaviest sleep I’ve had in a long time (well, since the Napier wine tasting trip anyway!)

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