As we had an American girl sleeping in the room with us we had to be as quiet as mice. We mustn’t have been that quiet as we woke her numerous times with our packing, she did not look happy as she had a cruise planned today. We left as quickly as we could for the bus so as not to feel her wrath and hoped we had left nothing behind.
On the bus we did our usual routine of attempting to sleep (me and Conor were sprawled across the backseat) and listening to the songs on the iPods which bought back memories of our youth.
When we arrived in Dunedin I wasn’t that impressed with city as I was expecting more from it from reading the travel guide. I think we all felt the same way. We made our way to Central Backpackers and noticed the Cadbury’s factory we would be visiting later in the day. We were licking our lips in anticipation. At check in it was strange that there was no key for our room, only a code for the door which anyone staying there could easily go back and rob everyone’s bags at a later stage. In the living room of the hostel there was a couple and a baby sitting down in the middle of the floor. They seemed to either own the hostel or be living there. They would be there every day since our arrival with different people staying in the hostel looking after the child.
We dropped off our bags and headed straight for the Cadbury’s factory. It cost 18 dollars to get the tour and free chocolate was promised so we weren’t complaining. The first part of the tour involved watching an introductory video which explained the history of Cadbury’s. We were also informed we would have to wear hairnets for the duration of our tour of the factory which we weren’t best pleased about because we looked ridiculous. We got our first pieces of chocolate and headed inside the factory. There would be extra chocolate for whoever would answer questions correctly at the end of the tour so we very alert to tour guide Debbie’s facts about Cadbury’s and the factory. She showed us all the different ingredients of their chocolate range and we saw new flavours we never knew existed. Easter Eggs are Cadbury’s biggest money maker and we learned that they make 40 million Easter Eggs for New Zealand alone, which is crazy because New Zealand only has a population of about 4 million. We saw Crunchie after Crunchie and Moro after Moro flying around the factory and into each wrapper and box. It kind of reminded us of the box factory tour in the Simpsons but much more exciting! Next we were brought to the storage warehouse and saw palate upon palate of chocolate as far as the eye could see. We got more free samples and thought that by the end of it we would be sick at the sight of chocolate.
We were bought to the final room of our tour which was a large darkened silo with a staircase that the chocolate was stored in. There was a large crater in the centre of the silo with a chocolate coating .We were ordered by Debbie to scream “I want chocolate” at the top of our voices. When we did this a impressive waterfall of chocolate flowed out of a shoot in the top of the room and down into the crater. It was a very nice touch and made the tour worthwhile for us.
Next up was quiz time. I was in competition with a little 14 year old over the chocolate and the battle finished evenly. The rest of the Irish lads didn’t put up a fight at all! The tour proved to be very enjoyable and well worth the visit.
Later on that day we were told about a table quiz in The Bog, an Irish pub, by Richard on reception and thought it would be a bit of craic so we headed along even though we knew most of the questions would be about New Zealand. We thought we were going to do well but the New Zealand questions ruined our hopes of finishing anywhere near the top and we ended up bottom, leaving with our tails between our legs! Even a few locals helping us couldn’t bring us up the table and not trusting our own answers (mostly mine) really cost us. Still it was good fun and one of the barmaids was hilarious in that anything Gary ordered she got wrong!
We headed back to the hostel and chatted with our roommates Nick from the USA and Tia from Germany before hitting the hay.
Stay Classy,
Mike
On the bus we did our usual routine of attempting to sleep (me and Conor were sprawled across the backseat) and listening to the songs on the iPods which bought back memories of our youth.
When we arrived in Dunedin I wasn’t that impressed with city as I was expecting more from it from reading the travel guide. I think we all felt the same way. We made our way to Central Backpackers and noticed the Cadbury’s factory we would be visiting later in the day. We were licking our lips in anticipation. At check in it was strange that there was no key for our room, only a code for the door which anyone staying there could easily go back and rob everyone’s bags at a later stage. In the living room of the hostel there was a couple and a baby sitting down in the middle of the floor. They seemed to either own the hostel or be living there. They would be there every day since our arrival with different people staying in the hostel looking after the child.
We dropped off our bags and headed straight for the Cadbury’s factory. It cost 18 dollars to get the tour and free chocolate was promised so we weren’t complaining. The first part of the tour involved watching an introductory video which explained the history of Cadbury’s. We were also informed we would have to wear hairnets for the duration of our tour of the factory which we weren’t best pleased about because we looked ridiculous. We got our first pieces of chocolate and headed inside the factory. There would be extra chocolate for whoever would answer questions correctly at the end of the tour so we very alert to tour guide Debbie’s facts about Cadbury’s and the factory. She showed us all the different ingredients of their chocolate range and we saw new flavours we never knew existed. Easter Eggs are Cadbury’s biggest money maker and we learned that they make 40 million Easter Eggs for New Zealand alone, which is crazy because New Zealand only has a population of about 4 million. We saw Crunchie after Crunchie and Moro after Moro flying around the factory and into each wrapper and box. It kind of reminded us of the box factory tour in the Simpsons but much more exciting! Next we were brought to the storage warehouse and saw palate upon palate of chocolate as far as the eye could see. We got more free samples and thought that by the end of it we would be sick at the sight of chocolate.
We were bought to the final room of our tour which was a large darkened silo with a staircase that the chocolate was stored in. There was a large crater in the centre of the silo with a chocolate coating .We were ordered by Debbie to scream “I want chocolate” at the top of our voices. When we did this a impressive waterfall of chocolate flowed out of a shoot in the top of the room and down into the crater. It was a very nice touch and made the tour worthwhile for us.
Next up was quiz time. I was in competition with a little 14 year old over the chocolate and the battle finished evenly. The rest of the Irish lads didn’t put up a fight at all! The tour proved to be very enjoyable and well worth the visit.
Later on that day we were told about a table quiz in The Bog, an Irish pub, by Richard on reception and thought it would be a bit of craic so we headed along even though we knew most of the questions would be about New Zealand. We thought we were going to do well but the New Zealand questions ruined our hopes of finishing anywhere near the top and we ended up bottom, leaving with our tails between our legs! Even a few locals helping us couldn’t bring us up the table and not trusting our own answers (mostly mine) really cost us. Still it was good fun and one of the barmaids was hilarious in that anything Gary ordered she got wrong!
We headed back to the hostel and chatted with our roommates Nick from the USA and Tia from Germany before hitting the hay.
Stay Classy,
Mike
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