Sunday, September 28, 2008

Kiwi Country

On Friday we took the day off of work to enjoy an extended weekend. We started the day off nice and slow - Jeremy did some work from home while I slept and then did a little bit of cleaning. We packed some sandwiches and hit the road around mid-day for the Bay of Plenty. The Bay of Plenty has a mild climate year round, so we were really looking forward to a nice sunny (and warm) get-away!

Our first stop on Friday afternoon was the town of Te Puke which is home to Kiwi 360. Kiwi fruit is one of New Zealand's main exports and is grown in the Bay of Plenty. We climbed aboard a kiwi cart and went on a tour of the kiwi orchards. Not only do they grown kiwis, but also a variety of other things such as avocados, macadamia nuts, apples, and lemonade lemons - which we got to taste on the tour. We also enjoyed some samples of kiwi wine and liqueur before buying some kiwi jam to take home.
We then hopped back into the car to head towards our final destination, Ohope Beach; one of New Zealand's best beaches. (We can't say we've really seen a bad beach yet!) We checked into the holiday park and quickly put our stuff into our cute little hut before heading out for dinner.

We decided to stop for some "take-aways" (the kiwi term for takeout) at a fish and chips shop down the street. There was so much to choose from, and our tummies were rumbling so we settled for fish burgers, chips, and a mussel fritter. The food was delicious. We were stuffed, but very satisfied. We finished the night off with a few games of Yahtzee before tucking in for the night. We had an early boat ride awaiting us on Saturday morning as we had booked a trip to White Island, New Zealand's most active volcano.

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3 comments:

  1. AndySeptember 28, 2008 at 12:28 PM

    are there special lemons used to make lemonade?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mom CSeptember 28, 2008 at 10:13 PM

    I was thinking the same thing!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. ErinSeptember 29, 2008 at 4:03 AM

    Great question. Erin and I didn't know the answer to this either. I've done some research tonight and found the following:

    "There is just no reason not to grow one of these in your garden.

    Citrus Lemonade was discovered as a Meyer lemon sport (a distinct but similar variation of citrus Lemon Meyer - Meyers themselves are not true lemons and originated in China likely from a wild cross of a lemon and an orange. Frank Meyer, a plant explorer found a plant growing near Peking in 1908 and introduced the variety to the USA).

    The refreshing Lemonade citrus is not a well know variety and rarely available as fresh fruit. It has the most delectable fruit for eating fresh or juicing. As the name implies, the fruit taste like sweet lemonade! The bright yellow fruit look like large lemons and are produced in great abundance over summer.

    They are sweet and juicy with a very mild tang"


    So in the end, I do not believe that these Lemonade Lemons are used to make Lemonade.

    ReplyDelete