The Chocolate Factory

Before talking about the chocolate factory, I just need to mention that I've finally reached Hogwartz. And no, I did not forget how to spell :p - the hostel here in Dunedin is called Hogwartz. Hands down the coolest place I've stayed so far - so much so that it deserves its own post, perhaps tomorrow. :)

And old box of chocolates, these ones English.
(Cadbury bought the Dunedin factory relatively
recently; its always been a chocolate factory,
but not always owned by Cadbury).

Right now though, chocolate. I arrived in Dunedin completely unaware that it housed New Zealand's largest chocolate factory. Older than most of the Fort back home, this gigantic chocolate factory runs 24/7, churning out delightful treats for all of NZ and Australia. It used to make all the Cadbury chocolate for the south, but other factories have since opened up, allowing this one to specialize - mostly in treats that they don't have at home. Thats right - there's a whole different chocolate scene going on down here. I'd noticed that in the grocery stores; Cadbury bars like "Flake", "Picnic", "Turkish Delight", the oddly popular chocolate covered fish shaped marshmallows, and individual chocolates including "Rose", "Freddo", and these tasty chocolate covered balls whose name I forgot.

A couple of the original company cars

So I went on a tour of the chocolate factory. It was me and an older Australian couple, and we definitely got lucky - the tour in front of us had about 20 people on it. The lady giving us the tour has worked at the Cadbury factory in Dunedin for 18 years - and for her whole life, she has not liked chocolate! I guess that solves the problem of making yourself sick eating too much of it at work... but she does like the marshmallows, she says. And the caramels. To the point that she will chip the chocolate coating off the caramels and then eat it.

Chocolate Silos
The white one is where they store
nuggets of not-yet-processed chocolate.
The purple one houses the pointless
but kind of cool chocolatefall.

I got to try several new kinds of chocolate, see a giant chocolate waterfall. I was confused as to its purpose though, so I asked. As it turns out, it has no purpose. One of their engineers built it for fun in a giant silo about 10 years back and they just use it for tours. :p

I couldn't bring my camera into the actual factory so pictures in this post are limited. Also sad: they aren't allowed to sell seconds at this factory (but they can at the one in Australia), so there was not heaps of cheap chocolate. But there were many samples, now safely stowed in my belly (not entirely true - about half of it is still in the car... I should move that before it gets warm in there tomorrow... though it was cold and rainy today (Tuck FINALLY got a bath!!!) so it may not get hot enough to be a problem).

The other people on the tour were hilarious. Both the tour guide and the wife were rather opinionated old women, resulting in some pretty entertaining conversations.

Train Station

Now as you all know, I am not too keen on cities. At all. But as far as the ones down here go, Dunedin is certainly my favourite one so far. Many huge, lovely old stone buildings from the late 19th century, and the city centre is built around a road aptly named "the Octagon." Essentially there are two concentric circular roads wrapped around the whole historic downtown district. There is the original train station from 1904 - it is enormous, and was the busiest station in the country at the time. Lovely lobby with a wrap around balcony, carved mouldings, tile mosaics and stained class windows (with trains and lions in them :p ).

They like their signs-that-point-everywhere
here

Inside the train station

And up the hill a bit of course, there is Hogwartz. (Parking was a nightmare though - steep hills, sharp corners, and a massive amount of construction focused on a 100 meter radius of the hostel. But it all turned out okay. Eventually). Usually when I go for a walk I take note of a few landmarks so I can find my way back. I made the mistake of using "the big church" as one of these... there are at least 7 big churches within less than a 1 km radius haha. Wasn't a problem though. :p

Inside the train station

Tomorrow: the Otago peninsula, to hopefully see some Albatrosses, (Albotri? haha no :p ), penguins, possibly some sea lions, and in all likelihood a castle, since that isn't likely to swim/fly away.

Do not use churches as landmarks.