Shopping in Dunedin - 15th August.

 Jill and I make a beeline for H and J Smith and we are both very happy with our purchases. We meet up with the guys for lunch and then do a little Tiki tour around points of interest in Dunedin. First is a drive-by of Carrington where Millie is living. We don't go in - not sure that they are encouraging hoards of visitors even though it is only level two. Next is the house that Millie will go flatting in next year. It looks in very good nick , and the pictures on the link look good for a student flat. Then we go to the university to see Jill's office.

Impressive entrance!

This is the chemistry lab in the foyer - computers at each station. Where are the bunsen burners and test tube racks??

Jill at her desk.

Her qualifications are deemed to be an earthquake risk!!

Next we head to the Ocho Chocolate factory, which is a nice little destination now that Cadbury has left, and most of the buildings have been demolished to make way for the new Hospital. Ocho stands for Otago Chocolate and also Ocho is spanish for eight, so the factory is built around a little viewing octagon with glass walls. Fortunately the tour guide was ill, so we got the head chocolate maker to take us through the factory and tasting. He has a degree in Literature but worked here in the uni holidays. He will probably write very eloquently about chocolate some time in the future.

Ocho does not have a chocolate fountain like Cadbury or WillieWonka, but it does have a continually running tap of chocolate.

The tasting notes give you quite generous serves - including some from unspecified other chocolate makers.

You can see the pod on the tasting sheet. They are picked while the beans are still soft and white, fermented and dried. When they come to New Zealand they are dark and hard. They taste OK - Just a little bitter.

This was my favourite - the white cocoa butter with shards of cacao nib

 

You can see how they just do small batches by the scale of the machinery.

We had to buy a few of the range!