When the parents (and Missy) came to visit.

My parents and Missy were able to come down to Dunedin after spending some time in Australia. They came on Thursday afternoon and after we got caught up on what we all had been up to we went to Cadbury World for a tour of the chocolate factory. I thought the tour was really cool because I was able to see a real-world application of what I learn in my food science classes. We saw them cleaning the machine that is used to make buttons which are essentially chocolate chips. They had big bins of adhesive used to make the packaging and we got to see the packaging line work. The tour guide was very impressed that I knew what some of the chocolate making terms were so I got extra chocolate from her. She gave us different kinds of Cadbury chocolate at different parts of the tour. We also got chocolate for answering her questions correctly. So we all came back with a good amount of chocolate. They do sensory work as well as product development at the Dunedin location so I might be heading back here after I graduate for a job J

                After the factory tour, we walked around town and then went to dinner at a pizza place near my flat. We had blue cheese and mushroom soup and pizza that was half Mexican and half Moroccan lamb. It is really good pizza and possibly better than pizza in Corvallis. They had pizzas that were based on dishes in different countries so the American pizza was just a lot of pepperoni and cheese.

                I met up with them Friday afternoon after my classes and we went out the peninsula. We went to Larnach Castle which is the only castle in NZ and I was told by someone the southern hemisphere. The location for the castle was chosen because on nice days one can see all of Dunedin and all the way out to the peninsula. Of course the day we went there were really low clouds so we could barely see the ground when we were in the tower. We were also able to walk around the gardens. There’s not much blooming right now but it was still fun to walk around them. After this we went farther out to the only albatross colony on mainland. We were not able to go to the colony but as we looked around two did fly over us. They kind of look like really bid seagulls.  At this point, we decided not to try to find penguins so we went back into Dunedin. I brought them to Baldwin Street which is the world’s steepest street. Missy wasn't going to walk up it but we made her anyway. We watched a guy try to ride his bike up the hill but had to walk it because the front tire kept coming off the ground because it was so steep. He then rode his bike down the hill at a very impressive velocity.  At this point it was dusk so I took them up to Signal Hill and watched the sunset over the city of Dunedin. There was no dense cloud cover so we were able to see down the peninsula.

Castle

One nice days, one can see out the peninsula. This is the view when we visited.

Cliffs by the albatross colony.

Cliffs by albatross colony

Sunset from Signal Hill

                Saturday morning we went to the farmer’s market at the train station. It’s winter here so there is not too much at market but I did get 2 kg of apples to make an apple pie and apple sauce with. I also got Tequila beer and Ginger beer for my parents to take home for me. I really liked the ginger beer and the tequila beer was just really interesting that I wanted to bring it home to share with people. We also got some Girl Guide biscuits at market. I have not tried my box yet so ask Missy if they are good J. We then just walked around town and university campus until they had to leave for the airport. We said our good bye and they left for the airport and I went home.

Window at train station.