Hi everyone! How are you?
I know it’s now winter in countries the Northern hemisphere but here in Southern hemisphere it is summer. Summer is the season of most fruits. For a fruit lover like me, this season is truly a gift since there are lots of fruits available in supermarkets and even roadsides.
One of the best experiences I have had with fruits is pick-your-own (PYO). In New Zealand there are plenty of farms opening for PYO such as cherry, blueberry, persimmon, strawberry... November - December is strawberry season so I and my friend went to Zaberri-World in Auckland few weeks ago before we got back to work after the lockdown. The farm is located in the North of Auckland, only 22 minutes driving from Auckland CBD.
It was a sunny day, beautiful weather. We arrived at midday when many people had finished their PYO and happily left with buckets full of red shiny strawberries.
Into the farm
Normally customers are only allowed to enter the farms in late season, around Christmas when fruit pickers have done their jobs and not many fruits left. But this year is not normal, obviously because of the Covid, so the farms were opened early in November. I was eager to go picking fresh plump strawberries.
Register here
PYO strawberry piking is opened 7 days a week, from 9am - 4 pm, plenty of time to pick, take selfies and enjoy fresh strawberry right on the field.
There are raspberries & blackberries in the farm but they are not really in season so it was limited supply.
In Zaberri-World, there is a playground for kids where they can run, bounce, jump on inflatable activities. It is a plus point to families with kids. But at that time Auckland was in level 3 lockdown so it was closed.
Entry ticket is only $5 nzd. Last year, we paid by how much we picked. However this year we paid by bucket. It was funny because I though it should have been the same rule as previous years, but it has been changed and I didn’t noticed when the shop assistant explained. So I didn’t pick much because there were not many ripe strawberries in the field. It was a bit disappointed!
On the way out, one of their staff saw our bucket with almost nothing, he surprised and asked us if we needed help to pick some more because we didn’t need to pay any extra. After he clarified the situation then we were happily followed his guide to another block with full of ripe juicy strawberries. I didn’t need to run among many rows to fill up the bucket. Two rows was enough. So my friend and I had to carefully arrange the fruits to fit in the limited space.
No matter how many strawberries I ate in fields, no matter how much I could fit in a bucket, I only paid $30 bucks/bucket. My tummy was filled up with sweet juicy strawberry after picking. It was because I mainly focused in feeding my eyes and my tummy while my friend focused in spotting big red fruits and picking for me.
Order ice cream here
Fresh berry ice cream is definitely a good choice for a hot summer day after running in the field. There are strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and mixed berry flavours for you to choose. To be honest it's hard to just grab one since all of them are great! Unfortunately, this year people had to stick to keep-2m-distance regulation so the queue was too long. We couldn't wait then we promised to come back next time.
Strawberry is great just to eat raw, or eat with yogurt or to make smoothie or to make a strawberry cake for Xmas.
PYO is a great and fun for both adults and kids. It is excellent value for money. If you travel to Auckland this summer and want to have farm experience, head to Zaberri-World. Have fun!
Feel free to share your PYO story with me 😃.
Photos taken by me and my partner NMT
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