Manda and the Chocolate Factory

Manda writes:

Ian and I arrived at Dunedin in the afternoon and the first thing we did was head straight for Cadbury World. Described in the guide books as a themed chocolate tourist attraction, it had no problems luring in a couple of travellers with a penchant for sweet things. The Cadbury factory was opened in the early 1930s and has only recently opened its doors to the general public.

Cadburys factory, Dunedin.

We hadn't pre-booked tickets and were extremely lucky to get places on the last tour of the day. Holding the admission ticket in my hand, I knew how Charlie felt, holding his golden Wonka bar ticket! I was really looking forward to the next two hours.

But first things first, we had to wear these funny white caps (that looked like shower caps) to cover our hair. We were heading into an industrial worksite after all! Some of the men had to wear masks to cover up their beards/moustaches too. With everyone looking as if they had aged another fifty years, we were now ready to set foot in the factory.

Ian and Manda sporting the lovely Cadburys hair nets.

We were told that no photos were allowed after this point. With a brief security run down, it was all beginning to sound serious. However, the mind is fickle and with a chocolate bar, an empty goodie bag and the promise of more to come, our opinions soon swayed!

As soon as the factory doors were opened, our senses were overwhelmed by the smell of melted chocolate. It was a nice comforting smell and one that I could quite easily get used to. After we had been given a quick overview of the chocolate life-cycle, we were taken over to one of the operational conveyor belts. By the time the belt had reached the end of the line, it was covered with chocolate buttons. If it were not for the railings, I'd probably have reached out to grab a few under the pretext of quality control! No such luck - we were handed another chocolate bar instead.

After seeing the chocolate packaged up and the warehouse where it was all stored, our guide took us up to one of the disused silos. Normally, these would contain kibble (crushed cocoa beans) but this one was a special tourist silo. With a flick of a switch, our guide sent one tonne of liquid chocolate, crashing down from a great height into a container below us. It was like a waterfall; very loud and very entertaining. Fortunately, everyone left without any splashes - not so lucky, according to our guide, for all the top bods of Cadburys who had got a drenching at the pilot showing of this tourist feature.

Another four chocolate bars later, we were almost ready to leave. But not before I overheard our guide ask a young girl, "So, what's your favourite chocolate bar then?" After a few seconds, as the girl pondered the question, she replied, "Terry's". Wrong answer!