Our Christmas Break

Pictured: Eutopia Cafe, Kaiwaka

This Christmas we headed North for a big family get-together. Our road trip took us from Wellington to Auckland (via Taranaki) and onto Keri Keri in the fabulous Bay of Islands.

Here are our organic highlights(!)

Huckleberry Farms in Auckland is AMAZING. Just about every organic/eco-friendly product you can possible ever need, the staff are friendly and they have a great deli/juice counter (!) I was particularly taken with their banana/berry smoothies :)

Onto the Bay of Islands which is clearly not far behind Nelson in terms of eco awareness. Keri Keri is home to Living Nature - where their office and spa retreat is based.

We visited Mahoe Cheeses which has a gift shop as well as cheese factory where you can buy their cheeses at great(!) factory prices.

For eco-adventures, visit Pahia. We took a cruise but missed out on swimming with the dolphins , as you are not permitted to swim when they have young with them (did you know dolphins breastfeed their young every three minutes). Still it was wonderful to be out on the water and feel the sea breezes and sunshine.

On our journey south, we passed through Kaiwaka, a small town with an amazing looking organic cafe - Eutopia (which was sadly closed). Pictured above. If you want to visit Eutopia, it is about one and a 1/4 hours drive north of Auckland.

After checking out this amazing building, we endured a dodgy toasted sandwich over the road, but then chanced upon a wonderful Dutch shop which had a great selection of Dutch specialities and organic groceries - which made the stop worthwhile!

Just north of Kaiwaka is Koanga Gardens which has everything you will need to grow your own organic, nutrient dense, heirloom fruit and vegetables, plus books and two lines of NZ made shoes.

... our journey has come to an end, which means we are back in town, our Petone store is open, and we have lots of exciting new products arriving in store ... see you soon!

Nelson - the organic centre of NZ !

ok I have been a bad blogger this month ... good excuse, have been on holiday tripping around Nelson and Bays.

What better time to tell you about the organic treats the region has to offer...
We stayed at the Sunset Valley Vineyard which was a very tranquil and relaxing spot, and an organic vineyard established 15 years ago in the Moutere Valley. I already knew and loved their wines, so it was great to visit the spot where the wine (I find on on the shelves at CS Organics) originates from!

We lunched at the Riverside Cafe, Lower Moutere which is home to NZ's oldest commune. Beautiful setting and freshly prepared food including vegetables and salads from their own organic gardens.

Next on our list to visit was Arcadia Organics (Motueka), a long-established organic shop with a fantastic selection and delicious cafe. We also discovered the Pulsing Patch - a roadside organic fruit and vege stop (Riwaka - just outside Motueka). The small shop also sells a variety of herbs, spices and bottled fruit.

We also indulged in beer (well, not me) at Founders Organic Brewery in Nelson. The beer was apparently very good.

After the luxury of Sunset Valley, we headed to Kaiteriteri Beach and camped under the stars.

An overall good experience was somewhat marred by being situated right across from a group of 4 chainsmokers , so we abandoned camp for most of 2 days until they left (Soapbox: All campsites in NZ should be non-smoking or have smoking "areas").

Other organic treats included visiting Takaka which has even more organic shops and cafes.

We had a need for some baby balm to sooth rashy skin, and came across a balm that incredibly we hadn't seen before - "Pot of Gold". Wow, that stuff is great!

Three cheers (we love) those fabulous folks at Arcadia Organics and Golden Bay Organics who had our flyers out on display.

We recently send our flyers all over the country to every organics store and cafe you can imagine, so we can get word out to you good folks, I like to see that I'm not wasting effort & paper (even if it is recycled).

... and why the centre of New Zealand? Quite literally, Nelson is. After 3 days of dancing in Nelson at the "Ceroc Summer Camp", Hayley (owner of Ceroc Nelson) marched us up the steepest hill she could find to the official "Centre of NZ". Luckily, the view was just awesome!

Melbourne Travel Log

I've just returned from 5 days in Melbourne. Great city but mental note to remember a brolly next time! I flew with Air New Zealand who have the good sense to choose Living Nature Products for their in-flight bathrooms - which was fortunate because I'd stashed all my toiletries in my luggage (due to the new regulations). I was travelling my two older children, so stayed in a great (upmarket) backpackers. Since I don't have a laptop, one advantage of staying at the backpackers is the internet room - I was able to check and reply to all my business emails. Had to detour from my largely organic diet for a couple of days but found some great organic stores on Days 2 and 3 - one at Spencer St Station (formerly Southern Cross) and one in Bridge St. Also spotted a restaurant in Fitzroy (Brunswick St) which is a great shopping area if you prefer vintage and recycled clothing ... I was in shopping heaven! Unfortunately my daughter is more of a Cotton On, Just Jeans, imported from China kind-of-girl but she'll see the (green) light one day!

Eco Places to stay and eat in NZ

Today I discovered a fabulous new site - Organic Explorer - eco places to stay, eat and explore in NZ. I've been waiting for this a long time. I'll certainly be refering to this for our next holiday. Yay, dodgy, smelly motel days are OVER!!!