Zaberri Day Trip
We recently visited another pick-your-own strawberry farm called ZaberriWorld, and while it is definitely one of the more well known strawberry farms, it still deserves a shout out because the visit was exceptionally family friendly. It’s just outside of Auckland in Riverhead and while it is a great destination on its own, it could also be paired with time spent on the west coast beaches like Muriwai or with a stop at a local brewery, Hallertau Brewery, which has an awesome outdoor beer garden and kids’ play area.
After arriving at ZabberiWorld but before picking strawberries, get the tickets to the inflatable playland. There is a huge obstacle course, some zorbs, inflatable trampoline, and a wipeout game (better suited for older kids). There is a $20 combo pass for access to everything, or a $5 pass gives the kids two hours to run around the obstacle course.
After the kids have burned through some energy, move over to the PYO strawberry field. It is $24 for a bucket that will hold about 3kg of strawberries, plus $5 per person. The open field wasn’t huge, but it was FULL of beautiful fruit in varying stages of ripeness. We had no problem filing up two buckets quickly, then got a surprise when the kids wandered off and came back with my daughter’s skirt full of more strawberries. We ended up getting a third bucket to accomodate her haul. (So learn from our mistake - unless you want to have 9kgs of strawberries, or nearly 20 pounds, keep a close eye on your kids!) While picking berries, we ended up eating about another pound, too. They were so sweet and it was impossible to resist. There is also a little train that takes guests around the whole farm. We declined to ride as it was primarily aimed at younger kids, but it was yet another entertainment option.
Before leaving, we made sure to stop by the little cafe that sells real fruit ice cream and smoothies. We got regular sized cones for the kids, but even these “small” sized portions were gigantic. And delicious. And a requirement if you’re going to stand in the hot sun picking strawberries. We planned on heading straight home after this, but if you are planning on making more stops, make sure to have a cooler/chilly bin/eskie and ice to keep your berries fresh. With so many in a bucket in the hot weather, you don’t want them to go mushy in your car.
Bring lots of water, sunscreen, hats, and wipes for this trip. It’s yummy, a little bit messy, and hot. And totally worth the price of admission.
Side note: from a purely monetary perspective, it was a good deal for strawberries. Typically strawberries range from NZ$4-$5 per 250g punnet in the grocery store. If I ever felt compelled to buy 9kgs of strawberries, that would be somewhere in the NZ$144-$180 range, whereas at Zaberri is was NZ$92 - about US$64, or US$3.22 per pound.
