Spring is here in NZ! Snails are here too! Snail & Slug pellets work really well….

Spring is here in New Zealand; temperature is getting warmer, day-light saving started and we have a lot longer sun!

It is a start of season when we can sow some seeds and see them grow.

Our children love growing plants in our garden. They water them and enjoy watching vegetables grow on them.

Unfortunately we had snail invasion in one of our vegetable garden….. there are some pictures of snails below, so be warned if you don’t like watching insects.

Enemy of vegetable garden: Snails and slugs

At the end of winter, we planted some seed potatoes in our home garden.

Potatoes are very easy to grow in home vegetable gardens. If you plant them late winter or early spring, they will grow fast during spring, and you can start harvesting in early summer.

Our potatoes were growing pretty well, until this happened to one of our fastest growing plant….

Noooo!! Being eaten!!

There are only stems left with hardly anything left of the leaves. We really should have done something before it gets this bad.

We have not spotted any worms and bugs that eat potato leaves yet, so we suspected slugs and snails to be the culprit.

It will only get worse as the temperature becomes warmer, so we quickly headed to a gardening store.

Purchased Snail and Slug pellets!

At our local Mitre10, we went to the gardening section and purchased Yates Blitzem pellets for killing slugs and snails.

The reason why we chose this product was because it was recommended to us by a friend, who grows and sells vegetable seedlings.

Yates Blitzem：A famous product!

For 500g, it was about 5 dollars? It was reasonably priced.

Content looks like this. Blue-green colored small pellets.

These pellets contain poisons that attracts snails and slugs, and kills them when they touch or eat these pellets.

Because these are poisonous, you do need to be careful so that small children and pets will not touch them.

According to the instruction on the box, you place them on the soil about 5cm apart between each pellet.

We often grew vegetables in our garden, but this is the first time we use slug & snail pellets like these.

Snail & Slug pellets are so effective!

Following day after placing Snail and slug pellets in our potato garden…. it is really effective. How do we know that? well….

There are many snails laying in our potato garden floor! They normally hide pretty well so we cannot spot them.

Like these snails… there are many of them, here and there…

Are they dead after eating the snail & slug pellet? So we had a closer look…

This one is upside down, cannot move well and bubbling!

EEEEEEK! Gross & scary! I feel so bad for them!! (although I tried to get rid of them)

We removed these intoxicated snails from our vegetable garden and buried them on a corner of our lawn.

There were about 10 snails just for this day. We were surprised how many there were, because we normally cannot spot them.

We were very impressed with how well these snail & slug pellets worked.

What is the active ingredient in Yates Blitzem？

The snail & slug pellets were so effective that I became worried what kind of ingredient is in them.

Specifications about Yates Blitzem are easily found on Yates official website below.

https://www.yates.co.nz/products/pest-control/snails-and-slugs/blitzem-snail-and-slug-pellets/

The main active ingredient is…. 15g/kg Metaldehyde

This “metaldehyde” is a compound frequently used for killing snail & slug, but also used sometimes as fire starter fuel for camping.

Refer to：Wikipedia　

There are a lot of information about metaldehyde on the internet, like this one.

“metaldehyde damages the mucus cells causing the creature to produce masses of slime and dehydrate. If not killed outright, it’s immobilised and unable to retreat to its daytime shelters”

引用元：http://www.slugoff.co.uk/killing-slugs/

Dehydration and paralysis!

So that’s why those snails were rolling on the ground after using snail & slug pellets…. Scary!

Of course these are toxic to human and other creatures too, if ingested. There are many reports of pets intoxicated after ingesting metaldehyde containing pellets. Even some cases of children as well.

After finding this out, I became concerned about using them on vegetable garden… do they get absorbed by vegetables that we are growing there?

But apparently, metaldehyde is used widely for protecting vegetables and crops from snails/slug all over the world.

Some say that these pellets are better than other spray-on insecticides that are directly applied to the plant.

Metaldehyde containing snail/slug pellets are also used for growing potatoes too.

参考：http://www.desangosse.co.uk/news/2015/02/23/potato-growers-urged-to-switch-to-the-better-metaldehyde-pellets-for-effective-slug-control

Tips for using Slug & Snail pellets

So some tips for using slug & snail pellets safely is as follows:

• Do not let these pellets directly touch vegetables you are growing.

• Place one pellet per 5-10cm as instructed on the package. Do not use more.

• Do not sprinkle from above vegetables – place them directly on the ground.

• These baits contain chemoattractant that attracts snails and slugs.

• You could place pellets on a flat stone/dish next to the plant (not directly touching the floor) and let snail/slug come to it.

• Place pellets near but outside of planters and pots. This way snails/slugs will be lured out of pots and planters to the bait.

• Remove slugs/snails that ingested pellets and are found on the ground immediately.

• You can also set up a trap by setting up “hide-place” for snails/slugs and place baits there.

Taken together, keeping a safe distance between your pellets and precious vegetables would assure that your vegetables will not be contaminated.

You do need to stay extra cautious that your pets and small children will not touch them.

It is probably a good idea to do this once at the beginning of spring ~ summer to kill off majority of snails as you should not use them when your crops are close to harvesting.

Go potatoes! Grow!

Summary of Snail & Slug pellets

So I was very impressed with how effective these Yates Blitzem snail & slug pellets are.

It almost works too well that it gets me worried about chemicals inside.

But when you start thinking about it, you are not sure what kind of insecticides and chemicals people may have used for the commercial vegetables.

Regulations are in place, but it is up to the growers how carefully to use these chemicals.

We are better off in New Zealand because most vegetables are home-grown and I am sure we can trust our local farmers…

I can also understand how some people love organic vegetables.

But since I cannot afford to always buy organic vegetables, I guess I will wash our leafy vegetables really well.

Anyhow, if you have concerns about snails and slugs attacking your precious vegetable garden or flower garden…

as you can see above, snail & slug pellets work really well.

Yates Blitzem Slug and Snail Control 500g

Finding toilet while travelling in New Zealand

New Zealand is a great place to travel with so much to see. You might your family to further away destinations than usual during school holidays.

But wherever you go, there is always this problem…. “ Where can I find TOILET?”

This is especially important problem when you are travelling with children who cannot tell you much in advance that they need to go toilet.

Or you, yourself may be experiencing the need to go toilet frequently these days.

So to ease your heart for the long journey, I put together some ideas about where to make a stop to find TOILET in New Zealand.

Fast Food Restaurant: McDonald’s Toilet

Overall the best toilet you can find during your travel is ones at McDonald and other fast food restaurants.

Their toilets are reasonably clean and hygienic, the place is open from early morning till late at night, and safe because there are staff on site.

Because fast food restaurants are easy to enter for those with small children, too.

They can easily be found all around New Zealand, especially near cities and motorways.

McDonald can be found in both North and South islands, and of course many restaurants are located in cities.

Check their official website for their locations;
https://mcdonalds.co.nz/find-us/restaurants?qstore=

If you also include Wendy’s and Burger King, there are many fast food restaurants in total.

McDonald in shopping malls close with the rest of the shopping mall. But otherwise, many McDonalds are open 24 hours, or from early morning till late at night.





McDonald Toilet: Pros

• Reasonably clean and hygienic.
• Separate toilet for male and female.
• Many locations all around NZ (and there are always other fast food chains too).
• Many locations near motorway.
• Friendly for family with small children to use.
• Open from early morning till late at night, so you can use it anytime.

McDonald Toilet: Cons

• The number of toilet is usually small, so can be busy around meal time.
• Toilets are for customers of McDonalds.

I am sure they will not say “no” if you ask about using toilet to McDonald staff. But primarily, these toilets are for customers of McDonald.

It is a good idea during long drive to have a proper stop, grab some drink or light meal to rest. So most people have intension to pickup something from McDonald anyway.

Your children will enjoy a bit of play time at the playground typically located in McDonald. It is beneficial to let them play hard and burn some extra energy, so they will stay quiet for the rest of the drive!

If you want to keep the cost down  at McDonald, my recommendation is “snack deals” and Frozen cokes.

You can pickup Frozen Coke of any size for 1 dollar. It is sweet and fizzy and cold – very refreshing. And kids generally like them, too.

Or you could pickup “Snack deals”, like a cheese burger & small chips for 4 dollars, or 3 pieces of chicken nuggets & small chips for 3 dollars. Perfect size and price for light snack.

For more snack menu, checkout their website:
https://mcdonalds.co.nz/menu/more-bang-your-buck

You could also enjoy expresso or cappuccino at McCafe  locations.

Toilet in Shopping Malls

If you are going to exploration and shopping in a city, your best toilet is ones in a shopping mall.

Shopping mall toilets are hygienic and clean, there are many toilet per shopping mall. Shopping mall environment is very family friendly for those with small children.

Shopping malls have many shops inside, so there is no need to buy something at a particular shop when you are stopping off for toilet.

Shopping malls tend to be located near the centre of a city. There are Westfield shopping malls in Auckland and Christchurch, but there are many others all around New Zealand.

Many shopping malls have names like “ OOOOO　Shopping Mall” or “XXXXX　Shopping Centre”. Here are some examples.

• In Rotorua –>  Central Mall Rotorua （https://www.rotoruacentralmall.co.nz/）
• In Tauranga –> 　Bayfair Shopping Centre（https://www.bayfair.co.nz/）
• In Wellington –> Jonhson Ville Shoppign Centre　（http://www.johnsonvilleshoppingcentre.co.nz/）
• In Queens Town –> O'conelle shopping centre （http://www.oconnells.net.nz/）

The main problem with the shopping mall toilet is that, there are no shopping malls in small towns, and that shopping malls tend to close early after dark (regular finishing time around 5:30PM).





Pros of shopping mall toilets

• Hygienic and clean.
• There are many toilets.
• Friendly environment for those with small children.
• No need to purchase at a particular shop.
• You can do shopping or eating out in the mall at the same time.

Cons of shopping mall toilets

• It may take some time locating toilets within the shopping mall
• You need to get off motor way end enter city centre to find a shopping mall
• You can only use toilet during opening hours of the shopping mall
• Only limited number of cities have shopping malls

Shopping malls have many shops and cafes, and often a food court where you can find a variety of budget meals.

It would be a good idea to include shopping mall as a part of city exploration as a toilet stop and a meal break.

Toilet at Petrol Stations

Travelling between cities, you will be making stops along the way at a petrol station to fuel, and to use their toilets.

Petrol station near motorway can be found by watching out for signs on the street. Alternatively you could check their location before hand, using car navigation or google map.

Manned petrol station usually have a shop with staff, where you can purchase some drinks and snacks.

You can usually find toilet at the petrol station. Toilets are either located inside the shop, or outside next to the shop (but the entry into toilet is separate from the shop entry).

Pros of toilet at a petrol station

• There are petrol stations along the motorway.
• You can stop off for toilet at the same time as topping up fuel for your car.

Cons of petrol station toilet

• There are usually only one or two toilet per petrol station.
• Often only one toilet for both females and males.
• They may not be well maintained at some locations.

Recently there are increasing number of unmanned petrol station where only self-service fuel charger is located (and no toilet).

Public Toilets in Parks and Beaches

There are number of public toilets available near or in nature reserve, parks, or beaches. They are very useful when you are visiting these places.

In New Zealand, there is no need to pay to use public toilet. You can feel free to use them when you find public toilets.

The main concern is that public toilets in remote parks or reserves can be dirty and unhygienic. They are often out of toilet paper as well.

So I would recommend you carry a small pack of tissue paper or toilet paper that can be flushed.

If you are travelling alone, try to use public toilet that are in open area with many people around.

If you are travelling alone at night, public toilet is not recommended for security reasons, as well as some public toilets are locked after dark.

Try to find a nearby shop or McDonald during night time, if you need to find a toilet.

Pros of public toilet in parks

• They are available in handy locations like park, beach, reserve, in town.
• Public toilet in town are reasonably clean.

Cons of public toilets in parks

• Some of them are quite dirty and poorly looked after.
• Not recommended at night time.
• Often toilet papers are out of stock, so carry your own.

Toilet at a Supermarket

Supermarkets like Countdown and Parkn’Save also have toilet in store, that can be used by customers.

Our child often feel the need to go toilet while we are doing regular grocery shopping, and end up using toilet at the supermarket.

Toilet at a supermarket may be located in staff-only locked area. If that is the case, ask a supermarket staff, and they will use swipe card or a key to let you into the toilet.

In some supermarket (like Parkn’Save) they have a regular customer toilet you can use without asking a staff.

Pros of supermarket toilet

• Can be used at the same time as picking up grocery shopping.
• Supermarket is located all around New Zealand. Supermarkets are easy to spot even in unfamiliar areas due to their size.
• Supermarket toilet is reasonably clean and hygienic.
• Supermarket are open from early in the morning till late at night.
• Supermarket toilets are safe to use at night as there are staff members at the supermarket.

Cons of supermarket toilet

• Often requires staff key to access the toilet.
• The number of supermarket toilet is usually small.
• Supermarket is large, so locating toilet within supermarket can take a while.

Conclusion: Finding toilet while travelling New Zealand

So toilets can be found at a various locations. Hope these information will help you when you are travelling around New Zealand.

1 hour drive from Auckland: Visiting Pokeno, a hot town for home buyers

This weekend we visited a friend in Pokeno, a town about 1- hour drive from Auckland towards south-east.

So here, I introduce a little bit about Pokeno and Pokeno (Franklin) Market we discovered on our visit.

About Pokeno

Pokeno is located 50-60km south east of Auckland. It belongs to Waikato district, although it is near the border between Auckland and Waikato region.

According to 2013 census, around 600+ house holds live in Pokeno in 2013.

Pokeno was a part of military headquarters during New Zealand War in 19th century; so Pokeno was an important town during invasion of Waikato region, and is still a town with historical importance.

More info：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokeno

Pokeno is also famous for Pokeno Bacon, which is a long-standing shop in Pokeno selling delicious bacons and sausages.

Many people make a stop at Pokeno when they are travelling from Auckland to Waikato region (or vice versa) to pickup some famous bacon and sausages.

In the town centre of Pokeno, there is the famous Pokeno Bacon shop.

They have a range of items for sale.

Pokeno is a rapidly growing town, with many new houses on sale

Pokeno is currently a small town, but is expected to grow and change significantly in coming years.

Pokeno was always a stop-off town conveniently located halfway between Auckland and Hamilton, two large cities in New Zealand.

Recently, increase in housing price all around the nation made houses to be unaffordable, particularly in cities like Auckland and Hamilton.

Following, Pokeno became one of new towns reasonably close to Auckland,  where people could afford to buy a nice-size house.

Move has already started for people hunting for an affordable house, or those who are in property development business.

Also see article：Housebuyers leave Auckland for Pokeno

There are many new houses or sections for sale on major property advertisement websites, like Trademe Property. (Note Pokeno is included in Franklin, Auckland for Trademe Property listing)

Currently you can find 4 bedroom houses from 700,000s, and 3 bedroom houses from 500,000s, which are much better than prices in Auckland.

When we visited Pokeno, we also spotted a lot of advertisement board that said “ 4x bedroom house for XXX NZD!” or similar. We could also spot many new houses being developed.

Furthermore, when you drive on the motorway by Pokeno, you can see that there is a huge development ongoing right next to the motorway.

When we asked our friends in Pokeno about it, they said “not sure what they are doing, but we hear rumors that supermarkets are coming” “In 10 years, Pokeno will be so different”.

It seems that Pokeno IS a rapidly developing town.

Open every Sunday! Pokeno (Franklin) Market!!

In Pokeno, there is a market on every Sunday from 8am - 2pm.

See their official website from the link below:

http://www.franklinmarkets.com/pokeno-market.html

We love market and we had to stop by to the Pokeno market. There were many shops, ones that sell vegetables, plants, some second hand goods, food…..

Our kids were a bit hungry, so we purchased four of 1-dollar hot dogs and ate it on the side of the market.

We didn’t arrive at the Pokeno market until afternoon, so by that time, there were not many people doing shopping.

So for those visiting market next time, I would recommend going in the morning, when the market is really busy and selling.

Beautiful Paua etc… Sea shell shop

In the Pokeno market, our favorite was this special shop at the back, selling many, and I mean MANY sea shells!!

Apparently the shop owner man loves sea shells. He has been collecting them over 50-years he said.

The shop is full of variety of shells from all over the world. From small to large, in various colors.  If you like shells, you will almost have a heart attack seeing all the shells this shop has!

We asked and he let me take a few photos of his shells. They are AMAZING!

Some shells I have never seen before….

Many large size shells are available also.

There were some Cowry shells with carving on it too.

And of course some small-large size paua and related shells…. beautiful!

Price depends on the shell type and their sizes. We bought some cowry shells about the size of our kids fists for 4 dollars each.

There were also shark teeth on display, and many other beach-found items.

Pokeno is famous for 2 icecream shops!!

After finishing at the market, we saw many people across the street.

Mm…? Everyone is eating something!

That’s right, many people on the street of Pokeno town were eating icecream.

It turns out the Pokeno town is famous for two icecream shops located side by side, selling a wide range of NZ-made icecream  scoops for a good price!

Both shops had a huge variety of flavours, and one-scoop size is huge!

They even have a menu like this below:

14 Scoops for 17 dollars. Kidding?

We did spot people buying 4 scoop icecream (2 x 2 rows), however.

Above is just a photograph posted on the shop wall, but if you actually bought a 14-scoop icecream that would make a awesome photo/experience.

I would love to buy one 14-scoop icecream myself, but I will need a team to help me eat it.

Summary of visiting Pokeno

So that was our first trip to Pokeno township.

• Pokeno is a small town south of Auckland
• Historically important town, also famous for its bacon.
• Development going on in Pokeno, and is a hot town for new housing!
• Pokeno market held every Sunday
• Popular icecream shop – offering a tower of ice cream!

It is a good town to stop by when you are travelling from Auckland to Waikato region.

If you are planning on visiting Pokeno, I would highly recommend making in on Sunday so you can checkout Sunday market too.

20 Rental Properties in One Year

Making chocolate cookies with Kids!

Nothing to do on the weekend at home with kids? Too bad weather to go outside? How about some cooking experience with kids!

Here is our favorite chocolate cookie recipe with some tips making them with children.

Ingredients for chocolate cookies

• Margarine… 180g (can use butter, but margarine is cheaper)
• Sugar… 1 cup
• Egg yolk… x3
• Baking powder… 1/2 tea spoon
• Coco powder…  x3 table spoons
• Standard flour… x3 cups 
• Vanilla essence … 2-3 drops (optional)
• Standard flour to use when shaping cookies

This time we used sunrise margarine: NZ$1.9 for 500g pack – very good cost performance!


We used also cost-effective essential brand plain flour.


Baking powder


As for cocoa powder, use 100% cocoa powder without any added milk powder or sugar.

How to make chocolate cookies

1. First, mix margarine and sugar in a bowl. Margarine is soft straight out of fridge, so you can start mixing without waiting for it to warm up to the room temperature.


Starting to mix sugar and margarine


After mixing, it to make an even mixture

2. Add egg yolks and mix. Drop one egg yolk at a time, mix until yellow patch is no longer visible, then add next yolk. If you have vanilla essence, add 2-3 drops here.


3. Combine flour, baking powder and chocolate powder in a separate bowl and mix. Then pour this powder mixture into the bowl with egg-marg-sugar mixture.

Use spoon to mix like you are “cutting or chopping” the mixture.


When it is evenly mixed, use your hand to knead the mixture to make a big mass of cookie dough. The dough should be a bit sticky, hard enough that you can shape them.


4. Wrap cookie dough with plastic food wrap and store in the fridge for 30 minutes minimum. This time can be longer, you can even keep it in the fridge for one or two nights.


5. Knead with kids and use cookie cutters to shape cookies.

Sprinkle some plane flour on chopping board or on baking sheet and on a rolling pin. Roll the cookie dough with the rolling pin so that it is about 4mm thick. 

Children can try rolling, but parents will need to finish it as kids tend to leave cookie dough too thick and uneven.


My 3-year-old having a go at rolling.

Then use cookie cutters to shape cookies. Cookie cutters can be quite sharp so watch carefully when kids are doing it.

*If the child is too young, get the child to choose which cookie cutter to use, then let them place it on the cookie dough sheet. Then the adult can finish the cutting.



Place shaped cookies onto a piece of baking sheet.

6. Pre-warm the oven to 180C. (=356F) .  Bake them in the oven for 10-12 minutes until the edge and the bottom of cookies just start to turn brown.



7. Once cooked, cool on a baking rack. Cookies are soft when warm, but hardens when cooled.

Alternative recipe: Without cocoa to make plane cookies

You can always omit cocoa powder from above recipe to make plain cookies. In this case, I highly recommend adding 3 table spoons of almond powder to replace cocoa powder, which results in very rich flavor.

If you prefer, you could replace flour with rice flour to make gluten-free version.


Plain version

Tips when making cookies with children

Making cookies with children can be a very good educational activity. There are commercial cooking courses for children with fees, but if you do it at home, its free!

But cooking can be difficult and dangerous for too young children. At our home, my children are involved in the following cookie making processes;

• Make a crack on eggs (cracking and separating egg yolk from egg white is done by an adult)
• Mix margarine and sugar with a spoon
• Try scooping cocoa powder with a table spoon and put in a bowl (if they make a mistake and the amount of cocoa is more or less than supposed to…. minimal effect! No problem!)
• Kneading cookie dough and shaping cookies <- Kids enjoy this the most!

There are also some tips for making the whole experience easy for the adult:

• Have all ingredients measured and prepared before starting cooking
• Have tools like bowls, spoons, baking sheet, all ready on the bench before starting cooking
• Place newspapers or scrap papers on the floor and do cooking on the paper (this way, it is easy to clean when spillage happen)
• Be mentally prepared that there will be a spillage

Kneading and shaping with little hands!

Instead off doing the whole cookie making process in one day, you could prepare cookie dough (above step 1~4) and let it sit in the fridge over night.
Then start kneading and shaping cookies from step 5 onwards on the following day with children. This way, the whole activity takes shorter and easier on the supervising adult.

Things to be careful when making cookies with children

The ONLY thing to really be careful when cooking with children is their safety.

As long as the whole cooking activity is finished without any injuries (like cutting or burning), it is a success even if cookies are shaped funny or tastes funny.


With that in mind, good solid preparation before starting to cook is essential. It is very difficult to go back into kitchen to grab an item or do something when you are watching children at the same time.

By preparing everything before hand, hopefully the adult can concentrate on guiding and helping children.

Be ready as spillage WILL happen no matter how careful you do it. Flour dropping on the floor or it maybe an egg.

Give up on trying to prevent spillage 100% and instead, have tools ready for cleaning afterwards. Whether it is flour or egg or margarine, nothing is toxic, so simple sweeping and wiping would easily do the trick.

If you place news papers or other scrap papers on the floor and work on them, it makes it easier when tidying up.


Baking in an oven should always be done by an adult, and be careful that children do not come anywhere near the hot oven, oven plate or freshly baked hot cookies.


If you do cookie making on a dining chair and table, children may fall from the chair or children may drop items on the floor. This can be dangerous.

So I recommend that you place papers on the floor and do mixing work on the floor, or alternatively use a coffee table.

Summary on Making cookies with kids

Cookie making can be a real fun, special experience for children. My children have been helping me shape cookies since they were 2-year old, and still enjoy it at school-age.

The whole house smells really nice of baking, creating very happy environment. And of course, freshly baked home-made cookies always taste the best!!

＜*For cute cookie cutters in NZ at a bargain price, checkout Fishpond.co.nz below!*>

Dinosaur Cookie Cutter Set
Ninjabread Men Cookie Biscuit Cutters - 3 Pcs

Visiting Mossop the New Zealand honey specialty shop!

New Zealand is famous for its honey, especially Manuka honey.

Well the other weekend, when we went to Bay of Plenty region and stopped off at a local honey-specialist shop named Mossop in search for awesome honey and honey-bee encounter experience.

Mossop is a specialized shop for New Zealand honey

Mossop is a family business located in an area called Tauriko highly specialized in producing and selling honey and honey-related products.

The business has 65 years of history and know-how of producing honey has been built over the time and passed down the business.

In the shop, various types of honey are sold including the famous Manuka honey.

Check out their official website here ⇒　http://www.mossopshoney.co.nz/

Tauriko is in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty region. The Mossop shop is located on the state highway 29, and is easy to find.

If you live or travel from Auckland, It is a great place to stop off to checkout locally produced honey, on your way visiting Tauranga or Rotorua.

Awesome display of New Zealand honey bees! 

We have repeatedly visited Mossop over time, and the reason is not just honey products they sell: we like to see the honey bees that produce the honey!

There are many shops in Auckland or other cities where you can pickup honey or honey-products, but there are not many that has display of live honey bee inside their nest.

At Mossop, they have an indoor display of honey bee nest. There is a large glass panel, and on the other side of this glass is a part of the honey bee nest.

So over the glass, you can see many honey bees moving and doing work. 


Honey bee & bee nest display


You can see honey bees working real close!

You are not seeing the whole honey bee nest box, but this type of display has some advantages like it is safe for little children, and you can really get close to the bees.

Next to the live bee display, they have panels full of information about honey bees. There are pictures of work bees, queen bees and drones (male honey bees) on the panel, so you can compare these pictures with the actual bees in the glass display.

You can even try to spot drones and queen bees – you might find them if you are lucky.

This is an awesome way to get to know bees for people who are interested in honey bees, especially kids. Our children love them too.

You are allowed to take some photos by the bee display, so you could get a nice shot of yourself or your kids with honey bees – a good memory of the trip.

Range of New Zealand honey and honey products

At Mossop, they sell various types of honey and honey-related products. In addition to honey that are packaged in a bottles, there is also a bucket-size sale where you buy honey per weight.

You can purchase Manuka honey that way too. The price is very reasonable; 1kg of Manuka honey for NZD47.9, NZD103.7 for 2.5kg according to their website online shop.

http://www.mossopshoney.co.nz/shop/honey/manukahoney.html

You can taste-test honey first before deciding to purchase them. They also sell honey-comb honey, great for a souvenir.

Sweets made using honey like honey fudge, cosmetic products like honey skin cream, and cute honey-bee toys perfect for kids are also sold here. 

We purchased “bee-wax candle set”. We have never seen something like this before; a sweet smelling candle sheet made of bee wax!


Mossop is a perfect place to pickup anything related to honey!

Have a break with Manuka Honey ice cream!

After watching some honey bees and doing shopping, we decided to have a short break with icecream. At Mossop they have a counter with icecreams sold at NZ$2 per kids’ size scoop, or NZ$3.5 per regular size scoop.

Ice creams come in various flavors but there was one in particular, Manuka honey flavor, so we had to try. New Zealand ice creams are the best! Our children were really happy too.

Mossop shop information

Overall, Mossop is a small shop but is a great place to be if you are looking for good quality New Zealand honey and honey-related products, or a bit of honey-bee encounter.

They are open for business seven days a week except Christmas day and New years day, so why don’t you stop by when you visit Bay of Plenty!

Shop name：Mossop
Official homepage：http://www.mossopshoney.co.nz/
Address：761 State Highway 29、Tauriko、Tauranga、Bay of Plenty、New Zealand
Shop hours
April ～September : 9am - 5pm
October～March: 9am - 5:30pm
Closed days
Christmas and New Year’s day
Shot days
December 26th and January 2nd: 10:30am - 4:30am
Phone number for enquiries: +64 7 543 0971
Phone number for shop: +64 7 543 0032