Huka Prawn Park

I'm a dreamer. I'm the type of person who says "oh we should do this!" but, for some reason or another, never get around to it. It's not that I'm a disorganised person (I really like lists), I'm just too busy.The idea eventually fades and is buried, deep beneath all the boring, everyday tasks I have to do.

Glancing over the prawn farm

Enter Jason. He is a doer. He's the type of person that picks up a good idea and makes sure it happens. Because he's awesome. It was because of him that I finally decided to book tickets to the Wild Foods Festival in Hokitika earlier this year and it was his "if-you-really-want-to-go-just-go" attitude that had us planning a trip around the central North Island and going to one of the coolest places ever. 

The throng of prawn fisherman at the park in the summer

If you had asked me for a list of places to visit in the North Island, I would have told you the usual -Rotorua for the thermal attractions, Waitomo for the glow worms and maybe Ruapehu for the snow (in winter of course) but now I have another to add to the list -Taupo for the prawn fishing! It was highly recommended to us by my cousin, Rex, who had already been twice and was planning a third trip.

Some rules for fishing. Seemed pretty obvious to me

Proudly named the Prawn Fishing Capital of the World, the Huka Prawn Park is the only activity of its kind in New Zealand and the perfect place to spend a day. Jason and I bought ourselves Super Fun Passes which included all day access to the fishing park as well as a guided tour and fishing lesson. 

Just doing some tranquil, silent squatting

The tour starts off in the hatchery where more than 1 billion prawn babies are born each year. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that's a big number. The park makes use of the waste geothermal heat that is generated from the nearby geothermal power station to make sure the temperature is just right for the tropical prawns. As well as being good for the prawns, the warm water that is circulated throughout the park is also quite nice for us poor visitors who are exposed to the cold winter atmosphere and I especially like feeding the baby prawns. Warning: their little claws tickle very much.

This is my first (and only) catch. I named him Clive. Look at how big he is!

After a short fishing lesson and a few rules, we were set loose in the park armed with our bamboo rods, a bucket and some bait. I have to say that prawn fishing is a lot more satisfying than normal fishing as you get tugs more often -although I suspect it's due to the fact that the prawns are concentrated in a few small ponds rather than prawns being more hungry than fish. Although it was cold (middle of winter, you see), the steam rising from the warm ponds kept us toasty while we sat in tranquil silence.

Clive on ice, ready to go to the restaurant

  It wasn't long till the tranquility was broken by something big tugging on my line and I let out a squeal of delight. Following the instructions given by our guide, I wait for a few more tugs and don't start pulling back until I feel a constant pulling which meant the prawn had put the bait in its mouth -the short jerky tugs mean that it's only got it in its claws. He's a big 'un!

Mmmmm... warn toasty fire

Unfortunately, the rest of our fishing time wasn't as eventful and we decide to head to the Huka Prawn Park Riverside Restaurant where all the farmed prawns are taken and the lovely chefs cook up your catch of the day. We happened to arrive at the same time as a large tour group who had just placed their gigantic order and taken up all the seats in the restaurant -all except a table for two beside a roaring fire. Perfect.

Hot lemon, ginger and honey fruit drink -$4.50

Garlic Ciabatta -$5.50

 Due to the aforementioned tour group, we were advised that the average wait time would be about 30 minutes. Since we were in the most comfortable place in the world, we decided to order some hot drinks and remain by the fire. However, our entrees arrive minutes after we are seated and our lovely waitress informs us our mains would be arriving shortly after. The hot lemon and ginger drink super lemony (just the way I like it) and was the perfect drink after a few hours in the cold. The Ciabatta bread was very well flavoured although a little softer than I would have liked.

Chunky Chips with housemade tomato sauce and aioli -$6.50

 Most of the dishes on the menu are a little out of our price range as we had already spent a lot of money on renting a camper-van so we had to resort to items that wouldn't break the bank and what better way to fill up than on chunky fries? Lucky for us, the chunky chips here are delish -crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside and as big as your face. Don't believe me?

See? I told you.

 Anyway, they were very satisfying and we let ourselves have a nice seafood dish..

Tempura prawns with a sweet chili sauce -$18.50

The tempura prawns was the one "luxury dish" we allowed ourselves and boy was it tasty! The batter was light and super crunchy while the sweet chili sauce had a slight citrus twang to it which went well with the natural sweetness of the prawns.

Clive. On a plate.

Last to arrive was Clive. Remember him? The catch of the day?

At this point, I wish we had caught more

Although I had bonded with Clive on our trip to the restaurant, I immediately forgot and happily tucked in to the big, juicy prawn when it was brought to our table. It was perfectly cooked and simply delicious.

Waikato River

After our meal, we decided to take a tour of the grounds which took us through all the fishing ponds and along the Waikato River. There were many activity stops on the way such as rope courses and trout fishing which kept us entertained and made the walk more enjoyable. The scenery was breathtaking.

Biggest prawn ever caught is 42cm. Try to beat that!

Interesting prawn facts

In case you can't read the interesting prawn facts above, here they are:


1. Did you know that the prawn breeds at a ratio of seven females to one male.
2. The male Prawn has two Thingi's.
3. The golden claw male puts all his energy into fighting and if he wins often enough he then turns into a blue clawed male and then puts all this energy into mating (Clive was one of those!).
4. The male prawn in an average lifetime of 2 years will father approximately 36 million happy and healthy baby prawns.

 All and all, this was the best place we visited on our road trip -it was just a pity that it was winter. The Huka Prawn Park has all the ingredients needed for a great day out -good food, good activities and very educational. We will definitely be back for more soon and this time, we will get a whole bucket of prawns to ourselves Muahahahahaha..

The Huka Prawn Park can be found at the end of Huka Falls Road, Wairakei Park, Taupo, New Zealand.


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Night at the Museum.. But in the day time

As I am typing this, Grace is reading Mills and Boon. Out loud. 

We have had a very long morning. 


Kate is only working a half day so Grace and I entertained ourselves at the Otago Museum before meeting her for lunch. Now this is entirely non-food related, but the museum's butterfly exhibit is amazing! They are allowed to fly freely within the enclosure so you can touch them and I was deathly scared of accidentally stepping on one. This is a permanent exhibit and I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Dunedin.

Monarchs and some other butterflies at the feeding station

 Anyway.. Back to the food. 

Menu at the Museum Cafe

After we sanitised our hands, we met Kate downstairs for lunch at the museum cafe. Again, Grace and I were surprised at the very reasonable prices (especially at a museum). She ordered corn fritters, Kate ordered a smoked chicken panini and I got kumara hashcake with bacon and a bowl of fries to share.

Grace's Corn Fritters ($12)

We found the dishes here to be, overall, quite average. Grace found that the dish came with too much relish which masked the taste of the corn fritters. The fact that the salad wasn't on the side also made it hard to eat -once the fritters crumbled, it was difficult to make out the difference between fritter and salad which was just plain confusing!

Kumara Hashcakes with Bacon ($12)

Unfortunately, my dish wasn't much better. Although perfectly edible, I found it dry, crumbly and, frankly, quite lacking in any flavour. I looked around for the missing relish and settled on putting a lot of ground pepper on my dish. About 2 minutes into my meal, an embarrassed waitress came out carrying a dish of what we thought was salad dressing. It turned out to be maple syrup..

My meal with the addition of maple syrup

I fully appreciate that maple syrup and bacon go together like sunshine and lollipops but when paired with the remaining kumara cakes and salad, it became that awkward cousin you bring to parties because your parents insisted that you show him around -your friends don't really make an effort because he obviously doesn't have the same interests and none of your friends make an effort to talk to him.

Smoked Chicken Panini ($8.50)

Kate's was the only dish that came with the salad on the side which, I'm told, made life a lot easier. No complaints except that it was a little dry and could have used a little more flavour (Ok, so I guess that's a complaint or two..)

Fries with Aoli and Tomato Sauce ($7.70)

The fries were good though =)


Verdict? Quite average. Not too bad for an afternoon lunch -but ask for your salad on the side, not this weird "undersalad" business

Student Life

So it's a lovely, sunny day outside and what am I doing? Sitting in the lounge with the curtains drawn, trying to read tiny writing as I try to type this out on my iPhone. I'm actually waiting for Grace to wake up.

Let me explain. Grace and I flew down to the student town of Dunedin (NZ) for our friend Kate's graduation.

Since Kate works everyday, we've been forced to entertain ourselves. Despite being told there's not much here in the way of tourism, we manage to find a range of activities like VISITING CADBURY WORLD!!

Me standing in front of a Cadbury Crunchie mountain. Jealous?

Unfortunately cameras weren't allowed on the tour so I had to leave my most Asian accessory in our tour guide's locker..

We were taken through the working factory and shown chocolate through its processing and packing stages. It was almost like walking through Willy Wonka's factory -but instead of Oopma Loompas, there were about 10 white clothed people per assembly line putting together boxes and packing chocolate. It's hard to imagine that this was once a prestigious job to have.

Throughout the tour, we were given lots of free chocolate and reward for answering quizzes. We were, at last, taken to the Jaffa room where we got to see them being made and even taste melted, creamy dairy milk chocolate. Verdict? A+ tour, would partake again. Great value for only $16!

My awesome goodie bag (The mint drinking chocolate and rolly things were from the gift shop)

Our tour ended at the gift shop where every single Cadbury product was on sale. I can't help but feel a little disappointed when I realise that it's not much cheaper than Cadbury products at the supermarket. I do, however, leave with a few mint related goodies as they are my boyfriend's favourites. Also.. Earrings made by the Otago Miniaturists Society! (You have NO idea how much this excites me!)

Every king sized chocolate available

Made by the Otago Miniaturist Society Awesome.

Another thing Grace and I were particularly taken aback by was the price of good quality cafe food in Dunedin. We come from Auckland where a cup of decent coffee costs $5 and cafe meals are almost unaffordable.

The cheap menu make us suspicious..

We stopped off at "The Art of Craft of Fine Beer and Food" which is right in the heart of the city centre. I was a bit skeptical when I saw the prices -$15 gets you next to nothing in Auckland cafes (both in quality and quantity) but we were both pleasantly surprised when our dishes were served.

I ordered the craft hotpot ($15) which had bits of beef steak that had been stewed with veggies and served on the fluffiest potato mash I've ever had! The beef was very tender and the tomato based sauce that came with it complimented the mash quite well, although it was lacking muchly in vegetables (I think I counted 4 bits of cauliflower in total).

Craft Hotpot "Tender seared chunky beef steak slowly braised with a medly of vegetables; served with seasoned mash"

Chicken, Bacon and Avocado Sandwich

Grace ordered the chicken, bacon and avocado sandwich ($14). Pretty self explanatory. You know it's a good deal when you end up with more chicken than bread!

Things learned:

• I probably could have saved around $1000 in my 3 years of uni had I dined at Dunedin cafes instead of Auckland. (I will do the math when I get home)
• Kate's is the only non-gross flat in Dunedin
• New Zealanders eat, on average, 4kgs of chocolate per year; Australians eat 8kgs and Erupeans eat 12kgs -fatties..
• Cadbury makes easter eggs nonstop from June to January which is all eaten in the space of one week