a kiwifruit and avocado orchard

In early January we met a couple, Margie and Graeme, who were visiting Dunedin from the North Island. When they told us where they were from and what church they attend, I realized we would be in their area in late January and would, in fact, be attending their church one Sunday we were there. One of the recent graduates from the Presbyterian seminary where I teach has just begun to serve as minister at their church, and I wanted to attend church there to show him support. When I told them which Sunday we would be attending their church, they said they would definitely see us because they were scheduled to be ushers that Sunday.

So in late January we flew to Auckland and drove about three hours south and west to the Bay of Plenty near Tauranga. The next day we went to church, and there were Margie and Graeme, as promised, handing out bulletins at the door. They invited us over for lunch after church. Their house overlooks a huge bay. On the other side of the bay, you can see a long island. In the far distance is a round hill. That's Mount Maunganui, close to Tauranga. Dave later walked around Mount Maunganui and took some great pictures, which I'll put in another blog post.

Margie works in a kiwifruit and avocado orchard. Before I go further, I have to explain that in New Zealand, "kiwi" is used to refer to the iconic flightless bird and to New Zealanders. The fruit that we call kiwis in the US are called kiwifruit here. They are originally from China, but thrive in the New Zealand climate. They are a major export fruit, and apparently all the best fruit is exported and we only get to eat the seconds. The next two photos give you a sense of what a kiwifruit orchard looks like, with Margie standing in front of the vines.

The first orchard she took us to was a yellow kiwifruit orchard. Yellow kiwifruit is fairly new here. I've never seen it in the US. I love it. It seems sweeter than the green kiwifruit. The skin is the same color, but not furry, and the fruit is yellow with a slight green tinge and a slightly different shape, more pointy, than green kiwifruit.

To convert a green kiwifruit orchard into a yellow kiwifruit orchard, yellow kiwifruit vines were grafted into an old green kiwifruit vine. In the next two photos, you can see the original (green) vine at the bottom and the two new (yellow) vines that were grafted into it.

Margie took us to a green kiwifruit orchard as well, and you can see the difference in the shape of the fruit. One of the things she explained to us at length is that there are male and female vines. The male vines are needed for the pollen produced by their flowers.

REALLY tall hedges surround a lot of kiwifruit orchards. The Bay of Plenty region is very windy (while we were there the weather was blissfully just like Maui), and wind is bad for kiwifruit because it causes the fruit to rub against each other and get damaged. The high hedges protect the fruit from the wind. The hedges also keep the orchards warmer by trapping the warmth of the sun.

The man Margie works for also grows avocados. Most of his avocado orchards are young. In the two photos below, the avocado trees (the ones with the orangish leaves) are about five years old and are planted among orange trees. The orange trees provide protection for the young avocado trees. As the avocado trees grow, first the adjacent orange trees are cut down. Then as they grow even bigger, the next closest orange trees are cut down. Then finally this orchard will be all avocado trees. They get very big, several stories tall, and are picked by people in cherry pickers.