Overview
Picking your own berries is a quintessential summer activity in New Zealand — and the perfect excuse to lick your way through some of the freshest real fruit ice cream. Around Wellington, blueberry picking is the main event, although you can also find strawberries and summer fruit like plums and apples. The blueberry picking season generally runs from January to April, and there are several locations on the outskirts of the city where you can hunt around the undergrowth for the biggest, juiciest and sweetest beauties — and have your fill while doing so.
BLUEBANK BLUEBERRY & EMU FARM
At Bluebank you can pick your own organic blueberries and have an up close encounter with wildlife. Found 45 minutes from the capital and less than ten minutes from Upper Hutt in the picturesque Akatarawa Valley, the farm doubles as an emu sanctuary. Feed one of the giant birds, take a stroll through the wildflower meadow, or pick your own organic blueberries. While fresh blueberries are only available from January until April, the emu can be visited year-round. Visitors also have access to a swimming hole on the property.
WAIKAWA BLUEBERRIES
Waikawa Blueberries is an organic pick-your-own blueberry farm on the border of Kapiti and Horowhenua. The farm is open from December to April, when visitors can load up on fresh fruit for between $16 to $22 per kilogram. Waikawa provides the picking baskets and compostable punnets for packing your berries — or you can bring your own containers. The farm also sometimes has organic free range eggs, strawberries, raspberries, apples, plums and pears for sale if they are in season. There's real fruit ice cream and coffee, and a big trampoline for the kids, too.
PENRAY GARDENS
BERRY HEALTHY
Paekakariki's Berry Healthy is a family business offering blueberries, raspberries and black currants. The pick-your-own blueberry season runs from December until mid-March, with the fruit set around $20 per kilogram. The farm supplies buckets to pick, which are then weighed and empty into reusable bags. Pickers are also welcome to bring their own recyclable containers to take home.
BLUEBERRIES AT PUKEWA
The pick-your-own season at this Pukeawa farm runs from early January until mid February. Spray-free blueberries are on offer from $14 per kilogram, with each picking bucket holding nearly two kilos. There are two orchards available, including one for family and another for those looking for peace and quiet while picking. Pickers are encouraged you to bring their own (very clean) containers.