Blog

On an O/E many moons ago, I remember sitting in a cafe in Ithaca, Greece and ordering a range of fresh salads. A humus salad was presented as a plate of humus drenched in olive oil, followed by a tomato salad : tomatoes lost in a sea of olive oil and a green salad: yep you guessed it, lettuce drowning in olive oil also. A far cry from the classic Greek salad we are used to, or so I thought at the time.

Celebrating our very own Matariki this week, we thought it the perfect time showcase some of our wonderful local artisan Northland made gift box suppliers & share their artistic & original Northland flare.

Tucked away in a private 1.5 hectare oasis, near Piroa Falls in Waipu, is our very own local Roastery, Air Coffee.

Meet Walter, specialty coffee Roaster and Taster at Air Coffee and supplier of our increasingly popular Mocha gift boxes. In a Mud brick house surrounded by luscious Manuka and Nikau , Walter makes us a “pour over” coffee while we sit down for a chin wag.

We all know that feeling when you jump out of the shower and go to apply your morning skin routine to find you are out of moisturiser! You instantly swear to get more organised and stock up before hand next time.

I must confess this happens to me ALL the time, and is what prompted a very overdue meet and greet with one of our local gift box suppliers, Lara and Dan of Matakana Skincare.

Possibly not a topic we really think much about in our daily wash routine, but for soap maker Alicja of SANOlifestyle, it’s actually both. On a steamy hot January day at a cafe in Whangarei, I had the pleasure of meeting up with Alicja (Ala) who had some very interesting stories about how soap is actually made.

Our search for more locally handmade gems to add to our NZ made gift boxes continues….. after a visit to the Quarry Arts Centre in Whangarei, we discovered, hidden away in her own Northland tropical oasis, ceramics Artist and Potter, Marilyn Krey.

Have you ever met that person who is such a perfectionist, that even after hours, days or weeks of work, if what they are doing is not quite good enough, it gets binned and they start over?

Local Waipu Fashion designer, Tracey Ann is that person. Her passion for design started as a child. “ I drove Mum mad” Tracey says. A very active child, she would be always creating things from scratch but if she didn’t like the end product she would start all over again.

Remember the excitement as a child, of ripping open presents Christmas day? And, if there were siblings and cousins around, it all turning into a kind of feral ritual, the result being torn wrapping paper and envelopes strewn all over the living room floor!

Now, all grown up, we do things a little bit differently…….

Finding a premium handmade chocolate to add to our NZ gift box range, proved more time consuming than first thought, until we came across Chocolate Brown. We all know the Swiss are master’s in the art of chocolate making, and Chocolate Brown is no different.

When it comes to stunning scenery, views, and East Coast beaches, we are spoilt for choice in beautiful Northland. So discovering an equally outstanding and affordable luxury apartment that is Marina Cove in Opua, was the icing on the cake on a recent visit to the Bay of Islands.

Tucked away in a stunning seaside location in Parua Bay, Northland is the home of Taihoa Tides Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We all know olive oil is good for you, and Taihoa Tides tastes great! On our search for a high quality Northland olive oil for our NZ Gift box range, we were lucky enough to spend a few hours with owner Denise, who gave us a tour of their beautiful orchard and treated us to a tasting of their varieties of Taihoa olive oil.

Who doesn’t like Chocolate and coffee? Or even better, Chocolate coated coffee beans! Imagine our delight when we searched for a chocolate maker for our NZ Gift box range and found The Chocolate barn located in our own town Waipu. And, if coffee isn’t for you how does macadamia or goji berries coated in milk or dark chocolate sound?