Tauranga is a harbourside city in the Bay of Plenty region on New Zealand’s North Island. A bridge over the harbour connects Tauranga to scenic Mount Maunganui, a beach town near an expansive white sand beach where surfers and other sun worshippers enjoy the natural beauty. The town is full of clothing boutiques, souvenir stores and beer gardens.

Sam and Jed, the delightful truffle dogs are highly trained and expert sniffers, instrumental in the truffle growing and harvesting process. Colin and Maureen Binns, proprietors of the Te Puke Truffle farm, demonstrated how the dogs quickly detect the truffle fragrant aroma so the humans can carefully pluck the black Perigord truffles from beneath their oak and hazelnut trees. Harvest season is in Fall so time was not right to see an actual truffle being extracted, but there was no mistaking the talent and spirit the dogs and their hardworking, passionate owners. Maureen served homemade treats laced with their truffles from past harvests.

New Zealand’s huge kiwi fruit industry is paramount in this region with thousands of hectors of kiwi orchards that produce millions of the tasty fruits for export to the rest of the world. Fascinating process that cultivates the vines/trees to grow the three varieties red, gold and the familiar bright green fruit loaded with nutrients. Like any agricultural product, the kiwi fruit industry is highly dependent on conducive weather to have a good yield worth millions. So far, this season looks favorable. Each fruit is hand-picked, carefully measured and sorted depending on size, taste and quality. Very labor intensive.