No ice cream at the ice cream factory

This isn’t strictly true. But it will be soon.

One of the local homeschoolers organised a tour at the local dairy (Fonterra). The information sheet indicates one part showing the ice cream processing plant and the other showing the milk cartons being made. We arrived there and waited outside the security gate for what seemed like ages in in chilly winds this morning.  We were ushered in right at 9:30 to a small auditorium where the group watched a ten minute film about the place. The first information given by the leader was that the factory no longer makes ice cream. The ice cream processors finished earlier this week and today was the last day on the job for what remained of those workers.  The mood around the place was a bit somber from what I could tell. Earlier this year, the ice cream lines were sold off to Nestle and Bulla (Cadbury ice cream only) and the equipment was sold to Bulla. Now there is no ice cream made in Western Australia so anything we get has to be shipped from the eastern states.

The film wasn’t very good and is being remade to get rid of information on the ice cream processing that can no longer be seen. The group was then divided into two and we started out on the tour. We got to see a flow chart of how the ice cream used to be made. Wow! We got to see the room where it used to be made and the equipment that was left. It was kind of sad seeing it there, unused and partially dismantled. There was a quick look into the laboratory where products were checked for bacteria and then it was off to see how the milk cartons and plastic bottles were made. That was the only production line we were able to see in operation and it was rather interesting. The plastic milk bottles used to be made off-site (by another company) and transported to the factory but the operation was recently moved on-site to reduce costs and resource use. Apparently there are over 10000 paper cartons made every hour.

After this part there was a toilet break. before heading into the visitor area at the entrance. Everyone was given a free ice cream to eat while there and sent away with a carton of flavored milk or orange juice. There was a choice of a few ice creams, including the Cadbury and Picnic ice cream cones along with some brands I’ve never seen before (presumably exported brands).

Lego Lover enjoyed most of the tour but he was stressed out by all the noise and people in the visitor at the end. When we were ushered out with our drinks in hand, he couldn’t wait to get away from there and was extremely annoyed when I stopped to thank my friend for organising the visit. I brought my chocolate milk home for Game Fanatic to enjoy.

So while it was certainly interesting, the lack of the ice cream plant was quite a loss for us. I guess we should be happy to have gotten our ice creams  since we may well have been the last group to get that benefit.  It’s now school holidays here so there won’t be any further tours until late October.