Matakana Markets
Murray Bevan | November 27th, 2007
The Matakana Markets are the current market du jour for any discerning new-wave hippie, organics fanatic, straw hat-wearing, coffee drinking, Blackberry toting city slicker with a penchant for escaping the city of a weekend and discovering real living again.
Located 35-40mins drive north of Auckland, the Matakana Markets are one of the little pearls that Matakana has produced in recent years and have added to the region’s surge in popularity.
The markets operate on Saturday mornings from 9am - 1pm and are brimming with fresh, local produce of every kind, without being cluttered up with the usual market stall crap. The setting is also cool; it’s small scale lending itself well to the constant flow of visitors who make the most of the markets in bursts of 20minutes to several hours all through the morning.
My favourite stalls were the orchard lady, who taught my girlfriend how to care for orchards over a 15minute spiel, all the while passing up other potential customers (now THAT’s real service) and of course the baked items and chocolates, all hand-made and crafted locally.
