Photo: Apricots Fruit Central Otago South Island New Zealand

There's nothing quite like the taste of fresh picked apricots, eaten straight from the tree. Central Otago is a region on the South Island also known as the fruit basket of New Zealand, an area which produces fresh, plump stone fruit and crisp apples.

Sweet, tasty, and fresh - apricots are a stone fruit closely related to the plum. The fruit grows on trees which produce delicate white-pinkish blossoms in early spring.

The fruit of the apricot is mostly yellow-orange often tinged with red on the side most exposed to the sun. It features a single hard seed in the centre of the fruit which is called the stone.

Central Otago, situated on the South Island of New Zealand, is known as the fruit basket and has a climate which supports the cultivation of many varieties of fruit. The town of Roxburgh is world famous (in New Zealand) for growing apricots as well as other fruit, an obvious clue to this is seen when driving through the tiny town of approximately 750, the roads are lined by orchards of fruit trees including apricots, nectarines, peaches, and apples. ... continue below the picture...

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Roxburgh is situated alongside the Clutha River and was once a major centre during the Gold rush of the late 1800's. Now all that is left of that era are some lonely miners' graves, and a few beautiful old stone and mud-brick buildings.

Fresh picked apricots at an orchard near Roxburgh, Central Otago, South Island, New Zealand.