Outdoor furniture and giant games such as tic-tac-toe, connect four and jenga adorn the lawn of Tinaberries
– a simple farmgate that has turned into a must-stop destination for local produce lovers.
From the recently repurposed shed that overlooks the working farm you can sit and unwind while enjoying strawberries as fresh as they come, or indulge in the simple yet delicious local fruit ice creams.
And if you time your visit just right – from mid-August to September – you can pick the fruit directly from the plant yourself for your own take-home punnet. Owners Bruce and Tina McPherson happily turning a blind eye to those who eat a few while they are at it.
While Tina likes to joke it must be the love they give the plants that make their strawberries taste so amazing, there is no denying there is something special about Tinaberries.
ICE CREAM INDULGENCE
Strawberry, passionfruit, dragonfruit & lime and mango ice creams are on offer at Tinaberries year-round. During the strawberry season from June to early October they are open seven days from 9am to 5.30pm.
Outside of the strawberry season the ice creams have become so popular, Tinaberries will soon be opening Wednesday to Sunday.
PICK YOUR OWN
Get in quick for the Pick Your Own experience. It’s only available until the end of the season – locally that’s usually the end of September or early October.
A great activity for kids and adults alike, there is nothing like walking through the rows of green plants filled with the ruby red gems, choosing just which strawberry to pick. One for me, one for the punnett.
FRUIT FLAVOURS
There are so many things that Tinaberries gets right, but at the top of the list is letting beautiful fruit flavours shine.
Alongside their big strawberries and moreish ice creams, passionfruit butter and strawberry jam are also available for purchase. Their frozen strawberry or passionfruit cubes are perfect for smoothies, cocktails or cooking.
Did you know?
Strawberries are traditionally a Summer fruit in Australia, but Queenslanders we associate them with Winter, as that is when they grow best in our climate.
A Tinaberries History
For 14 years, the name Tinaberries has been synonymous with the biggest, reddest and most delicious strawberries you are likely to find in the Bundaberg Region.
After living overseas, Bruce and Tina McPherson knew Bundaberg was the perfect location to grow smallcrops.
“There was a family on the Hummock – Hummock View Strawberries, and they grew the yummiest strawberries I had ever tasted. I thought if we could grow strawberries half as good as they could, we would at least be able to sell them,” Tina said.
“I also love that Strawberries are like a treat, but still a fruit, so they are good for you.”
Tinaberries were known for growing the Camerosas variety, but with not many people planting the difficult-to-grow fruit, the variety was eventually lost.
“Now it is the Red Rhapsody that are the big, red strawberries, which are Queensland developed for our climatic conditions. They are really really good, but not quite as magnificent as the Camerosas were,” she said.
While locals and visitors love a visit to the Tinaberries farm, it was something the family never set out to create, originally opening a small farm gate as a way to supply the local market.
The first year, we just put our own barbecue table in front of the shop. The next year we thought we should put seats on the lawn, so we went and bought those, and it has just continued to grow.
The latest addition to the is a beautiful rustic shed that opens to both the lawn and farm.
“I call that Bruce’s COVID therapy,” Tina joked.
“The shed was always here, it just needed doing up. It is a great place now to hang artifacts like Bruce’s fathers saddle from when he was a jackaroo back in the 50s, old shearers stretchers, old thing from Bruce’s grandmother during the war.”