We visited the Claremont Cadbury factory on an all day tour that also included a lunch cruise on the Derwent river, Bonorong Wildlife Park, and the historic town of Richmond. On the day we toured the Dunedin factory we went all over the Otago peninsula, including Sandfly Bay, Penguin Place, and Larnach Castle. I feel like it makes more sense to treat the two Cadbury locations together, and cover the other locations separately.
Claremont was highly recommended for Tasmania, so we had always planned on going. One thing I noticed in the guidebooks was that pretty much every city of note in Australia has at least one candy factory, zoo, botanical garden, and antarctic exploration-themed attraction (well, the last one may be more in the Southern part of the country). Going to all of them would be silly, so you need to look for the better, more highly-recommended ones. I wouldn't have minded checking out the other fudge factory around Hobart, or even Haigh's Chocolates in Adelaide, but only Claremont was must-see.
I love bringing food as souvenirs, because I have a natural antipathy towards more knick-knacks and dust collectors, especially for a trip that you didn't take, but was merely taken by someone you knew. With food souvenirs, you eat them, ideally you enjoy them, and then they are gone. (Flowers are also good. You enjoy them for a few days and then they die.)
We thought bringing back chocolates for people would be good, but then we had a concern. One of our tours had a limit of 15K luggage per person. We were just below that with our clothes and toiletries, so stocking up on chocolate in Tasmania could put us over, and carrying it all over the country for another two weeks did not sound like a great idea anyway.
By pure chance I noticed that there was another Cadbury factory in Dunedin, so while setting up our south island of New Zealand tour I asked our guide to arrange a stop by the store, no tour necessary. He said we should probably go for the tour, which was fine, so our plan was to stock up on chocolate there, and we would only have to port it around for two days. We did not realize the vast inequality between the two factories.
First of all, Claremont does not really have a tour. They used to, but stricter safety and health laws made it too onerous, I guess, so now they just give you a talk, and you have access to the gift shop, the chocolate shop, and a cafe. That being said, it was a great talk. I suppose it depends on who your guide is, but ours had so much personality and she knew everything about Cadbury and chocolate-making and consumption. Also, they had Freddo there. The picture of the cow (source of the cup and a half of milk that goes into every bar) and of the frog are from Claremont. (Our guide is in the picture with Freddo, though it is blurry.)
Also, the store is amazing. It is huge, they have all sorts of products we have never even heard of here, and they have specials on different days, where even though the prices are generally pretty good, some prices will be better. You can buy a five kilo box of chocolate for $40.00 that would be a $100.00 value. (They will mail it for you, but I was sure that would be expensive, and this was between me losing my wallet and getting money transferred.) On your way in they give you a chocolate, and on your way out you get a parting gift of a box of favorites that basically allows you to sample everything. It was really a wonderful experience.
There are ways in which the Dunedin factory is more set up for visitors. They have all sorts of displays and a film, and you can actually tour the work floor on week days. (We were there on a Saturday, so that was not an option for us.) However, it just wasn't as interesting. It was our guide's first time, so maybe we are not being fair, but you did not get as many interesting facts, they handed out some candy but not as impressive, and the store was much smaller and more limited. Also, they make a big deal of the chocolate waterfall, but it was kind of overrated. I thought it would be a constantly flowing fall, but what they do is take you into one of the big silos pictured and turn it on so a big rush of liquid chocolate flows down in front of you and then stops.
Regarding the stores and gifts, at least with the Dunedin factory there is a strong focus on distributing what is made locally. This makes sense, but what they make in Dunedin is apparently the Perky nana (imagine banana-flavored Laffy Taffy covered in chocolate), Chocolate Fish (strawberry marshmallow covered in chocolate), and Crunchie (it's a bit like Violet Crumble in texture). Their candy is gross. We didn't end up getting many people souvenirs, and checking every store to try and find more Cherry Ripes. They were everywhere in Australia, but quite rare in New Zealand.
Now, seeing the work floor might be interesting, so if I were ever to be in Dunedin on a week day, I would probably go for it, and certainly if I am ever in Birmingham, England I will give that tour a shot, because I am nothing if not open to new experiences, but for now, Claremont is the best, and you should buy a lot of chocolate given the chance.
http://www.cadbury.com.au/
http://www.cadburyworld.co.nz/cadburyworld/home.html
http://www.cadburyworld.co.uk/CadburyWorld/Pages/CadburyWorld.aspx
http://www.weblogoz.com/20030618080557375.htm
http://www.hiba.com.au/
http://haighschocolates.com.au/factory_tour/visitors_centre.html
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