A campaign to gather Northlanders' unwanted citrus fruit to send to Christchurch has been so successful it's likely to continue.
The Citrus for Christchurch initiative - where Northlanders collect fruit to be sent to Christchurch - was organised by Christine Stephenson, who moved to Whangarei last year from Christchurch where she had lived for the past 25 years.
She was motivated by seeing citrus going to waste in gardens around Whangarei and felt that as the fruit did not grow in Christchurch it would brighten up the earthquake-ravaged city to have some of it.
Ms Stephenson hoped to get up to 50 banana boxes full of fruit, but on Monday a whopping 142 boxes of citrus - weighing about two tonnes - was loaded into the back of a Rent A Cheepy truck to head to the South Island city and should arrive tomorrow.
"The response has just been amazing and people have been so generous.
"We've had old people scrambling around their gardens picking fruit to bring in. We had one box that came in with its own weta," she said.
"It couldn't have happened without the generosity of Mainfreight, too, though.
"We said we'd have 50 boxes and they said they'd transport it for free, but we turned up with 142 and they still took them for free."
Ms Stephenson said 52 boxes were filled with grapefruit, 57 with oranges, mandarins and tangelos, 24 with lemons and nine with limes.
"Citrus generally doesn't grow in Christchurch and it can be very cold and miserable at this time of year. I'm aware that this used to be the norm up here so thought I'd revive it."
She said the drive would likely be carried out again next month and the Northern Advocate will publish details of that collection too.
Ms Stephenson's thoughts are often with people in Christchurch who continue to struggle with their lives and, being a good organiser, she thought it would be easy to touch the hearts of the people of Whangarei to contribute some time and energy to gathering fruit.
She said the drive had brought back memories for many people who brought in fruit.
"Many people recalled days gone by when citrus was gathered and sent by rail to the South Island. The Lions Club was active in the '80s collecting citrus donated and filling a rail wagon," she said.
"Others remembered sports clubs involvement with fruit gathering. One person told of a rugby team visiting Whangarei from Christchurch.
"When asked what they would like to take with them back to the cold of the winter, the call went out for oranges. Apparently, the plane ended up being laden with fruit for the team to take back to family and friends."
The fruit is being distributed through a fruit and vege co-op in Christchurch.