In ancient Rome the emperor would hike taxes for oversees campaigns, but in modern-day Whangarei a group of school students have organised a giant garage sale to fund their own trip to visit Europe to learn about ancient civilisations.
Next April 25 classics studies students from Whangarei Boys' High School and Whangarei Girls' High School will head to Europe to visit ancient Greek and Roman sites in Rome, Athens and Pompeii.
But first they have to raise about $8000 each for the trip and tomorrow's monster garage sale at the Whangarei Boys' High hall should help them on their way.
One of the organisers, Marcus Bryce, was blown away by the number of goods donated for the garage sale and said there would be plenty of bargains for those attending, with food and home baking on offer too.
"We were originally worried that we may not have enough things to sell ... now we're worried how we will sell it all, but everything must go," he said.