Booklovers line up to bag a bargain

The annual Whangarei Zonta Great New Zealand Book Sale saw bookworms scrambling to find the books they wanted. Photo / Michael Cunningham

In the early hours of the morning keen bookworms were queuing outside Forum North eagerly awaiting Zonta's annual Whangarei book sale.

The doors of the 22nd Zonta Great New Zealand Book Sale did not open until 7am on Saturday and 9am on Sunday, but that didn't stop punters from lining up outside the venue beforehand to ensure they did not miss out on a bargain.

The two-day sale is organised by the Hatea and Whangarei branches of the women's rights organisation - Zonta.

Zonta Whangarei co-ordinator, Barbara Macdonald, and Zonta Hatea co-ordinator Bev Cowley said the event had gone "really well".

Proceeds from the annual fund-raiser go towards local initiatives and charities including Women's Refuge, He Matariki School for Teen Parents, R. Tucker Thompson leadership courses, Duffy Books in Homes and more.

Ms Macdonald said the clubs started collecting books in February and this year managed to fill about 1000 banana boxes.

"Our first job of the year is to try and find some nice person who has room for us to sort and store and this year Kay Adams, previously Adams Travelines, she's let us use her premises down Port Rd," said Ms Macdonald.

"People are very generous," said Ms Cowley.

The pair said it was the bargains that attracted people and that despite the advent of eBooks, people had told them it wasn't the same as flicking through the pages of a physical copy.

"There's no comparison," said Ms Macdonald.

The sale has come a long way since the first event held in 1993, which raised about $1000. Last year's sale raised about $30,000 and Ms Macdonald said she could not guess how much this year's sale had raised.