Northland citrus heads to Christchurch

Tony and Angela Forster donated 16 banana boxes of navel oranges. Photo / Tania Whyte

More than six tonnes of fruit from Northland backyards are being transported south after the third Citrus for Christchurch donation drive.

Terry Ward, from one of the four Whangarei Lions' clubs which co-ordinated Saturday's collection, said the response was so huge he ended up turning away about 25 people as volunteers ran out of boxes and used up the shipping capacity sponsored by Mainfreight.

"Apologies to all those who brought in fruit we couldn't take but we were just absolutely chockablock," Mr Ward said.

Each of the 323 banana boxes filled with citrus - mostly grapefruit, lemons and oranges - held about 20 kilograms of fruit, making the total more than six tonnes, Mr Ward said.

"The first volunteer arrived at 6.30am and we finished after 3pm. We didn't have a break or stop at all - we were flat out packing," Mr Ward said of the 20 volunteers who manned the collection tent in the Forum North carpark.

Tony and Angela Forster donated 16 banana boxes full of navel oranges. The couple moved to a Glenbervie property two years ago and in the backyard there was a "mini orchard of 50 orange trees and 250 mandarin trees", Mrs Forster said.

"I'd rather the fruit goes to Christchurch than rot on the ground," she said.

They sell some of the mandarins at the Whangarei Growers Market and donate some of them to charity groups.

"It's not commercial and it's a bit of a hobby."

Citrus for Christchurch began three years ago with an initial collection of 140 boxes. It was based on the idea that while many Northlanders had more fruit on their trees than they knew what to do with, citrus fruit did not grow well in Canterbury.

Mr Ward said he planned to run the event again next year and would look at sending fruit to other southern cities.

"It's hard to say no isn't it? The response is just so huge," he said.

The fruit is being shipped to the Christchurch trust Food Together today. Mr Ward said the trust's representative was "quite overcome" when he heard about the scale of donations.