Whakatane sells sunshine to brighten Brisbane

Rather than basking in the glory of being recently announced New Zealand’s sunniest place, Whakatane has chosen to celebrate the victory by selling its sunlight to help those in flood stricken Brisbane.

The Eastern Bay of Plenty town plans to sell 2561 cans of “100% Pure Whakatane Sunshine” and donate the proceeds to the NZ Red Cross’s Australian Floods Fund.

Whakatane’s status as New Zealand’s sunshine capital was confirmed by the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric research on January 12 with a total of 2561 hours of sunshine in 2010.

Soon after the announcement was made, it was decided that 2561 “hours” of Whakatane sunshine would be captured, canned and donated to the Marlborough and Nelson regions - Whakatane’s arch rivals in the sunshine race. No “Johnny Come-Lately” gimmick, the Whakatane “cans of sunshine” were invented approximately 40 years ago and have been the town’s premier souvenir ever since.

“Nelson and Marlborough have been such worthy adversaries over the years that we thought it would be nice to send them some of our sunshine since we have excess and they seem to be running low this year” says William Stewart, Marketing Manager at Toi-EDA - the Eastern Bay of Plenty Economic Development agency, the organisation responsible for tourism marketing in the region.

However, the enormity of the Brisbane flood disaster dictated that the cans be put to a much more worthwhile cause.

“Since the initial idea was hatched, we have witnessed the utter devastation that has rocked Brisbane to its core. The lucky ones watched as everything they owned was washed away. The unlucky lost their lives. If anyone needs a ray of sunshine, they do”

The cans will now be transported to Blenheim by a team of Whakatane locals, headed by former Chiefs Super 14 and BOP Steamers rugby star James “Googs” McGougan. The crew will stop at every major centre en route to sell the cans to locals for a donation to the cause.

The team will leave Whakatane at 7am Wednesday 26 January to be in Blenheim by 9am on Thursday 27 January after stops in the main centres en route.

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