KEY POINTS:
Christmas cherries are ready to hit the shops - at least down south.
This is the second year in a row Jackson Orchards in Cromwell has had its Earlise variety ready for the Christmas market a week ahead of schedule.
Unseasonably warm temperatures and a mild winter meant last year was the earliest the cherries had been picked in 60 seasons, and this year is shaping up to be a repeat.
Owner Kevin Jackson said this year's crop was "heavy" and there would be a steady flow of fruit until January.
He said the orchard always produced the first cherries of the season because it was planted in early varieties, including Burlatt, which would be picked next week.
Jackson cherries even made it as far as Buckingham Palace in the 1970s, when the orchard was in the Cromwell Gorge.
"There was some function on and we got a request for cherries for the Queen's table."
The cherries sell in Dunedin supermarkets for just over $20 a kilo. Auckland cherry lovers can get Hawkes Bay fruit.
But the news on another delicacy - whitebait - is not good. Floods brought a quick end to the whitebait season on all the West Coast rivers, with the season, disappointing for most whitebaiters, officially finishing at dusk yesterday.
"It's raining cats and dogs from Karamea to Haast so there are not going to be any last-minute catches," West Coast Whitebaiters' Association president Jim Bushby said.
He said catches had been "patchy" throughout the West Coast. Some rivers or streams yielded bait while others did not, but those who stuck it out were generally rewarded at some stage of the season.
The best catch of the season was on the Grey River about 10 days ago.
"People on the wharf watched as a continuous stream of bait poured out from under the wharf for about two hours."
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
