KEY POINTS:
Whakatane has demanded a recount after being disqualified from winning the coveted title of Sunshine Capital of New Zealand.
The annual accolade, described as a "million-dollar marketing opportunity", is highly contested among the country's hotspots.
Blenheim was awarded the gong by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) last week after it recorded 2505 hours of sunshine for 2008. But it may be stripped of its crown after scientists re-test Whakatane's temperatures.
The Eastern Bay of Plenty town recorded 2703 hours on their sunshine sensor last year and the council was hoping to back up the town's current slogan: Living with the sun.
But Niwa decided the number was abnormally high and the town was disqualified.
After much protest from Eastern Bay economic development agency, Toi-EDA, Niwa checked the sensor on Tuesday and found no fault.
Toi-EDA marketing manager Mary Hermanson said the equipment was only two years old and that particular model was purchased under the advice of Niwa so it couldn't be faulty.
She said the hours probably seemed high because the council only started recording in 2007 so there was not much to compare them to.
"We've always known we're the sunniest place."
The decoder, on the roof of a building at the town's oxidation ponds, was purchased from Norway for about $5000 as part of a town fundraiser in September 2006 to get the town on the map.
The machine sends information back to Whakatane District Council each day.
Whakatane came third in the sunny stakes in 2007 with 2550 hours. Blenheim again took the top position, followed by Lake Tekapo.
"It's just funny how when we came third no one questioned it but now that we had a chance at first, they come calling," Ms Hermanson said.
She said the council had organised to erect welcome signs on the outskirts of the town declaring it the sunniest spot in the country and a flag on top of the council building.
"It's not nice to be stripped of the title, it's got a lot of value. We realised at the end of November we had an unassailable lead. We had a marketing campaign ready to swing behind it."
Mayor for the Marlborough District Council, which includes Blenheim, Alistair Sowman, said Whakatane had "come out of the blue a wee bit".
"Good luck to them. If they are the sunniest town I have no issue with it but it has to be a fair competition."
Niwa has said the machine could be measuring parts of cloudy days instead of completely cloudless hours.
It plans to install a second sunshine recorder next to the current one for a month. If data from both machines is the same, Blenheim will be stripped of the title and Whakatane will be crowned sunniest spot in New Zealand.
