Two brothers behind a spectacular two-metre sandcastle on Mt Maunganui Beach are planning to go bigger and better next year.
They spent hours building it in what's become a bit of a summer tradition for the family.
"I think when we finished there were about 20 people standing around watching and there was a bit of clap," said Paul, one of the brothers.
Standing taller than they are, it took the siblings 10 hours to build and, yes, you do need the right tools for the job.
"Buckets, carving tools, we used a level, little skewers to do all the details, straws to blow out the sand to do the details so you blow it out and the crumbs come out," Paul said.
The brothers also said there's a trick to keeping a sand sculpture of this size standing.
"It's all about the right consistency of sand and water, bunch of sand, bunch of water, mix it up. Make sure it's level and you can probably go as high as you want," Paul said.
Paul learned how to build sandcastles in California when he was working at a hotel.
Now he's roping in the whole family for what has become a Boxing Day tradition at the Mount.
They're already planning next year's sand spectacular - not just the castle but the whole village.
"Maybe a waterfall coming out of the rocks on the side of the sandcastle. My brother was talking about a pump to pump out water. Wider villages, churches [and] roads," Paul said.
The 2022 sand creation lasted about a day and a half before going the way all sand castles do.
"All things have got to end so power to the man or the kid, whoever did it. It would've been fun breaking it down," Paul said.
He added he wanted more Kiwis to give it a go. So, if you've got a spare 10 hours this summer, the challenge has been set.
