What better way to spend a sunny Sunday. It’s mid summer and we live in Australia’s tourist mecca. The beach is crowded with beautiful tanned bodies and the ocean is the perfect place to cool down.
The Gold Coast has 40 kilometres of pristine beaches and it’s not often we come to Surfer’s Paradise, preferring our own, usually, less crowded beach at Burleigh, but this weekend we have been drawn here to see the annual sand sculpting competition.
We first pass Peter Pan and Tinkerbell who are sheltering inside the Paradise Centre. Then it is out into the heat to join the crowds admiring the rest of the displays.
The winner
AFTER three days of battle, a New South Wales person has been crowned the 2015 Australian Sand Sculpting Champion.
Jino van Bruinessen was awarded the title on the Surfers Paradise Foreshore yesterday for his sculpture of Winnie the Pooh and friends.
Interpreting this year’s theme of ‘Magical Friendships’ featuring Disney, the winning sculpture weighed in at more than 10 tonnes and took around 26 hours to create.
Bruinessen pocketed $2500 and also won a second trophy for the People’s Choice Award.
Here are some of the other entries.
One of the sculptors is still putting her finishing touches to her creation.
No additives are put into the sand, only water. The sand is a heavy grade, also known as “brickies sand” and it comes from the mouth of rivers. It has more squarish grains and will stick together better than the fine sand found on the beaches.
The finished sculpture is sprayed with an environmentally-friendly biodegradable spray that gives them a water resistant coating.
This little fairy is fascinated with them.
I took this photo of the beach and when I downloaded onto the computer I discovered more sand creations. Can you see them?
I can’t make out what the one on the right is. Any suggestions?
These young Asian girls have just been out for a surfing lesson. Those are big boards for them to handle.
Late afternoon and the sun slowly sinks behind the hi-rise buildings giving some welcome relief in the shade.
It has been an interesting afternoon but I can see the golden arches of Macdonald’s tucked in among the hi-rise buildings.
Time for a coffee and an ice cream sundae before heading home.
