Mermaid flicks sand on beach rivals

A sand modelling competition was held on the shores of South Broulee Beach on Monday, organised by keen Broulee residents.

Organiser Anne Boyton heard the Surf Club hadn't planned to host the competition this year, so with help from her daughter Kristie and friend Karen Bell, the event was saved.

"Mothers being mothers, we said 'why can't we do it?'," Ms Boyton said.

Broulee Beach Van Park managers Siggy and Kevin Colwill judged the competition - not an easy task considering the high standard of sand sculptures.

One group built SpongeBob SquarePants, another crafted the sharks from Finding Nemo. Others built a giant iPod, a mermaid and carved out a muscled man - complete with a real talking head!

Two youngsters built a car, only to be caught unawares by the sneaky tide, and they had to start again.

"I think some of the dads get pretty serious," Kristie said. "Some had team meetings - that's pretty serious."

Winners on the day were Shelby O'Toole, of Mt Gugong, and Maddi Knudsen, of Queanbeyan, with their mermaid.

Competition judge Kevin Colwill was thrilled by all the entries, but said the mermaid stood out from the rest.

"The iPod and the car were brilliant, but we tried to keep it in the beach theme," he said.

Shelby and Maddi hadn't met before their holiday to Broulee.

"We came to the beach two days ago and made a mermaid, so we said ‘let's just do that'," Shelby said.

"This one's way bigger!"

The girls spent all morning elbows deep in the sand, but they won't be too sad to see their work sink into the sea.

"We've got tons of photos so we're happy, and we've built a wall so it might last longer," Maddi said.

For more photos of Monday's sand modeling competition see today's Bay Post