New Zealanders built a makeshift sand island in coastal waters in a creative attempt to avoid a drinking ban prohibiting alcohol consumption in public places over the New Year period.
An anonymous holidaymaker said per The Sydney Morning Herald that the group of friends built the sandbar in the middle of the Tairua estuary during low tide on Sunday morning so that they could enjoy their drinks in "international waters," where the ban technically did not apply.
Spearheading the construction was Leon Hayward, who told Time magazine that he and five friends, three of whom were visiting from the U.S., spent six hours building the small island using black sand, sea shells and wooden planks.
"We thought it would be a good laugh and the drinking ban would be a grey area if we were on our own island," he said.
The sandbar was just big enough to fit a picnic table and ice box, BBC noted, and the group of friends drank well into the night of New Year's Eve and avoided a fine of up to $250 or arrest.
Thames-Coromandel Mayor, Sandra Goudie, found the ordeal amusing.
"Everybody was quite entertained by it; it wasn't hurting anybody," Goudie told Time. "They were trying to claim it was in international waters but, of course, it isn't. They had this creation, that's what we like to see – a bit of creative and innovative activity over the summer period."
Authorities also saw the humorous side.
"That's creative thinking - if I had known [about it] I probably would have joined them," said local police commander Inspector John Kelly, according to BBC.
The Sydney Morning Herald noted that the sandcastle was still intact on Monday morning.
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