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An extravagant two-metre high sandcastle that took two brothers 10 hours to build is stopping beachgoers in their tracks at Mt Maunganui.

Jared and Paul Brandon used buckets, shovels, carving tools and even a builder’s level to sculpt the biggest sandcastle they’ve ever created.

The end result was a 2m castle complete with a moat and a spiral staircase leading to the top of the tower. The brothers even carved trees.

“Last year on Boxing Day we decided to do one and we made it and it was pretty cool. It was about one metre high but we were like okay, we have to do something better than that and also different,” said Jared.

 “So we were like right, how high can we do it?”

The sandcastle is two-metres tall.

The brothers were on Mt Maunganui’s main beach until 8pm making the sandcastle and once it was completed Jared says it instantly drew around 20 people.

They were happy to see that the castle was still standing this morning after last year’s Boxing Day sandcastle was destroyed overnight.

 “We’re pretty happy about that because it’s really nice for people to see. I know there’s not many sandcastles that get made like that.”

Jared explained a lot that goes into making a sandcastle - the water-to-sand ratio needs to be right, the sand needs to be a fine grain, you need the right tools and you need shade, he said.

“Once the sand starts to dry out it will start to crack and crumble,” he said.

They also used a builder’s level to make sure the castle would not lean and fall over.

“The secret to a good sandcastle is to fill buckets with lots and lots of water mixed with the sand. Then good tools to carve and shape the towers and stairs,” said Jared.

The brothers went to great detail when sculpting their sandcastle.

Jared learned how to build sandcastles from Paul who picked up the skill while working at a California hotel as a babysitter.

“They taught him how to make sandcastles for something fun to do with the kids while their parents were off on their holiday and they would just leave the kids at the hotel,” said Jared.

Jared hopes sandcastle building will become a Boxing Day tradition and they already plan to teach other family members how to build them in preparation for next year.

Their vision for the next sandcastle resembles more of a village with smaller supporting sandcastles, roads, moats and a church.

“We’d love to do more but we need more people and so we’re going to perhaps train up the wider family so that we can all come down and start even earlier and do something even bigger,” said Jared.