Did you know that the Australian Sand Sculpting Championships existed? I didn’t until just a few minutes ago, and the 2026 battle is officially underway. Why are we talking about that on a Nintendo-related blog? Well, it turns out this year’s competition includes a super-sized tribute to Mario and friends!
The 2026 Australian Sand Sculpting Championships is playing host to a massive 65-tonne Super Mario sand sculpture as part of the festivities, with this event’s theme being “The Enchanted Realm.” This whopping tribute took 6 days to build and it measures 7.5 meters long and 3.5 meters high.
This Mario sand sculpture isn’t an entry in the competition itself, but is instead a set piece created in collaboration with Universal in order to promote The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. It’s one of the most eye-catching bits of promotion yet, and the only bad thing about it is that it’s not a permanent creation! So much work put into something that’ll only last a few weeks, but I guess that makes it all the more beautiful, doesn’t it?