{"id":228863,"date":"2026-01-11T22:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T22:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/228863\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T22:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T22:46:11","slug":"giant-sand-sculpture-of-neil-the-seal-appears-on-bellerive-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/228863\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant sand sculpture of \u2018Neil the seal\u2019 appears on Bellerive Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

A giant sculpture of Tasmania\u2019s famous \u2018Neil the seal\u2019 has appeared at Bellerive Beach on Hobart\u2019s eastern shore.<\/p>\n

Crafted by professional sand sculptor Yves Geradts, the creation \u2013 made from three tonnes of quarry sand, has become an instant hit with beachgoers after it was completed in just nine hours on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone loves it. Everyone\u2019s always flabbergasted how it\u2019s made from just sand,\u201d Geradts told Pulse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not beach sand, so it\u2019s like bricky sand. People think it\u2019s beach sand and it\u2019s actually not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The sculpture became popular with beachgoers immediately<\/p>\n

The Dutch-born artist, who has lived in Tasmania for five years, created the sculpture at the request of Clarence City Council, who suggested the local celebrity seal as the perfect subject.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeil the seal has been showing up on quite a lot of beaches around Clarence Council,\u201d Geradts explained.<\/p>\n

\"\"Neil the seal has become a local celebrity. Image \/ File<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen Neil the seal myself as well in Clifton. And there\u2019s quite a few people who saw him from Kingston to Murdunna, Eaglehawk Neck. So a lot of people relate to Neil the seal.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Bellerive Beach Party was cancelled due to strong winds, Geradts was determined to complete the project for the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a sand sculpture, [it] doesn\u2019t blow away. We were in the storm and we were still making the sculpture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The professional sculptor has been creating sand art for approximately 20 years, starting his career in the Netherlands before continuing while backpacking in Australia.<\/p>\n

\"\"The giant sculpture of Neil the seal at Bellerive Beach. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

He now creates four or five sand sculptures annually for various events, though most of his Australian work happens on the mainland.<\/p>\n

As for how long the seal sculpture will remain on Bellerive Beach, Geradts said it comes down to human intervention rather than weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cTill kids decide to break it down. If you would not touch a sand sculpture, it stays up forever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you would put it somewhere inside and it dries out, it gets rock hard. It\u2019s like sandstone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A giant sculpture of Tasmania\u2019s famous \u2018Neil the seal\u2019 has appeared at Bellerive Beach on Hobart\u2019s eastern shore.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-228863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}