From left: Julie Flintoff, Gaye & Graeme Bloomfield, Stella Bloomfield, Brian Flintoff at Tahuna Beach with their amazing sun sand sculpture. Photo: Sinead Ogilvie, Nelson Weekly.

Local Monaco residents Julie & Brian Flintoff love the Nelson summer sun.
Last weekend they stepped up and did their bit in the fight to bring back the crown as the Sunshine Capital of New Zealand to Nelson, a title lost last year to rival sun city Whakatane.

When they heard from Bowater Hyundai last week that there was a compeition on to win a brand new Hyundai Santa Fe they began planning an epic sand sculpture. Their design is based around the old Maori legend of Maui snaring the sun. In this case it is all of us snaring the sun, and "encouraging" it to stick around so we can win back the crown.

Brian Flintoff is a professional, and experienced, jade and bone carver. He is quite comfortable working in the "3-D", but working in sand is an entirely new artistic endeavour. Not phased by this he gathered in the family and headed off to Tahunanui Beach last Saturday morning. They had a plan in mind but didn't quite know how it would all come together.

We discovered that they had built their scuplture when it appeared on the front page of the Nelson Weekly today. We think they did a fantastic job, but they now need our collective help to win the car.

This summer Hyundai New Zealand want to get us all back onto the beach, and reconnected to the simpler things in life.

Summer is all about sun, surf, sand, fun and family. What better way to join all of these things together than a good old fashioned sand castle competition.

There is a twist though. We are living in a very connected world, and as such Hyundai are using Facebook to determine the winner. It is a popularity contest so lets make the most of what we have got!

We have put together a guide to how this competition works, and how you can make the most of your chances to win the brand new Hyundai Santa Fe.

Local Upper Moutere couple Colin & Ruth Roberts have struck it lucky, to the tune of a cheque for $2500 from Honda New Zealand.

What did they have to do to win this sizable small fortune? Just take the all new Honda Euro Civic for a test drive. That is all.

Bowater Honda Sales Manager Matt Enright presents the $2500 Cheque to Colin and Ruth Roberts.

The Roberts have been going through the process of upgrading their 2009 Honda Civic Sedan, so thought it best that they come in and give the new Honda Civic Euro a go as well. Aren't they lucky that they did, and they are in the draw to win a brand new Honda Civic Euro as well!