The authorities had the public's interest in mind when they banned drinking in public places on New Year's Eve in Coromandel on New Zealand's north island. But one group of friends was determined to do it their way.

They built an island out of sand in the Tairua estuary on the Coromandel Peninsula during low tide on Sunday, put a picnic table there and claimed that the ban did not apply as they were in 'international waters'.