It’s not unusual to see man-made structures on the beach – sandcastles, rock sculptures, driftwood huts. But Te Puru resident Danley Tonkin has taken the concept to extremes – and not everyone is happy about it. Reporter ALICE PARMINTER braves the moat to find out more.
Danley Tonkin has been building a castle in the surf behind his Te Puru home.
The structure is several metres high and constructed mainly from rocks, driftwood, and sand, along with pieces of steel bars. It’s surrounded by a rock wall and moat.
The 23-year-old spends several hours a day on the beach, carting materials in an old wheelbarrow. He is the king of this castle, and he doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.
“I was playing video games one day and I thought, this would be better if I made this in real life,” he said.
“I’m building the castle so that I have a purpose that is mine and not someone else’s. I think lots of lives throughout the ages are lived by the majority of people serving someone else’s dream. And that sounds depressing when 40 years of your life are dedicated to earning an imaginary fiat currency to exist in someone else’s world.”
Danley said he spends a lot of time up on the castle. He has slept up there, and builds small fires to cook food and roast marshmallows. In keeping with his medieval theme, he often sports armour or other costumes, and has constructed several homemade weapons.
He chronicles his efforts in a series of diary-like videos on YouTube, which has just over 5200 followers, along with a number of self-published books.
“It’s good exercise. It’s my little goal. And it’s a place to chill during the summer when it’s hot, and you want somewhere that’s alone and that people can’t get to you unless they want to get wet socks.”
Some residents, however, are opposed to Danley’s activities. Among their concerns are what one resident described as threatening and violent behaviour.
“There’s so many people who have been personally threatened by him and too scared to come forward,” said the resident, who wished to remain anonymous.
“Every time he saw me he’d abuse me… He lives in a fantasy world – he has no regard to rules and laws.”
Danley could often be seen stalking up and down the beach with homemade crossbow and arrows, they said.
“He’s firing them all over the show,” they said.
“They wash up occasionally. They’re like a metre long with feathers on it, and four inch nails sticking out the other end. We’ve seen him shoot them and they go a fair distance. If a person got hit with that, it would be pretty serious.”
However, Danley said the arrows were more likely to endanger himself than others, and he mostly shoots them from the castle in the direction of open water.
“I tried going fishing with the crossbow, but it wasn’t very effective. I was just sort of shooting into the water randomly, and I thought, if I’m really lucky I’ll catch a fish. That didn’t happen. But I had a lot of fun.”
Senior Sergeant Nicola Cornes said Police were aware of an incident with a crossbow last year.
“We have spoken with one person and do not believe there was any risk to the public. Police have not received any further related reports or complaints.”
The resident also said they, and several others, have major concerns over the castle structure, and have complained to maritime staff.
“We were getting reports of other boaties having near misses on it and things like that,” the resident said.
“A member of the public [who’s] been kiteboarding here for years… hit the structure which made him crash off his board and get dragged across the oyster shells. He required 10 stitches in the arm.”
The resident believed the castle was an accident waiting to happen.
“He’s got all these sticks poking out and steel bars… it’s just so hazardous.”
Danley is aware of the opposition to his castle, but said he intends to continue regardless.
“I think there’s about four people that absolutely hate it and they’ve just made up their mind that they want to destroy it.
“None of them have talked to me, except for the Police who came round and said it was pretty cool. There’s not really any recreational hazard beyond the one that you invent because you’ve got nothing better to do, in my opinion.”
Danley has been working on his current castle since January, after a previous, smaller iteration was removed by maritime officers.
“I came home just as they were smashing it to bits. And then I watched it all get demolished in front of my eyes. I waited until they were done, and then I started rebuilding,” he said.
“I quit my job, and I thought, I’m going to just fix this. Whoever sent the digger wants me to be crushed by this, and has decided to try and stop me, and I am going to not be stopped.”
Maritime officer Jared Sturgeon said the previous castle was a navigational hazard as it was not visible to water users at high tide.
“There were complaints… We had someone run into it so it had to come down.”
The new structure was not a maritime issue as it was large enough to be visible, and his team were not likely to be taking any further action.
Meanwhile, Danley said he planned to continue building his current castle bigger and better, as long as his body would allow.
“I’m not really sure what [my] motive is… It is a lot of things, and it’s also kind of nothing. It’s just a pile of stones,” he said.
“It’s my little castle.”
