A Warrington man found a large piece of driftwood, part of which had been carved in a traditional Maori style and painted red.
The carving was created by Waitati artist Alex Whitaker.
He sculpted part of the tree late last winter when he found it lying at Doctors Point, on the opposite side of Blueskin Bay from Warrington.
Mr Whitaker said he spent about three hours carving and painting the wood.
''It was just a day filler.
''I was going to finish it, but it got too busy over summer, so I was going to wait for winter.
He created the work for ''absolutely no reason at all''.
''It was a great point of focus for all the local swimmers down at Doctors Point.
''I had a day up my sleeve and thought I'd go and mess around.
''It's a good way of practising when I'm not working on something else.''
He would most likely leave the wood as it was, he said.
It was ''quite cool'' it created such a mystery for people in Warrington, he said.
''You should get them to put it back into the sea and see where it ends up.''
Dunedin man Bene Stewart contacted the Otago Daily Times saying it became dislodged from its Waitati resting place during the last large storm.
''Waitati would like it back please.
''My father says it is useful for tying the dogs to, and that Poppy the pooch misses it.''
