That's a surprise! Thousands of colourful plastic eggs wash up on German beach

A small beach in Germany has been carpeted with tens of thousands of colourful surprises - Kinder Surprises, that is.

The plastic toy-filled eggs, known in Germany as "Überraschungs-Eier" or surprise eggs, washed up on the island of Langeoog following a powerful storm. 

Local media have reported that during Storm Axel, which struck on Wednesday night, a freighter lost several of its containers - including one full of the plastic eggs. 

In what was undoubtedly a dream come true, Lanegoog mayor Uwe Garrels recruited a group of kindergarteners in the community, his so-called "eggsperts", to collect as many of the toys as they wanted. 

"The surprise eggs have found their way to freedom," Garrels told local broadcaster NPR of the children's rescue efforts.

And while the eggs might prove easy to clean up due to their popularity, Garrels noted that they weren't the only items washed ashore. "Untold amounts of plastic bags and other packaging materials" are also currently littering the beach.

"At first I thought this was a wonder, because everything was so colourful and so on, but then we realised that this is a huge mess in the end,"  Garrels told The Associated Press. 

So what exactly was inside the surprise eggs? Take a look at this woman's loot ...