Splashing out in your back garden

Relief from Tauranga's heatwave is just a few steps from Tom Maguigan's door. The cool water of his new swimming pool is the perfect antidote to the searing temperatures the Bay has been experiencing.
The Maungatapu resident and his wife Robin had their 12m by 8m pool finished in December - and while the sun's been beating down, the pair have been languishing in their sapphire-coloured sanctuary.
"It's been fabulous," Mrs Maguigan said. "It's around 28C at present and that's without the [pool] heater."
Local swimming pool businesses are one of many that rely on summer trade more than most.
They say the heatwave, and customers like the Maguigans, mean they're having a bumper month.
On several days this week, the temperature has reached the high 20 to early 30Cs.
One of the Bay of Plenty's biggest pool building companies, Tauranga Pools 'R' Us, is building three designer concrete pools in the Bethlehem and Gate Pa area. "General enquiries are up in fibre glass pools, which take only a day or two to assemble. People want it before the summer is over," office administrator Monique Adams said.
Company owner Manu McLeod said the most expensive pool he had built in Tauranga was about six-years ago, at a holiday home in Pillans Point, and cost the owner $325,000.
However, pools were also available for around $20,000.
"People aren't spending a lot on real estate. The boom has gone, and people are spending money towards doing projects on their own homes."
He said dairy payouts mean farmers are also splashing out.