Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Editorial: What kid can resist splashing?

By Roger Moroney
Hawkes Bay Today·
17 Jan, 2014 09:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

This is a scenario few parents will not understand.

It is summer and you are walking along a footpath with a 4 or 5-year-old ball of energy on two small legs beside you.

Just ahead, you notice a puddle of water, from a leaky water main or someone's stray sprinkler, to one side of the footpath.

What does the kid do?

Does he veer around it or splash through it?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

If that was the final question you faced on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? then you would be in Italy next week buying the Ferrari.

Yep, splish splash, because kids love water - especially when the sun is beating down.

Since the day the pumps were fired up to fill the Gilray Fountain in Napier's Marine Parade ("The Spirit of Napier") back in 1971, the small pond with its four little fountains has been a magnet for paddlers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And it was even more so, following the closure and eventual demolition of the public paddling pools at the northern end of the beachfront stretch.

We lived in view of the fountain and, yep, pretty well every day during the summers the mums and dads would turn up and watch their kids frolic in the water.

Two reasons: it was fun and it was free.

Back in mid-December I was sent off to cover the official opening of the city's newest water feature.

Discover more

Editorial: Guardians worth the money

19 Jan 04:00 PM

Editorial: Time to get tough on dumpers

21 Jan 09:35 PM

Editorial: Jewel thief was no mastermind

22 Jan 04:00 PM

It's a beautifully designed gentle series of long steps, which flow with water like a placid rapid.

And there are three pretty and splashy fountains.

I mentioned to Mayor Bill Dalton at the time that it would be only a matter of days before the kids, drawn to the sound of bubbling, splashing water, would emerge from the wider landscape and "check it out".

He nodded and said what he repeated a week or so back that "kids would be kids".

The interesting factor here though is that now the parents are turning up, with their sun brollies and sunhats, and little picnic hampers, for a watery and fun outing with their little ones.

It is quite a delight to watch.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

However, of course, the feature was designed as just that - a feature ... to be looked at, not stepped into.

There are still plans afoot for the total parade development, so maybe, just maybe, a nice little public paddling pool would suit the landscape?

Build it and, believe me, they will come.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay TodayUpdated

Home scorched as hoarded goods that surrounded it go up in flames

21 Jun 02:38 AM
Hawkes Bay Today

'Geriatric poverty': Outrage over Central Hawke’s Bay water rate hikes

21 Jun 12:56 AM
Premium
Opinion

Matariki is the ‘door to the new year’: Te Hira Henderson

20 Jun 07:00 PM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Home scorched as hoarded goods that surrounded it go up in flames

Home scorched as hoarded goods that surrounded it go up in flames

21 Jun 02:38 AM

Firefighters are keeping a close watch to ensure the piles of debris do not reignite.

'Geriatric poverty': Outrage over Central Hawke’s Bay water rate hikes

'Geriatric poverty': Outrage over Central Hawke’s Bay water rate hikes

21 Jun 12:56 AM
Premium
Matariki is the ‘door to the new year’: Te Hira Henderson

Matariki is the ‘door to the new year’: Te Hira Henderson

20 Jun 07:00 PM
Premium
Watch: Forestry skidder tipped over cliff after logging company goes bust

Watch: Forestry skidder tipped over cliff after logging company goes bust

20 Jun 06:00 PM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP