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Home / Northern Advocate

A family effort creates Adrenalin Adventure Park

Danica MacLean
By Danica MacLean
Multimedia Journalist, Newstalk ZB·Northern Advocate·
26 Oct, 2017 11:56 PM3 mins to read

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A new water based adventure park has been built by a family

A day out from the planned opening of Whangarei's latest water based adventure park, operators are still hoping to get the last of their consents sorted.

Brothers Cody and Klay Rouse are about to make a big splash in Whangarei's summer.

The pair, along with their sister and parents, are behind the Adrenalin Adventure Park in Hikurangi.

Cody said if the park doesn't get it's correct consents in time, the opening will be pushed back but the glamping will still go ahead because they have consent for that.

Whangarei District Council chief executive Rob Forlong said the operators do not have all of the required consents and have been working with their teams to fully understand their legal obligations.

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He said the park cannot open legally without all of its consents in place, and if it does so the council will consider it's enforcement options then.

Cody, 25, has had a dream to build a full size wakeboarding cable system in New Zealand since he was a teenager.

He has spent time in America teaching wakeboarding and while he was travelling he saw the Camp America camps, and thought something similar could be done here.

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The only problem was, they never found the right spot. That all changed at the end of last summer, when they bought land, complete with irrigation dam from a man called Edwin Smith, who turned out to be one of their granddad's best mates.

The 12ha lake is up to 12 metres deep.

Their vision is not just for camps, but for everybody to use it.

Cody said they grew up in a big family, and they know taking the family out can be a challenge, as the boys want to go to one place, and the girls another.

"Why don't we make a place where everyone can go and everyone can enjoy it?"

So far, there's a blow up obstacle course, a 45m slide which fires people into the lake, human foosball, six glamping tents, cabins, wakeboarding, jetskiing, kayaks, paddleboards and an area just to swim.

"We're definitely trying to offer as much as we can," 22-year-old Klay said.

They want to add claybird shooting, mountain biking, horse trekking, motorcycling and more.

"There's so much potential here, it's unbelievable," Cody said.

There has been huge interest on Facebook for the new park and bookings are in the hundreds, including four school groups.

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Their sister, Jayme Whetton, has been managing the bookings from France.

Cody said they are "ready but nervous" to open.

"Everybody we talk to says Whangarei needs something like this."

There is also a kiwi block near the lake, and some of the GPS trackers will be available to school groups to find kiwi in the wild.

The brothers, with plenty of help from their parents Roger and Leanne and Mr Smith have built the park themselves.

Cody said they understand it can be expensive for families to go out, and have tried to keep it as cheap as possible. An hour on the obstacle course will be $10.

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