Northland AE Funpark back in business following flying fox death

AE Funpark operators Carla Hill and Chris Angus at the flying fox that has been out of action since before Christmas even though the park is up and running again. Photo / Michael Cunningham

A games park near Whangarei is trying to rebuild its reputation and its business after an unauthorised rider fell to his death from a flying fox before Christmas.

AE Funpark owner Chris Angus and his partner Carla Hill are feeling the pinch from their voluntarily six-week closure after Moses Tohu (53) died while illicitly accessing the park's flying fox on December 5.

"We've lost quite a bit of custom, a lot of income, but we're hoping it will build back up," Mr Angus said as the business heads into its quiet season.

After the incident, Mr Angus and Ms Hill closed the park out of respect for Mr Tohu's family and also because of the stress the tragedy caused the couple and their family.

In doing so, they shut the gates on hundreds of pre-booked customers at their busiest time of year and only in recent weeks are seeing the return of large group bookings.

The park's big attraction, Northland's longest and reputedly New Zealand's third longest flying fox, is still out of action after Mr Tohu disassembled parts of the locked carriage mechanism and harness before he took his fatal ride. The Kawakawa man had allegedly climbed onto the out-of-bounds platform, tampered with the equipment and hung onto the pulley without a harness during his ride. He fell 10m to 12m towards the end of the trajectory.

Mr Angus is still waiting for specialist pieces to arrive from overseas to repair the equipment and get the 500m-long ride functioning again.

Activities still available at the park include paintball, clay and target shooting, archery, mini putt and laser tag.

The backlash from December's tragedy included the owners and staff fielding rumours at the time that the Labour Department had ordered the park's closure.

However, after official investigations by WorkSafe NZ there had been no suggestion the operators or equipment were responsible for Mr Tohu's death, Mr Angus said. The death has been referred to the coroner.