The old Leisure World site with its three hydroslides. Photo / Ben Fraser
In the 1990s, Rotorua was the place families flocked to for hours of hydroslide fun.
Leisure World, with its towering cascades – including the terrifying “Black Hole” – attracted locals and visitors from around the Bay of Plenty.
But after a steady decline, the theme park closed in 2008 and today Rotorua has no permanent hydroslides.
Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell has made it her mission to change that.
“I really want a hydroslide!” she exclaimed at the end of a mayoral candidate forum in August.
Tapsell went on to be re-elected in a landslide to her second term and has made a hydroslide her passion project.
“Having grown up with Leisure World here in Rotorua, it was such an iconic part of our childhood,” Tapsell said.
“It’s something I want to be able to give to kids and little whānau these days as well.”
Tauranga has a hydroslide (plans for three more are stuck in the pipe), as does Whakatāne. Taupō has five, including one shaped like a giant dragon. Even an Omanawa lifestyle block has its own 36m, glow-in-the-dark private chute.
Not long ago, it appeared Rotorua’s miscarriage of aquatic injustice was ending.
In 2019, plans for a revitalised Rotorua Aquatic Centre, including hydroslides, a manu pool and other recreational features, were unveiled by Rotorua Lakes Council.
Hydroslides, however, became one of the lower priorities of this redevelopment. A rejigged long-term plan made it clear such a feature would be dependent on funding.
The dream appeared even further away when, last October, the council shifted $2 million in Government funding from the aquatic upgrade to cover the costs of the Tarawera Sewerage Scheme.
Stages one and two of the aquatic centre revamp are done, but stage three, which potentially includes the hydroslide, is on indefinite pause.
“That was quite heartbreaking to me at the time,” Tapsell said.
“Although it was the right decision and we needed to focus on core services, I knew that there’s not often much that we invest for young people or families.”
Tapsell said the council considered a number of approaches before making that call.
“Because of the cost pressures and our intention to stop the spend, we looked at a number of different options.
“Going all out with hydroslide, spa pools and also a learn-to-swim pool – and then there were different options, and we landed as a council on spa pools.”
As far as Tapsell is concerned, the hydroslide dream is not dead – just delayed.
“Now we are getting spending under control and reprioritising, this is something I will be pursuing with a renewed sense of passion,” she said.
Tapsell was adamant, however, the financial burden of a hydroslide would not lie solely at the ratepayers’ door.
“I do believe it needs to be a public-private partnership,” said Tapsell.
She said she believed there was a “strong business case on income that can be made from ticket sales”, which might attract third parties.
Tapsell said it “makes sense” for a tourist destination like Rotorua to have such an attraction and to support young people to be physically active in the community.
“I’d rather have them running upstairs and going down hydroslides all day than playing PlayStation or watching Netflix,” she said.
In July, the Government amended the Local Government Act to remove the four wellbeings from local council remits, in a bid to narrow focus to core services.
Recreational facilities are included as a core service in the bill, meaning a hydroslide could fit.
Tapsell supported those changes and she hoped reliving the nostalgia of lost days at Leisure World would not evade her.
“As well as getting on with business really well, I am a big believer that sometimes we just need to have fun.”
Community Leisure Management has been contracted to run the Aquatic Centre since 2018.
Director of operations Kirsty Knowles said it would be “happy to partner” with the council on anything that “benefits the community and encourages physical activity”.
Mathew Nash is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. He has previously written for SunLive, been a regular contributor to RNZ and was a football reporter in the UK for eight years.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.