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Home / Travel

Primary school pupils first to ride new Hanmer Springs water slides for marble run video

Thomas Bywater
By Thomas Bywater
Writer and Multimedia Producer·NZ Herald·
10 Oct, 2023 05:30 PM2 mins to read

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Inside the Violet Vortex, one of the two new illuminated water slides opening at Hanmer Springs on Wednesday.

Inside the Violet Vortex, one of the two new illuminated water slides opening at Hanmer Springs on Wednesday.

Sixty pupils from Lincoln Primary School will be the first to ride two high-tech hydroslides, which aare the first of their kind to splash down in New Zealand.

The Violet Vortex and Wiau Winder will open this morning following a $3.2 million revamp at North Canterbury waterpark Hanmer Springs.

After 25 years, Hanmer officially retired its green and brown slides, which it claims saw over 17 million Kiwis slide down them since opening in 1998.

The park has moved on to bigger, brighter things, replacing them with two, new illuminated hydro-slides painted violet and orange.

The new Violet Vortex and Wiau Winder water slides are now in place for summer at Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa.
The new Violet Vortex and Wiau Winder water slides are now in place for summer at Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa.
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When the slides officially open at a ceremony this morning, it will be Year 3 and 4 students of Lincoln Primary School that will get the first go on the hydroslides.

Class Miro’s extraordinary 60-second video won Hanmer Springs’ competition, which invited primary schools around the region to submit their most remarkable marble run.

“While we received some phenomenal entries, with impressive engineering skills, Lincoln Primary School’s entry stood out for its genuine teamwork, creativity and storytelling,” said Hanmer Springs general manager Graeme Abbot.

“Our team is so excited to welcome class Miro as the first official sliders.”

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Teacher Samara Brown said the school’s extra-long ball slide grew to extraordinary lengths, after they “gave each student an opportunity to plan and design the ball run”, with parents and pupils contributing spare pipe and guttering to the project.

“We are so immensely proud of the students,” she said, calling it an “amazing way to start our last term of the school year!”

Before the long slide into the summer holidays, when the parks are expected to be at their busiest, the local schools and community have been invited to try out the new slides for themselves.

After an opening ceremony, the slides will be open to the public from 10am. Residents will have free entry to the pools on October 11 and October 12 with a ratepayers card.

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