Hanmer Springs’ new $3.2M hydroslides have opened to screams of excitement on Wednesday.
The Violet Vortex and Waiau Winder have welcomed their first riders, with AM Reporter Mitch Redman among the first to slide.
The pair, named after a public vote, replaced the waterpark’s 25-year-old green and beige slides which that pool said had been ridden about 17 million times collectively.
One slide features LED lighting and the other has visual projection technology, which has never been used before in New Zealand.
With the waves set on the more extreme setting of “wow”, Redman declared he was “a wee bit nervous” before riding the Violet Vortex live on TV.
After screams of excitement and flashing lights, Redman splashed out at the bottom of the slide.
“That was fantastic, I got lost in there at one stage, it went fully dark but then the lights down the bottom bought it to life.”
With the slides opening to the public later in the morning, AM hosts Ryan Bridge and Laura Tupou questioned whether Redman was the very first person to ride the slide.
“Potentially,” Redman said, “that was very special, such an honour”.
