Kiwi Water Park: New features coming to NZ’s largest inflatable water park

Kiwi Water Park in Otago is New Zealand’s largest inflatable water park.

Emily Rutherford chats with Travel before the holiday season. Co-owner and managing director at Kiwi Water Park — New Zealand’s largest inflatable water park, which boasts one of the biggest slide towers of its kind in the world — she reveals what they have planned for summer.

Kiwi Water Park is in Cromwell, Central Otago — smack bang in the middle of Queenstown and Wānaka. We’re proud to be New Zealand’s largest inflatable water park; there are many small water inflatables around NZ, but we are the only park of this scale. We have gigantic slide and diving board towers that are up to 9m high. We also have NZ’s largest blob pillow, which is a human catapult.

New for this season, we will have the big red balls obstacle, similar to the Wipeout game show feature. We are the first water park in NZ to have this.

Kiwi Water Park opens for the summer season on December 1.

The water park is for people aged 6 years and over, and we have had people as old as 80 play on the park, so it really is for all ages. For children under 6, we have NZ’s largest sealed inflatable water castle on the beach, which has obstacles and slides suitable for younger children. There is ankle-deep water in it for them to splash about in, but we can’t stress enough that kids under 10 need an adult to actively supervise them at all times.

Teens love the giant diving boards and the blob, while adventurous mums, dads, nanas and granddads love playing on the whole park. The less-adventurous adults enjoy sitting on the beach and spectating while enjoying hours of laughs watching their family members get wiped out. Large whānau often come with chilly bins and beach shade and park up for the day to have a picnic. This makes our park by far the most family-friendly activity in the Queenstown Lakes and Central Otago region in the summer, because all members of the family are entertained and you can bring your own food, too.

Most people rave about the giant towers at Kiwi Water Park, especially the slides.

Most people rave about the giant towers, especially the slides. They also love how warm the water is in Cromwell. Lake Dunstan gets up to 22C in summer, whereas neighbouring lakes like Wakatipu in Queenstown rarely go above 12C. Last summer, Cromwell was frequently one of the hottest places in NZ, and it rarely rains.

My favourite part of the park is definitely the slides, which have kicks at the end thatsend you flying through the air.

We have some exciting new obstacles coming this summer, including the giant red balls. We also have a brand-new 9m-high tower, which will be one of the largest inflatable slide towers in the world. To boot, we are opening giant Slip N Slides in Auckland, North Waikato and Queenstown, so keep an eye out for updates.

Do you dare to take on New Zealand's largest inflatable water park?

Kiwi Water Park opens for the summer season on December 1. For more information and updates, go to kiwiwaterpark.com