Canberra Aqua Park officially opened for business on Saturday 9 November, with a number of Canberrans turning out to enjoy the inflatable water park on Lake Burley Griffin.
Canberra Aqua Park’s operations manager, David Watts, said the first weekend was successful, despite the less than favourable weather conditions, with around 300 people taking to the lake over Saturday and Sunday.
“We were very pleased with the roll up for opening day, given that the weather wasn’t perhaps as kind to us as it could’ve been,” he said.
“There were plenty of people that came out to experience the park firsthand and the feedback was very good which was fantastic. There were plenty of people saying that they’d be back with more family and friends once the weather warms up a bit … so we were very pleased.”
Mr Watts said the park is expecting a busy summer season, and is hoping to see around 400-500 people through a day in the peak of summer and school holidays.
“We had an awful lot of people just come up [over the weekend] to make enquiries and get an understanding of how the park operated and book parties for when it’s warmer,” he said.
According to Mr Watts, people needn’t be worried about jumping into the lake, either, with the National Capital Authority (NCA) conducting weekly water quality tests.
“In the event that there was a situation that the quality did dip for whatever reason and it was deemed not to be safe, we are guided by the NCA and we would close the park,” he said.
“All indications are that we should have a great summer season and not have any issues with the water quality.”
The NCA announced in August the aqua park trial would be given the green light. At the time, Chief Executive Sally Barnes said the NCA is keen to see more community use of Lake Burley Griffin, and hopes the aqua park trial and the reactivation of the paddle boats, scheduled for December, will “continue to activate the lake for locals and visitors”.
ACT Senator Zed Seselja said in a statement on Friday 8 November that both the aqua park and the paddle boats would “bring a new dimension to the lake”.
Canberra Aqua Park will be open until the end of March 2020. For more information, visit canberraaquapark.com
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