I’d heard about work going on in Waitati on a Skatepark. It’s not that far away from Dunedin, so I thought I might have heard about it a bit earlier. I heard they’d started building, someone sent an internet link that suggested that it had been based on the Twizel park, which in turn had been based Cromwell. I remember when Twizel had got built and they invited us to demo at the park opening, and they mentioned the Cromwell connection, and the disbelief that everyone experienced that out of all the parks in Central to copy they’d chosen the worst one. We drove passed the Waitati park on the way back from Oamaru last weekend and I’m afraid I experienced a similar feeling. Cramped with all the angles and dimensions being wrong, with little runup or rundown. We’d probably have driven there and skated there a lot if it had been a good park. Communities spend all that money and don’t get an experienced eye to check their plans. I’m sure the guys at Cheapskates or Quest would have put them right. I won’t comment further, because I’m sure a lot of work and fundraising has gone on by the community to make this, which is appreciated, but here are the pictures.

Tags: skatepark, Waitati