Kiwi Water Park may be looking to spread its wings.
The Cromwell park’s owner has also raised the question whether the speed limit on State Highway 6 — which runs beside the park — should be reviewed.
Park owner Emily Rutherford said the park is continuing to receive great support from the public.
“We have had amazing support from the entire Otago community and are extremely grateful for the phenomenal support,” she said.
“More than 30% of customers are repeats, so they love the park.”
About 70% of customers come from the Otago area, 95% were New Zealanders and just 5% were overseas tourists.
As there was no direct bus service from Queenstown to the park, she said it was hard to get tourists from the resort but it was something the park would be working on.
She said about 19,000 people had visited the park so far this year — about the same as last summer.
Ms Rutherford said about five councils and community groups from around the country had been in touch asking if they could bring a similar park to their area.
However, there would be no way the park was looking to leave Otago and its current spot near Lowburn, she said.
The park was filling up outside the gates just as much as inside them, with older people watching youngsters play at the park and many setting up camp outside to watch their grandchildren have fun.
The park’s future was up in the air last year due to a six-month battle between Land Information New Zealand (Linz), Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and the Central Otago District Council over road access. The issue was resolved in October, with the park opening in early December after the completion of a right-turn bay.
Police reported there had been two accidents near the water park in the last month.
On January 17, an overseas driver pulled across the road to the water park, to find that he could not park there.
He pulled out to find another park but drove in the wrong lane, leading to a collision.
No-one was injured. The offending driver was summonsed for careless use of a motor vehicle.
On January 28, a freedom camper pulled out of the camping reserve and was hit by another vehicle heading towards Cromwell. The accelerator on one of the vehicles was stuck, forcing it to drive on and off the road hitting a stationary vehicle. No-one was injured.
Ms Rutherford said one of the crashes had nothing to do with the water park and they could not control random drivers.
She questioned whether the 100kmh speed limit still applied on State Highway 6.
“Cromwell is a huge growing area, an area of massive growth. Then we have Pisa Moorings up the road, a quarry is going to be developed into a residential area. Is it a rural road any more?
“I grew up in Queenstown and remember when the road between Queenstown and Frankton was 100kmh. But as the two communities merged, the speed limit had to change and that may be what has to happen here.”
The park was set to close in April and had consent to operate until the end of the 2026-27 summer.
