A mum and dad have spent big bucks on a glow-in-the-dark slide for their teenage kids.
One day, New Zealand dad Darryl Angus started aimlessly looking up second-hand waterslides on Trade Me.
It was during lockdown, and he and his wife Tarryn were looking for a way to stave off boredom.
“It’s just one of those silly things you do in life to entertain yourself and keep yourself busy and be a bit creative. And then you get into it and go, ‘Why am I doing this?’” Angus tells OneRoof.
He missed out on the second-hand slide, but he started hunting for more options.
Gradually, the plan to add a simple waterslide to the heated pool they were building turned into something much bigger.
The couple ended up ordering a 36-metre-long custom-made hydroslide from China for $NZ100,000 ($AU90,600).
The slide was so enormous that it needed not one, but two shipping containers to transport it from China to Omanawa.
“The slide itself kind of glows in the dark,” Angus says.
The heated swimming pool cost another $NZ100,000 ($AU90,600), and floodlit basketball court cost $NZ50,000 ($AU45,000).
In total, the couple spent the equivalent of $220,000 on the backyard adventure playground.
Now, however, the family has put their home on the market so they can move closer to the city.
Agent Clark Mazey from Tremains tells OneRoof he was bowled over by the quality of the backyard features.
“It actually blew my mind. I was like, ‘This is actually like a commercial [waterpark] – it was like you were at Wet’n’Wild.”
“It has been done to such a high standard,” the agent says.