Northam Aquatic Centre

[iwerks]

It appears the four water slide tower and pool complex should be ready by January. 

https://www.ausleisure.com.au/news/northam-aquatic-centre-moves-toward-january-2020/

[Aw hype]

Is that bad CGI or did they go with whole 'unrendered tube' design. Those things look ugly

[joz]

That run out pool is going to.be pure mayhem on a busy day. Love that one of the slides comes in at a 90degree angle to the rest

[Baconjack]

the run off pool looks like a WHS disaster waiting to happen. there probably isnt even enough length for guests to exit the green slide safely. Gonna need to be some strict weight restrictions methinks.

[Tim Dasco]

For people not in WA this slide complex is in northern which is around the heart of the wheat fields. So this won’t be insanely busy during the holiday periods. 

[themagician]

But if someone exits the red and yellow slides at the exact same time, it could cause for an accident. And if that doesn’t happen, when someone is swimming to the edge of the pool (having just been on the yellow) they could be hit by someone coming down the red slide 

[iwerks]

It will be interesting to see how they manage it. It does look like it was designed in RCT 2. Could make for a good road trip @Tim Dasco - Kalamunda, Northam, Kulin. Who’s up for the challenge?

[Gazza]

I don't think it will look like the renders.

Normally with these the manufacturer just gives a 3D model but in this case it looks like the person doing the rendering just read off the plan and interpreted.

The blue slide i bet will only be a 450 degree helix, so much lower, and it follows the green one will just be a couple of gentle straights with the turn 

[iwerks]

Paid the Northam Rec Centre a visit on my way back from the York Festival, today. There were a couple of tradies on site, despite the fact that it was a public holiday here. There were some slide pieces lying around. The base of the slides and the new tower seem to be in the foreground along with some small pools. There’s a 50m pool in the distance with what looks to be a spectator stand.

Edited September 30, 2019 by iwerks

[Rabbit2014]

Looks like the slide colours do look like  art work disappointed as they look so cheap

[Gazza]

Those aqua coloured parts are AWL open air slide parts, so therefore the renderings were indeed for illustrative purposes only 

[iwerks]

Looks like the slides are going vertical. Source: Northam Recreation Centre’s Facebook page.

[Gazza]

 

Fully four is nearing completion

https://www.facebook.com/northamrecreationcentre/photos/?ref=page_internal

 

For the record:

 

So the red slide turned out like the rendering (albeit teal coloured now)

The rest were different as you'd expect.

It's hard to see but on the lowest level is a white coloured slide that literally just turns and drops in the middle of the teal helix

[Gazza]

@iwerks are you heading up to Northam soon?

 

 

 

 

[iwerks]

Finally got the chance to drive the hour and a half to Northam and ride the slides. It’s a really nice new aquatic centre that replaces the old Olympic Pool on the other side of town.

It’s $5 for pool entry for adults and another $5 for a 2 hour session on the slides. The weather in Perth has been awful this past week, so the sun actually turned up, today, and there was a top of 27 degrees. The water isn’t heated, so this temperature was just fine.

We arrived just after the start of the morning two hour slide session(10-12 and 2-4pm on weekends) and I wouldn’t have seen more than 5 people on the slides and probably another ten in the rest of the pool complex.

The four slides come off a three storey tower and thankfully they all land into the shallow splash pool from the same direction. There’s a small kids slide on the first floor. A light blue/teal open slide on the second floor, and darker blue and light green enclosed slides from the third floor.

The young staff were helpful, chatty and relaxed. The blue slides are the quickest, faster than the Gold Rush at Outback Splash. The green slide was wider, like it was meant for tubes, and runs out of puff just before the end. There’s definitely more to do here if you’re a single rider than Outback Splash. 

The slide tower is pretty narrow, but does the job. The enclosed tubes have a decent length of time in the dark. The tower is surrounded by a lovely little native garden and there are plenty of shaded areas for families to gather. The whole complex looks pristine and puts the rest of Northam to shame. It’s got a lot going for it, considering its price point. The local community should be very happy with this investment.

Edited February 29, 2020 by iwerks