focusinterview. A FUN, SAFE, MAN MADE, CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT THAT’S NOT ON A PUBLIC WATER WAY, HAS FRESH WATER AND NO SHARKS - STONEY AQUA PARK IS FUN FOR ALL! CHRISSY JONES CHATTED WITH CO-OWNER JASON STONE ABOUT THE PARK - A WORLD CLASS HOLIDAY PARK WITH AN AQUA THEME.
Stoney Water Park’s
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toney Water Park has been around for a while, Jason; how did it come about? We moved up from Wollongong, an hour south of Sydney, in the late ‘90s and outsourced this area at Telegraph Point to construct manmade lakes for the purpose of waterskiing and wakeboarding. It was suitable for this application, because of the expanse and type of ground that we were digging in. It is a clay based property and holds water naturally. This took about two years to do ourselves and put in the infrastructure and facilities for the holiday park. We have been commercially operating now for 15 years. The location being just 15 minutes North of Port Macquarie and adjacent to the Wilson River allows for people to come and use our facility and go waterskiing outside our facility as well. I would describe us as a holiday park with a water sports theme, which includes wakeboarding, tube riding, water skiing, catering anywhere from beginners all the way through to world class competitors. We have hosted over six national waterski titles and many professional events, including five Australian Open Events and eight or nine NSW Titles as well. Customers and competitors from all over the world travel here to compete and train - English, Japanese, American and Europeans who stay on site in the facilities. We have fully self-contained villas and ranch style bunkhouse accommodation. Tell us a little about yourself … My sister, Anissa, and I are business partners; it's a family owned and operated business. I was a professional water skier for 15 years, skiing professionally in America for eight years. The idea of this man-made facility stemmed from that; they are very popular over there. When
I came home, I wanted to construct lakes like you see here. The lakes are fresh water, not connected to the river at all; they are independent manmade lakes. There are only a couple of other similar facilities like this in the country, one on the Victorian border and the other in Perth. But as far as encapsulating the holiday park, the waterskiing school and aqua park all in one, Stoney Aqua Park is unique. The park has been built to world class manmade specs. You started off as a water ski park; why expand to take in the aqua park? We have run the water ski park successfully for the past 15 years. The idea to expand out into a different business direction was to utilise both our lakes. We saw an opportunity to utilise our second lake and present something that Port Macquarie and the Mid North Coast area would be drawn to - an aqua park. I organised the infrastructure to be imported from China and America, and over the past six months we have been working tirelessly to convert it from a water ski lake to an aqua park. Ten tonnes of equipment arrived in early September, including over 100 independent inflatables - slides, see-saws, balance beams, mouse wheels, huge trampolines, wobble boards, swings etc. Our website has a full list of the equipment. The aqua park lake is 750 m long by 80 m wide by 2.5 m deep and holds 82 million litres of fresh rainwater. Who can enjoy the park? It’s a family orientated facility; there is no ability level. You just have to be confident enough to hop in the water with a lifejacket on. We have had customers who can’t swim, but they are confident enough with a lifejacket on to go out there. It is safety first. All our staff are highly qualified - Bronze Medallion certified, First Aid
YOU CAN PICK AND CHOOSE WHERE YOU WANT TO GO AS WELL; IF YOU DON’T WANT TO GO ON A PART THAT LOOKS TOO CHALLENGING, YOU CAN REDIRECT YOURSELF. EVERYTHING IS INTERLINKED VIA RUNWAYS.
certified, Resus certified. Between eight to ten aqua staff are out there on the park at any time; they wear bright red rashies. We are very safety orientated. From three years and up, kids are allowed on the park, but from three to six they must be accompanied by an adult. We’ve had up to 70-year-old people on the park; it's all ages and all abilities. You can pick and choose where you want to go as well; if you don’t want to go on a part that looks too challenging, you can redirect yourself. Everything is inter-linked via runways. Aqua boot camps are popular. Graeme Lawlor from Everybody PT runs aqua boot camps Saturday mornings. They are being very well received - they do time trails around it. Sporting bodies and football teams have been booking sessions with us for their training as well. You are constantly pushing and pulling; as the park is slightly uneven and unsteady, you are constantly using your core to keep balanced. What are some of your safety procedures? Each morning because the temperature drops overnight, the inflatables become a little bit spongy, so we do what we call a pump up and check the air pressures are correct. When you get out there, the inflatables are quite hard to stand on - solid, as far as being airtight. When you are on them, it's like running across solid ground. Each morning one of our staff members walks the course, checking for obstacles that may have been left out there. Before each session, a safety brief is conducted, including a pre-recorded safety speech on the rules and regulations. Everyone has to listen to this before going on the course. Lifejackets are supplied. You just need
swimmers and a towel. Have you a timetable for the aqua park sessions? Yes, we start at 10am and have sessions on the hour every hour. Fun goers are advised to arrive 20 minutes prior to the hour that they want. There are signs showing session times and availability around the park. Bookings are only taken for groups of 30 people and over, because the park is capable of having up to 250 participants at any one time. Stoney Aqua Park will be operating seven days per week right through to the end of January. What are some of the activities at the park? We have stand up paddle boards for hire, water skiing and wakeboarding, plus tube riding seven days a week. Sessions can be booked via the website, or call us. We have a beach lagoon which fronts the aqua park - the kids splash zone, a cordoned off swimming area. Parents who aren’t going on the aqua park or have toddlers who are too young, can swim and cool off whilst other family members or friends are on the aqua park. You can make a day of it, book a morning session, have a picnic lunch or BBQ and then have another go on the aqua park. You can even stay and play; we have packages available - book accommodation and sessions including water skiing and tube riding. You can bounce from one lake to another over a weekend. There is a kiosk on site offering Peak Coffee, cold drinks, snacks, ice creams, pies, sausage rolls and lollies - energy food! We get a lot of hungry people after they go on the park. Stoney Aqua Park is constantly evolving; the next addition will be a Giant Swing, just in time for the summer holidays. Thanks Jason. Greater Port Macquarie focus 53