St Kilda Adventure Park wave slides reopened just in time for school holidays

TUBE slides built as part of a multimillion-dollar upgrade of St Kilda playground but deemed too dangerous have now been replaced – it’s taken a year and cost several hundred thousand dollars.

Jackson, 7, Ivy, 2, and Ethan Knott, 6, enjoy the slides at St Kilda Adventure Playground, which will open next week in time for the school holidays. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

• Dangerous tube slides at St Kilda Adventure Park closed
• TIME FOR FUN: Adelaide’s top 25 playgrounds
• The world’s biggest nature-inspired playground in Adelaide’s backyard
• Adelaide — the city of million-dollar playgrounds?

SLIDES at St Kilda Adventure Playground will be opened just in time for the school holidays, more than a year after they were closed for safety reasons.

Salisbury Council is gearing up to open the new wave slide and a smaller slide, and reopen the existing wave slide that was closed for alterations, within the next week.

Mayor Gillian Aldridge previously dubbed the playground “the best in the state” and hoped the upgrades — especially the extra slides — would reinforce her belief.

“St Kilda Adventure Playground just keeps getting better with not one, but two big new wave slides being opened to the public for the first time these school holidays,” Ms Aldridge said.

“Everyone loved the old wave slide and it was probably the playground’s most popular attraction, but it was ageing and in need of renewal.

The playground was opened to much fanfare in November 2015 after more than $3.5 million was spent on its revamp.

However, the tube – or volcano – slides were closed less than a year later, due to safety concerns after reports of injuries including broken bones, severe burns and a dislocated knee.

The slides, which cost $600,000, had to be dismantled, at an estimated cost of $340,000.

But for regular users of the playground, the investment is worth it.

Gawler East woman Rebecca Knott takes her three children — Jackson, 7, Ethan, 6, and Ivy, 2 — to the playground regularly.

She was glad the slides had been replaced.

“I certainly worried when my kids went on the old steep slides and I would have to close my eyes as they came flying out the end of them,” Mrs Knott said.

“Having said that, we’re glad that they have been replaced with safer ones because it will just put our mind at ease when they go on them.”