NEW W KIDS KIDS’ POOL

THE long- awaited renovation of the Doone Kennedy Aquatic Centre has been revealed, with more fun in line for youngsters keen to take a dip. The children’s pool area now has new slides, a giant dumping bucket and greater safety. Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said the revamp was “worth the wait”.

A BRIGHT new water play space has made a splash with the children of Hobart, reopening just in time for the hottest part of the year.

The Hobart Aquatic Centre’s soft- opening for its longawaited revamped areas went swimmingly on Monday, with kids enjoying a new slide and a giant water- dumping bucket.

Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said work on parts of the centre began in June.

“We used the COVID restriction period to revamp some of our most popular areas,” she said.

“And though the spaces

had been closed for some time, it was well worth the wait.”

“I’m so pleased to see the response from our first young visitors who absolutely loved

the new water play space,” Cr Reynolds said.

“The new slide and bucket play space is an exciting area for the bigger kids, but there’s also a new area that is suitable for babies and toddlers. The play space is safer now too with new slip- resistant tiles around the pool and a dividing wall between the kids play pool and the deeper 25m program pool.”

Six year old swimming enthusiasts Emily Kean and Ivy Gadd were among the first to test out the new space.

“It gets an eight out of 10 for me,” Emily said.

“It’s not going to be a 10 because that big bucket dumped me – that takes off two points right there. But I really like the big purple slide. It goes really fast.”

With the swimming centre still facing capacity restrictions, Cr Reynolds said the venue was capped at 500 people.

“If you’re visiting please consider coming at the less busy times or if you do come when we have the allowable limit, there may be a small wait,” she said.

Cr Reynolds said they were sorry to miss out on federal funding for a major redevelopment of the centre.

“We’ll keep trying for that support, but in the meantime these smaller makeovers can still have a big impact in freshening up the facility,” she said.

The Aquatic Centre remains open seven days a week.