Bird sculpture slide has users ending in tears
Residents love it, they just want to use it safely
Agiant interactive sculpture which stands 10m high and looks out to the water in Auckland’s Hobsonville Point is much loved by locals, but is leaving some people in tears.
Hobsonville Point residents are warning others about the Harrier Point Park slide on social media with some saying family members have hurt their back from using it.
One person said the slide was “an accident waiting to happen”; another said a colleague’s daughter had to be rushed to A&E because they thought she had broken her tailbone.
Te Kanohi O Te Manu — The Eye Of The Bird features a viewing platform in the head of a pied shag and a slide in the body, exiting at the tail.
It’s the tail-end that people are most concerned about. Locals say while it’s an amazing design overall, it has a “terrible design of the exit”.
A few people said they had seen adults and children in tears after a rough landing.
The Hobsonville Point website describes the sculpture by artist Philipp Meier as offering an outlook equal to that of a three-storey building.
Meier has designed a range of Auckland’s interactive playgrounds, including the kamo kamo, fantail and snail at Myers Park, the birds’ nests at Hobsonville Point Park and the mussel climbers at Wynyard Quarter.
The sculpture, which is Ka¯inga Ora-owned and partly funded by Auckland Council, was inspired by the native pied shag which inhabits the Hobsonville Point coast.
Auckland Council said it was unaware of any injuries relating to the slide.
“Although we have not received any reports, we are very concerned to hear of people injuring themselves using the slide. Public health and safety is our number one priority and we ask that visitors to Te Kanohi o Te Manu, report the injury to council with as much information as possible. In the meantime, we will be working with Ka¯inga Ora to identify and resolve the issue.”
Hobsonville Point Residents Society spokeswoman Christine Glover said she had seen social media comments about the slide and had raised the group’s concerns with Ka¯inga Ora. She added locals love the slide, they just want to be able to safely use it.— RNZ
We are very concerned to hear of people injuring themselves.