Family-favourite Waiwera resort turns wasteland
Outlook grim for operation as locals express dismay at sorry state of incomplete construction site
Anne Gibson
“It’s a bloody mess,” said a Waiwera local, shaking his head in disgust at the state of the local pools, a source of so many fond memories for thousands of Aucklanders.
On Thursday, landowner Waiwera Properties announced the lease at the Waiwera Thermal Resort had been cancelled and locks on the doors changed after “continual tenant default”, leaving a grim outlook for the operation.
The resort had been closed since February for a major overhaul of the facility.
Security staff yesterday visited the property to let in two staff from an alarm and CCTV monitoring business.
The Weekend Herald was also allowed inside to see the once-bustling resort. The bright and cheerful Tip Top sign gleamed in the sun beneath the forested hill which was abundant with tu¯¯ı.
But the scene behind the tall walls is a far cry from how the resort once looked when it was filled with families.The water-slide tower is covered in protective white wrap. Pools are drained. The concrete elephants are still perched on their steps, but look cast adrift with no water below them.
Wheelchair-bound Michael Schischka had been visiting the pools for 56 years and relied on them for pain relief.
“I am really horrified it’s been shut and we allowed an overseas person to dictate what facilities we have in New Zealand.”
He was referring to Russian billionaire Mikhail Khimich, whose business ran the pools but shut them this year for renovation.
Khimich’s company bought the lease interest in 2010 and at the beginning of the year, the pools were closed for a major upgrade. But no workers
were on site yesterday. “In terms of New Zealanders’ interests, this is denying us an opportunity,” Schischka said. “I come here to address pain, severe back pain. It’s really sad, I’m a bit disappointed.”
Ken Titford, born in Waiwera 85 years ago at a home opposite the
I am really horrified it’s been shut and we allowed an overseas person to dictate what facilities we have. Michael Schischka
pools, said the resort’s long-term closure was not good for the area and although he was “not a big pools man”, it was taking a toll on the coastal settlement.
“There’s only a couple of businesses in the place and it must be pretty quiet for them,” Titford said.
Surya Dev, duty manager at the Sugarloaf Waiwera Beach Bar and Restaurant opposite the pools, hopes people will still come to the area this summer.
Trade had been “okay” but it was
mainly supported by locals, he said.
“We have less business now. We are struggling,” Dev said.
One local called it “a bloody mess”, saying a partly finished construction site served no one’s interests and he was aghast at the state it had been left in.
Aqua-blue paint on the resort’s exterior is peeling, weeds in the carpark are knee-high in places, construction materials are piled up, as is a mound of soil excavated from digging a drain.
A builder’s measuring tape has been left on a saw horse, pipe and drain work is unfinished, and concrete bags are stacked in piles waiting to be opened. Yellow “caution” tape surrounds many parts of the site.
Shade coverings have been ripped away from frameworks, and a large deck to the waterfront end of the site is only partly finished with no timber boards laid. Hazard signs outside warn of loose concrete, heavy machinery, scaffolding and excavation with holes and trenches.
In February this year, it was reported that Waiwera Thermal Resort made all staff redundant ahead of the six-month refurbishment.
But the Waiwera pools, once a source of fun for many families, now stands deserted, with not one child’s delighted cry or a splash to be heard.