- Waingaro Hot Springs is for sale as owners Chuhar and Amro Singh retire after 30 years.
- The park features four slides, private spas, bumper boats, a camping ground, and a hotel.
- “With a bit of blood, sweat, and tears, it could be pretty special again,” says agent Josh Smith.
A Waikato thermal resort that was the go-to fun park for Kiwis in the 1980s and ‘90s is on the hunt for a new owner.
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Waingaro Hot Springs owners Chuhar and Amro Singh have been running the business for more than 30 years and, now in their 80s, are selling up due to health reasons.
Bayleys listing agent Josh Smith said there was now an opportunity for someone to acquire one of the few waterparks still left in the country. “They [the owners] are retiring. They’ve done their time and they are ready to let it go,” he told OneRoof.
The speed slide and hydroslide which was once marketed as being the longest in the country are still running. Photo / Supplied
The bumper boat pool remains, but is empty and the boats don't work. Photo / Supplied
“With a bit of blood, sweat, and tears, it could be pretty special again.”
The park, which claims to have New Zealand’s longest water slide, comes with four slides, private spas, bumper boats, a camping ground, a shop, and a hotel. “The bones are still there,” Smith said.
Smith said that in today’s market, it would be "near impossible" for someone to gain access to a hot water spring and open a water park like Waingaro.
He, along with many other locals, still remembers when Waingaro Hot Springs was the go-to family fun park in the region, and the “Go Waingaro Go” ad jingle that played throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
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“It was famous. It was on TV and on the radio and everything,” he said. “TV advertising back then was expensive and they could afford to do it.”
New Zealand’s water parks and hot pools have come under pressure in recent years, with Waiwera Thermal Resort, just north of Auckland, and Miranda Hot Springs, in Kaiaua, both shutting their doors to the public.
Waingaro Hot Springs, however, is still in business. “Where hot pools are operating they are popular. You only have to look at Hanmer Springs, whose pools have probably put Hanmer Springs on the map.”
The facilities include an onsite shop, manager's accommodation, cabins, picnic area and communal kitchen. Photo / Supplied
Waingaro Hot Springs sits on 14.5hectares of land owned by the Waikato District Council and leased to the vendors. Up for grabs is the business that holds the lease and the infrastructure.
The Singhs purchased the business in 1993 for $1.325 million and have attempted to sell it at least once before, in 2010.
OneRoof has reached out to Waikato District Council for comment, but had not heard back at the time of publication.
The hot springs complex, which is 24km west of Ngāruawāhia, has come under fire in recent years over maintenance work and near drownings.
In 2015, Waikato District Council tried to cancel the lease after it accused the Singhs of failing to make necessary repairs. The High Court rejected the council’s bid but ordered the Singhs to make the repairs within three months.
There have been two drownings at the facility, while two near-drownings of children at the pools, in 2018 and 2019, led to claims that there was a lack of lifeguards on patrol. At the time, Waingaro Hot Springs declined to respond to the allegations.
- 2263 Waingaro Road, in Waingaro, is for sale, tender closing March 14
