An indoor pool, water-play centre, and aquatic leisure facility that is sure to have the kids splashing up a storm.  With two impressive waterslides, you don’t need to travel long distances for a fun day in the water.

When: Pool opens Monday to Friday 6.00am – 9.30pm and Saturday & Sunday 7.00am – 7.30pm.  Waterslides open Monday to Friday 4.00pm – 8.00pm, Saturday & Sunday 9.00am – 6.00pm and School holidays 9.00am – 6.00pm

Where:  1 Flintoff St GREENSBOROUGH, click here for map.

Cost:  Casual swim adult $6.75, child $5.30.  Casual swim and slide adult $15.40, child $12.  Supervising adult $3.  Click here for more information.

The big splash

Double inflatables for the Pipeline and Quads for Tantrum Alley

Review

WaterMarc is completely indoors – so you can use all the facilities no matter what the weather is doing.  The day we went along it was a slightly chilly morning outside – inside it was warm and so was the water.

We went along with our friends whose children are aged 8 and 12 – which meant the other mum and I entered as “supervising” adults.  As Charlie (the youngest in our party) was aged 5 he didn’t require my constant supervision, although around the deeper water, I was certainly hovering on the side of the pool – but while he was in the playground and slide area I could watch him from the sidelines knowing that he was with his sister and friends and the water was at its deepest point only 30cm.  I should also mention that there were WaterMarc staff supervising everywhere – and they were easily identifiable.

WaterMarc follow the rules of the National Program, Watch Around Water.  This means the following:  Children under the age of 5 years must remain within arm’s reach of an adult over 16 years of age.  Children aged 5 – under 10 years are to be actively supervised.

We parked in the underground car park – the lowest level offers 3 hour parking (free) whereas the upper levels only offer 2 hour parking – we used every minute of our three hours!

The cafe overlooks the water play and slides area – perfect for two “supervising” mums to have a coffee and a catch-up.  I should point out though that the water playground includes one of those massive water barrels that tips over every ten or so minutes to empty its contents splashing over everyone in the playground area – it’s incredibly noisy and is accompanied by the loud squeals of those being splashed.  I can say that after almost three hours of this noise my ears were starting to ring and it wasn’t exactly conducive to a normal level of conversation as we found ourselves yelling and then pausing at the points where the noise was too loud to be heard over – but we mamas take what we can get when it comes to social interactions!  (FYI there is an indoor section of the cafe but I am not sure I would feel okay about being that removed from the kids – maybe in a couple of years time when Charlie is a competent swimmer.)

The kids loved every minute of it.  As we approached the building from the outside they spied the massive Tantrum Alley waterslide coming out of the side of the building and the excitement levels skyrocketed.  Inside at the reception desk we paid our entry (two kids for slides and pools and a supervising adult = $27), got measured and also got wristbands.  Charlie was tall enough for the Pipeline waterslide (minimum 107cm) but not quite big enough for Tantrum Alley (122cm+).

The playground area was the first stop – and it was a great space for the kids to watch others exit the waterslides and build their confidence up.  It didn’t take very long and they all decided to try out the Pipeline.  The Pipeline can be a two-person or single-person ride – ridden in inflatable tubes that accommodate either two people or one.  When we arrived it was just before 10am and the queue for the slides was minimal – 5-minute wait tops.  So the kids had heaps of turns – Luke (8) reported at one stage he’d had 11 goes. About this time the older three decided to try out Tantrum Alley – it was a huge success, and thankfully Charlie seemed quite content to continue having turns on the Pipeline as a single rider.

We didn’t spend the entire time on the waterslides – there were also the pools and the kids played in the shallower pools for ages (0.9m deep) practicing handstands and messing about.  The older three also had a swim in the play area of the 50m pool.

By the time we left at about 1pm the wait for the waterslides had doubled to about 10 minutes – it was fairly busy in the centre but not crazy.  In the changing rooms we managed to get showers quickly and I noticed that many of the family change rooms were unoccupied.

WaterMarc is a fantastic way to get some waterslide action without travelling a long distance (it’s about a 30-minute drive from the CBD).  And if you have done GESAC and MSAC and want to try something new then it’s worth the trip as while it’s similar it’s also a bit different.

Check out what’s on for the school holidays at WaterMarc.