Sports facilities eye up Hibiscus Coast locations

Surfing is not the first thing that springs to mind when you think of Dairy Flat, but that could be about to change.

Recently an ‘Auckland Surf Park Community’ proposed for a 43ha site in Dairy Flat began the process of seeking resource consent via the Government’s Covid-19 fast-track consenting method.

A 2.2ha state of the art Wavegarden surfing lagoon, wellness retreat, visitor accommodation and restaurant are proposed for the site, at 1350 Dairy Flat Highway, along with a data centre and 7ha solar farm – the aim is to use solar energy to operate the data centre, and capture heat from the data centre to warm the surfing lagoon.

A company to own and operate the data centre is already signed up.

International company Aventuur is behind the Wavegarden project and has indicated that it represents an investment of tens of millions of dollars, for the wave pool alone.

The project is supported by organisations such as Surf Lifesaving NZ and Surfing NZ, Water Safety NZ and Paralympics NZ, along with Kiwi professional surfer Paige Hareb.

Hareb, who has surfed at the Wavegarden in Melbourne, says the consistent waves enable surfers to improve their skills and have fun.

“A surf park in Auckland will provide a world-class training facility for surf athletes,” she says.

However, the Surf Park’s most enthusiastic spokesperson is Sir John Kirwan, a lifelong surfer, former All Black and mental health advocate.

He says he has been investigating wave pools for a while and Aventuur is the third group that has approached him.

“I am confident they have what it takes to make this happen,” he says.

He says the company looked at around 30 Auckland sites before settling on the land in Dairy Flat.

Recent weather has affected many parts of Dairy Flat.

“We went out there during the floods and it naturally flooded, which for us is a bonus,” he says. “Climate resilience is one box that had to be ticked. For me it needed to strongly support the six pillars of mental health, and be environmentally friendly too.” The Wavegarden, which prides itself on producing ‘perfect waves’, is a diamondshaped pool with a pier or footbridge running through the centre. The top end of the pier houses the machinery that pushes out waves through a series of levers encased in modules. The levers swing in one direction to push out a wave first on one side of the pool, then the other. The number of modules determines wave length and power. Kirwan says while an artificial wave will