Monster Slide Down Main Street

Well, this weekend J and I had quite the novel experience: We slid 300 metres (.2 miles) down main street (Devon Street) New Plymouth on a water slide! Pretty cool, I think!

Monster Slide is a NZ company that travels around the country setting up these slides, which range from 100 to 600 metres. We paid $22 each to slide three times, which seemed a bit pricey, but worth it for such a unique and fun experience.

Sunday was sunny and hot, perfect for a water event. We went downtown and did a walk-around to take some pictures before getting our inflatables and leaving the camera in the car. Tons of people took their phones or cameras down the slide with them so they could take pictures of themselves sliding, but J and I have managed to retain just the slightest understanding that the moment should be enjoyed rather than photographed, so we did not join them.

It is impossible to get a picture of the slide that captures the coolness of it being down the middle of what is usually a busy street, but oh well.

At the beginning of the slide they had built a raised platform to get you going, but after that the slide relied on the natural descent of the road. J and I slid almost all the way to the bottom without stopping, but many people (especially lightweight children) kept stopping in the middle because they didn't have enough momentum. That seems to be the thing that people were most upset about, but fortunately J and I didn't have a problem.

There were people along the way to give you a push if you were slowing down, which was helpful. 

This is the view from the end, where there was a huge puffy lake of suds to land in (if you made it that far). 

Unfortunately, those suds also clogged some pump or another, which resulted in us waiting in an unmoving line for 45 minutes, which was not particularly endearing.

I found this picture online - it's not from the one in New Plymouth, and I did not take it (obviously), but I thought I'd include it since it gives you so much better perspective from up high.

PHOTO CREDIT: Taranaki Daily News

I also included this picture from the newspaper, because these two people were right in front of us in line when the pump broke, so I got to watch their gradual transition from "This is so fun!" to "Waiting is not so fun" to "I'm not happy now" to "Something must be wrong." To their credit, (especially for being teenagers, who are not known for their forbearance) they stayed calm and waited patiently. I am glad to see in this picture that when they finally got their turn to slide, that it was every bit as fun as they thought it would be.

(Note: The newspaper also got permission and took pictures of J and I, but clearly decided that these lovely kids were way more photogenic. A wise choice.)