Overview
We alerted you a few weeks back that Australia was getting its first wave park just outside of Melbourne, but it turns out the playful geniuses at URBNSURF aren't stopping at Victoria. They've announced their latest plan today to turn a Sydney Olympic Park carpark into Australia's second Wavegarden. The team is quite literally turning concrete into a playground, and we couldn't be more psyched about it (even though Kelly Slater's will inevitably be better by a mile).
While Sydney's beach scene is already on point, especially compared with Melbourne's lack thereof, the wave park allows surfers to catch the perfect wave, day or night, with ne'er a shark in site. Set 14 kilometres west of the Sydney CBD and situated next to the planned Parramatta Light Rail line, the park will open in 2018. The site already receives ten million visitors a year, so URBNSURF have picked a pretty good spot.
Apart from the benefits of shark-less, jellyfish-less waters, perfectly crafted waves and LED lighting for night time sessions, the 'lagoon-side' amenities are over the top in their own right. The park will include a cafe, rooftop bar and beach club, along with a fully equipped surf shop. If you're new to surfing, they'll be running training programs for all levels.
But the park isn't only for surfers either — with beach cabanas, a children's playground, skate ramp, rock climbing and parkour courses, it seems this Wavegarden is set to be more of an all-around amusement park. It's also promised to be designed sustainably, using renewable energy and water saving systems.
URBNSURF is operated by the Perth company Wave Park Group, which is committed to revolutionise surf in Australia, so you can bet this won't be their last project. If all goes well, the Wavegarden won't be ready before 2018 so you have a few more years of regular-old surfing before the wave of the future takes over.
URBNSURF will open in 2018 at Sydney Olympic Park. Check out Melbourne's version in the meantime.