The place to be this summer

Docklands continues to innovate and has just produced Australia’s first indoor snowboard park.

There may still be a dinosaur at what used to the front door, but the ever-flexible tent in the Waterfront City Piazza has re-invented itself as a ski slope – complete with challenging jumps and fixtures that are popular with snowboarders.

The ski season has finished but, according to business owners Derek Nicholson and Karen Reid (pictured above), there are plenty of snowboarders who prefer technical jumps and bumps to a mountainside anyway.

Derek reports that the business’s Facebook page is currently receiving nearly 80,000 visits a week – so while a non-mainstream sport, there is plenty of interest.

Derek says the insulation and snowmaking facilities inside means that the slope will be unaffected even if the outside temperature hits 45 degrees.

City Snow Events is an eight-year-old business.  But the couple have usually made a living by setting up stunt parks for others, such as universities and clubs.

If successful in Docklands the couple may look at expanding elsewhere, including interstate.