Whangarei Aquatic Centre

Negative experience: Quite possibly the dirtiest aquatic centres I have ever visited. There are plenty of older aquatic centres built around this time period, but none of them feature a large amount of actual dirt and yellow-ish water. Balanced chlorination and a simple pool vacuum with regularity would be a measured improvement on the state of this pool. It’s shockingly bad, and aught to be entirely closed due to its state.

Fantastic experience: Excellent customer service, lifeguards are professional, good family and friends good communication, welcome and treat them like a Lady and Gentleman, we all one big happy community, He Whakaputanga mutual flag, for every one in the beautiful country Ake Ake Ake Whanau forever Arohanui.

Positive experience: Great place, pools, spa, and a wave pool. (Currently under renovation but open)

Negative experience: Havnt been for a swim for a couple of weeks fur to cold/flu. Got there today and find makeshift changing rooms outside while the originals are revamped. It's good they are getting done much need attention but walking outside, soaking wet from a swim, in this weather... Come on... no thanks!

Fantastic experience: My whānau love the hot pools! Even without the slides working or the waves at present (due ro renovations) we love the pools. Great place to let the kids be kids for a couple of hours. Reasonable price also! Great cafe for a snack

Fantastic experience: It's the gym and everything they have to offer

Fantastic experience: Great community vibe. All the members are really friendly and encouraging. Get stuck into the gym, pools, sauna for your fitness journey!

Fantastic experience: Love going in the wave pools and it is a nice place to spend the day relaxing with family / friends. Nice and friendly staff and not expensive definitely going back again soon!

Negative experience: Why the pool and spa was so much sand all on the bottom ?? Very disgusting

Negative experience: The pool had a 4 inch high layer of grime right around the water line that when I rubbed with my finger nail came off in chunks. The water was a pale green colour - not normal and not inviting and had stained the drains. The spa was closed and the hydroslide stairs look like a hazard with the amount of rust on the underside. The entry fee was far too expensive given the standard of the pool. None of this is a problem with the infrastructure, but a problem with those that manage this facility and foremost of which, laziness of cleaning routines. They need a serious rev up.

Fantastic experience: Great sauna albeit small it wasn’t too busy and super hot. Was great.

Negative experience: So ridiculous making parents pay the full amount with kids age (1+ years) In auckland its only $1 for me and my son because kids up to 17yrs are free and of course 1 years can't swim by themselves. Next time I should only pay for my 2 year old (who can't swim independently) then the life savers look after him, because that's pretty much what that seperate payment option is meaning. Taking advantage of parents and the community because this is the only pool in whangarei, it's very sad. And expecting people to pay this much when the facilities aren't all available, non of the water play was on (and its a weekend)

Negative experience: Worst Pools iv ever been in We are from Taupo staying in Mangas Drove all the way from Mangawhai for this place as the website and description looked amazing got here $30 for me and 2 kids just to arrive with no hydro slides going no wave pool had to beg the useless life guards to turn the water play on my brother payed for him and his whanau just to get told they wernt aloud outside in the “bombing pool” the spa was absolutely disgusting sand all on the bottom off it Stairway to the hydro slides all rusty and yuck all round horrible place tbh never will be coming back here again

Negative experience: Wir haben uns auf eine warme Dusche gefreut. Leider kam nur kaltes Wasser und es hatte keinen Haarföhn. Wenn es kostenlos wäre, wäre es völlig okay. Für den Preis eine absolute Enttäuschung.

Negative experience: Rude staff especially the (older generation) younger staff are absolutely helpful and lovely. Pools are so outdated and disgusting spa had sand in the bottom of it

Fantastic experience: Good service and always makes one feel comfortable

Positive experience: Great pools particularly the spa pool, love going to the gym too

Negative experience: My 9 year old daughter had a bad experience today with the male employee supervising the water slide. She didn't understand his instructions and he was unprofessional towards her which upset her and he abruptly closed the water slide for all.

Positive experience: Jul 2024 Changes at last Dec 2023 Absolutely no indication on their website of public holiday opening hours. This site has got worse, not better. Staff are always polite & lovely, however the maintenance is questionable. One of the showers has been off limits for the last 6 weeks. Poor management. On a more positive note, the lifeguards are some of the most vigilant I've seen in a pool environment. It's a pretty boring role, but I've never seen these guards distracted. Apr 2023 The online competition pool schedule used to be really well maintained - you could easily see when the pool was free for lap swimming. These days it's not at all indicative of what's actually happening in the pool or how many lanes are free for use e.g. Sun 22/04/23 shows the pool as free, when in fact it's closed for a carnival & Anzac Day shows as being open all day. This tool is really helpful for customers when it's being well maintained. Don't bother putting it online if it's not correct. Disappointing.

Positive experience: Place is tired and in need of a do-up. Broken windows are never a good look. Would like to see playground in backyard and more toys available to hire

Negative experience: Rude service from the lady in the cafe. Was disappointed to be given such rude service by a staff member who didn’t want to be there. Waited close to 10mins to be served as the counter was empty. Star walked out later arms crossed, aggressive demenor. The first this she said after being away from the desk was “we usually close at 3” it was 3.30 by then. So I couldn’t order anything that would take effort to make. I ordered milkshakes and something easy, instead of taking my money she snapped back with a “I’ll charge you when it’s ready” to be honest this is the worse case of I don’t like my job body language I’ve experienced so just left. Embarrassing too being she was the same nationality as me, she needs to do better or leave if she’s unhappy. People look at you and expect low life behaviour and attitude. Was disappointing to see her fit that narrative

Fantastic experience: Fair entry price and great pool area's plus the sauna room is

Positive experience: The Whangarei Aquatic Centre seems to be dated and rundown. It definitely needs some maintenance or even a complete revamp. It's in a prime location and has the potential to be the jewel in the crown and a tourist destination with some clever planning and forethought. Situated around the vibrant Town Basin area and close to the world famous Hundertwasser Art Centre, Clapham's Clocks, Whangarei Art Museum, Hātea Loop Walkway and in the shadow of Mount Parihaka. There's plenty of parking but the current design has been poorly executed because the carpark is located so far away from the main pool entrance and they have not taken into account families with babies and toddlers or elderly people. There's plenty of mobility parking and there's a designated drop off and pick-up point for people with a disability, that provides easy access and egress right outside the main pool entrance. There's a large outdoor BBQ area with a few tables. But unfortunately there's no children's playground, shaded area or outdoor swimming pool. There's an outdoor diving pool which has been there since it opened in 1965. It's looking very dilapidated with rust coming through the paint on the steelwork and mould on the diving boards and it's the first thing you see upon entering the pools. They have a good selection of heated indoor pools including a tots pool, wave pool, water slide, hydrotherapy pool, spa pool, sauna, 25m lane pool, gym and cafe. They seem to always have sufficient numbers of lifeguards on duty doing a great job. They do not provide lock-up lockers! However there's a limited number of small pigeon hole shelving attached to the wall if you really want to risk losing your phone, wallet and keys! The Whangarei Aquatic Centre is popular and has served the community well for a long time but in it's current state it clearly needs some maintenance. Really obvious things like trip hazards in the BBQ area, bags left in walkways because there's not enough lockers, poor lighting, paint peeling off the walls in the changing room, broken door locks and tiles, rust coming through the paint on the waterslide steps and dive tower, mould, dirty windows. Most importantly I'm not sure what the water quality is like and how often it is tested but I imagine it would have to comply with strict water quality safety standards, however they obviously missed the slimy green sand in the spa pool on the day I was there. To me the overall standard of maintenance is poor and it hasn't just happened overnight. Not sure if it's due to poor management by CLM or a lack of funding by WDC or both? The Whangarei Aquatic Centre is owned by the Whangarei District Council and is managed by private company (CLM) Community Leisure Management (according to Stuff 2 days ago) The Whangarei District Council has proposed a record high 17.2% rates increase in 2024, almost double that of it's previous highest increase (according to RNZ) There's definitely room for improvement and CLM and WDC need to have more transparency and accountability. The Whangarei community and rate payers deserve better!

Positive experience: Great to see how well the pool is getting used. I have joined in with several group fitness options and would recommend them for anyone thinking about group fitness for motivated meeting new people. The recent pool paint job looks good.

Fantastic experience: My little girl is finally a star.

Positive experience: The facility is looking and running the best it's been for a long time ! New management, new ideas and friendly customer service focused staff are showing good changes. The changing rooms are cleaner these days too and that must be the hard work of the lifeguards showing . If you are looking for a calm, quiet discreet place to workout, the gym here is great and never over crowded with no judgement. It's also nice to know that lifeguards and medically trained staff are always less than a minute away anywhere in the complex should you have a moment or have an accident :)

Negative experience: Never saw anything that gross in my life I visited with high expectations after the reviews completely disappointed Everything was completely dirty and disgusting grass everywhere pee all over the toilet + ground Water all over the changing room And it looked like a prison cell. In the pool area dirty everywhere the ground itself completely full of sand grass Even inside the pool there was dirt floating around Spa area Wich is said to be only for 16+ was shared with multiple kids probably 6 or younger screaming and just playing around Wich didn't make it at all relaxing I've been to many aquatic centers in new Zealand definitely the worst of all..

Negative experience: If you are expecting standards like what you see at the Albany aquatic centre, then you will be severely disappointed. I'm not going to rant too long as there is too much, but basically the place is very very run down, poorly maintained during the day, very loud, slip dangers everywhere, etc. The biggest problem with this place is the poor management of the adult water fitness classes. Now I don't want to be mean but some of these people are in some extremely dire adverse health & fitness conditions (& I've been there so I know where they're at), & good on them for getting in there & trying to turn their wellbeing around. But they are constantly taking up the family change/baby change rooms. It's disgusting. There are little kids waiting outside with mumsie or dad, & then some big extremely obese sweaty dripping man or woman comes out, so then the change room smells like BO like you've never smelt before, water all over the place, bit's of rubbish & hair you name it, it's just out of this world I've never see a pool like this anywhere in NZ. Not even Glenfield, & that's run down & a dinosaur of a pool complex!. There is no management of these people!!!!! I grew up homeless as a teenager around K Road & areas, & even we used to keep public toilets/change better, geez even cleaned up after ourselves with toilet paper or clothes we would be throwing out. Is absolutely disgusting, both the behaviour of these entitled people, the lack of management from the staff, you can only feel sorry for those of us with tamariki that have to witness & experience this. You can't expect parents to take under 5's to the main change because they will be late for class due to what's happening at the family change, there is nude old men everywhere, & the main also change reeks of urine. You just can't take little ones in there, not fair on them, not what you'd expect to have to do. Otherwise, the staff on the ground are all super lovely, so in some respects is sad what they have to front in their working day. Have never had an issue with staff, they all seem awesome & are doing their best with what they have. The front desk is indeed friendly & welcoming & that's a bonus. My gripe is those family change rooms. I'd be here all day listing out other things that really, you can easily get over. The actual kids pool to the left of the reception, is pretty cool by the way. Kids love it, that's the main thing. I apologise for my woke new age moment with this review. It's just very disappointing we should all be able to go here & feel happy & comfortable. It's just not the case. Thanks to the staff for trying anyway. Somebody start having a go at those adults in the family change rooms though it would make all the difference.

Negative experience: Be careful, in male change rooms are cocroach

Negative experience: Hot pools were pretty dirty and showers didn't stay on after pressing the button. Alright swimming pool though

Negative experience: This place is not terrible, but it has a few issues that might ruin your experience and I'll get to them point by point. Bathrooms - they are not that clean, but I'd say it's ok. The problem here are the "hot showers". They are, at best, lukewarm showers. If you're taller than 1,70m, you'll have trouble to fit under them. The stream is way too close to the wall as well. These features make them really uncomfortable. Sauna - too small and the sauna designer had the guts to challenge thermodynamics by making a door with huge gaps above and below. But, to be honest, it's was hot enough for nz standards. I've found the saunas here to be cold compared to every single place I've been in the world. I have no idea why... But I reckon they tune this sauna up to compensate for the gaps and it's not bad (well, except for the power bill certainly...) Now the worst: this place has no lockers. Not at all. None. So, it was impossible to relax worrying about the stuff I had to leave in the car, basically because it was safer than just leaving them anywhere in the building. This place was just a stop for relaxing after the long walks I've done in Northland. I had my plb, phone, cameras, wallet... Because I was travelling. So, it's still not good if you're local, but it's terrible if you're travelling.

Negative experience: Quite possibly the dirtiest aquatic centre I have ever visited. There are plenty of older aquatic centres built around this time period, but none of them feature a large amount of actual dirt and yellow-ish water. Balanced chlorination and a simple pool vacuum with regularity would be a measured improvement on the state of this pool. It’s shockingly bad, and aught to be entirely closed due to its state.

Negative experience: Could be more user friendly especially for first time people, walked in and walked out. Everything was reserved , paid to have a look

Positive experience: We love going to these pools. It is small but they have something for all ages.

Fantastic experience: Great affordable fun for both kids and adults. Affordable birthday party hire with tables and BBQ options. Thank you Maureen is great for teaching kids to swim

Negative experience: Yesterday a friend and daughter from Taranaki entered and paid to go in pools only to find pool closed after they had changed due to " an incident " contaminating pool The admission desk should have advised cos this was an hour after and they wouldn't have wasted money !

Positive experience: We do love going to these pools. But during the summer month it would be awesome to have an outside pool where there isn't just diving boards for people as inside is very warm If there was one even outside near the BBQ area would be nice for people to enjoy Four stars would of been highlighted if there was another pool outside.

Fantastic experience: We bring our kids oftentimes here because cheap and fun the access to find this play very easy close to Downtown Whangarei

Fantastic experience: What a gem. Big empty 25 meter lanes, swim as long as you want for $5.50. I'm a tourist and find that the pools in Kiwi towns set a high standard. This one surpasses it. The hot tub is nice and the lanes are uncrowded. The jewel in the crown is the sauna. Seldom are they hot enough for me, but this one is. The attendants are helpful and the swimmers friendly. A young Maori guy did a great Bob Marley rendition in the shower and afterwards came over and high-fived me. I walked out feeling great.

Negative experience: Terrible, i paid full price for two 14 year olds, got hit with 2 bucs for wanting to stay and watch, just as well, running on skeleton staff here, wouldn't leave my kids unsupervised,. Slides under maintenence and wave pull not going for most of the morning. Cmon guys, look after your staff and your community, money isn't everything and surely kids safety and joy shouldn't be compromised, kids should be off limits.

Positive experience: You have to pay to watch the kids swim is a little greedy, sometimes services are not available and they still charge the same to get in.

Fantastic experience: Pretty big place! Lots of swimming to be done here they even have a gym and a sauna! The baby pools are very cute and nice and warm inside. Plenty of parking but a little tight! Water nice and warm for the babies

Negative experience: Pool is paru

Positive experience: It is nice but needs a bigger sauna

Fantastic experience: Brilliant staff who genuinely care. Trustworthy and honesty trumps all else.

Fantastic experience: Our whanau always have a great time when we visit. Thank you to the hard working staff.

Negative experience: disgusting regular cleaning should be the basis these spaces have not seen disinfection for a long time

Fantastic experience: An awesome facility with very happy and highly professional life guards and general staff. The facility can be proud of its purpose as an allround swimming facility...Well done

Fantastic experience: A great asset for Whangarei. The entrance price is reasonable and it’s a well maintained facility with friendly staff. I recommend it.

Negative experience: Very dirty pool found two plasters and the water was very cloudy. Management need to clean pools more often as this is a health hazard.

Positive experience: Water temp was nice and all pools and lanes available to swim. Before 9am it was nice and quiet

Fantastic experience: The Group Fitness sessions with Debs and Jacs are brilliant! They are an asset to Whangarei Aquatic Centre with their kind, caring and friendly dispositions.

Fantastic experience: Not so busy this morning which was great. Sometime you gotta wait for free lane, staff as usual top notch

Negative experience: Poor/rude receptionist, 2 ladies infront just having idle chat when there are customers waiting in line, grumpy assisting customers, making people using the service very unpleaseant. Will never come back again.

Fantastic experience: I enjoy coming to the gym for my health and fitness, the staff in the gym are great to work with . Rain and Mo have help me lose 13 kilos in the past 11 weeks , my breathing has become so much better since having Covid and I now do not feel any symptoms of Covid. I highly recommend friends, family and others . Thank you CLM health and fitness :)

Fantastic experience: Great facility, friendly staff and gym programs that are tailor made as part of the deal. A good place to go.

Negative experience: The only pool open was the big swimming pool. The water quality was not that good. The showers are only made for small people. There could be more sinks. There are no lockers. The whirlpool closes 1 hour early which does not make any sense. The NZ swimming centers quality is way too low even in Thailand they have lockers... No comparison to European Standards...

Fantastic experience: Wow, I was impressed and reckon all small cities should have something similar. A great range of pools (lengths, hydrotherapy, spa and full length pool) and groups, classes and activities (sauna even) available. We went on a Sunday in Winter and it was packed with families having a great time. We oldies gently exercised our aching limbs in the hydrotherapy (heated) pool. There are varying prices according to age and which facilities one uses. I thought the prices were incredibly reasonable so hope to get back and try that sauna sometime.

Negative experience: Went into the pools cafe for some food, after sitting for literally one minute, the lady on shift told me and my 3 friends to leave as “obviously we aren’t going to order anything” I understand that it’s annoying when groups of people come in but we had only sat down for a minute and were clearly deliberating on what we wanted to eat! It was so shocking as I have been there before with my white family and have not had this treatment, will not be back! Very disappointed!

Fantastic experience:

Fantastic experience: Great, thanks guys...

Positive experience: Great place, nice staff and good sauna.

Negative experience: Currently promoting division and segregation... would not recommend at all due to their apartheid system here

Negative experience: Pretty dated but is being done up. I just popped in for a shower, it was $4 and no hot water. I really can't recommend visiting this place

Positive experience: Electrical issues on the day meant no waves in the wave pool. Staff were great, nothing they could do about the issue at the time.

Positive experience: Lovely well run aquatic centre. Love the warm pool to do exercises in and relax. Highly recommended.

Negative experience: The pool experience is great, but the wait the wait time for the food could be quicker, theyre also experiencing electrical issues. Great place but room for improvement.

Fantastic experience: Good experience. Helpful friendly staff with our Parkinson's hydrotherapy class and our great tutor. Thank you all.

Negative experience: Dirty toddler pool!! My daughter fell ill 2 hours after visiting. My girl has been to kawakawa pools many many times and never sick! Do you guys clean your pools often?

Positive experience: The staff here are wonderful, but boy does it need some maintenance. Tiles falling off, mold, badly needs painting. This complex is such a wonderful asset and is well patronized, but has been badly neglected. Whoever is responsible for the maintenance needs a rocket under them.

Fantastic experience: Great place for a swim and to take the kids on a rainy day. The staff is always friendly and there are multiple lifeguards on duty. The spa pool is nice and warm. Wave pool much cooler.

Fantastic experience: Big SLide is cool

Fantastic experience: Love this place. Swim lengths then relax in the beautiful hot spa…feeling very spoilt.

Positive experience: Best time to go in the morning ???? Relax in the spa or check out the Hydrotherapy pool ???? If not swimming, have a conversation with the person next to you ????

Fantastic experience: Very nice. I really enjoyed it

Fantastic experience: Loved it,suits ma needs n th guys I look after,th kids love th wave pool,staff r really friendly as

Fantastic experience: So enjoyable! A lot has changed since I was there last (40 years) and so much has changed for the better! Wonderful place and I'd recommend it as a must place to enjoy!

Fantastic experience: Friendly staff, great facilities..... everything you need.... always clean, tidy. Just a great place for personal maintenance, bit of self-care or relaxation, & an opportunity to meet new people

Positive experience: It’s a good pool when everything is in operation but the wave pool and slides were operating only once over the last 4 or 5 visits. We never count on them to be actually on. The spa pool is nice and hot, though the main pool is a bit too cold for my taste. I’m always chilled by the time my kids have had enough.

Fantastic experience: Good day out with the whanau

Fantastic experience: Awesome place in any weather

Positive experience: Awesome place Some staff could smile more thou

Positive experience: I always enjoy my pool time its a pity it doesn't open earlier..

Fantastic experience: Love this place. Swim lengths then relax in the beautiful hot spa…feeling very spoilt.

Negative experience: I took 3 kids there today, planning on spending the whole day there with them. But after i had payed ,went and got changed only to find no water in the big pool, so my kids were heart broken,

Positive experience: First time, staff very friendly and helpful, pools great, just get your time right so you don't get caught out by swimming club

Positive experience: Pool is ok but advertised as a wave pool and when asked twice about when it would happen we were told "I don't know". Hydroslide is only 1 at a time so takes about a minute for 2 people... No idea why.

Negative experience: The variety of pools at the centre seems like a good thing for the community. However, on our first ever visit this week we left feeling a little concerned about the cleanliness of both the facilities and the water. We’ve swum in a lot of pools internationally over the years and you come to recognise the signs of a pool which hasn’t had a water change in a considerable time. Whangarei Aquatic Centre falls into this category - with the chlorination struggling to mask the odour of years of bacteria build up. The smell is particularly noticeable an hour or so after your swim and is reminiscent of treated sewerage on your skin. The pools need a water change and full filter clean desperately. Unfortunately it’s an expensive proceedure, but we believe it’s way over due. If you do visit before they have conducted a water change, be sure to drink a load of coke after your visit - it is excellent at killing the bacteria that thrives in aquatic environments!

Positive experience: Love my hydro intense class and motion class with Will and Jacks. They challenge you with plenty of instruction which is great. The changing rooms cubicals are too small for fuller figures to fit in with changing bag etc. and try and close the door behind you in a tight space. The ones at Westwave, Akld are longer. We have the room to do that here too. A mirror should be a normal standard and a must in each of the family rooms so you can comb your hair, maybe a touch of makeup and adjust clothing before coming out.

Positive experience: Facility is good for swim out of the sun. They have doors open for better airflow, unfortunately the chlorine fumes are still pretty strong and after a couple of hours we had to leave because it was getting too uncomfortable.

Negative experience: Last time we went for a swim both the toddler pool and the slides were closed. So i had to drag 3 disappointed kids home. 2 weeks later Icalled ahead and was told, yes, everything is open. I get there 60min later and both the slide and toddler pool are closed! And then she seriously is trying to tell me it both broke JUST after my call. You cant be serious. Really?? Lying in my face. Appalling

Negative experience: Not very impressed. Expensive to take a toddler swimming, the facilities are old and kind of confusing to get around. However my biggest concern was the safety. Very few caregivers are in the water with their children and there is few lifeguards. When I was there I saw 3, one looking after the bouncy castle. And two chatting and not watching any of the wave pool, spa or toddler area. If there was a problem in the toddler pool I would imagine the lifeguards wouldn’t even see as they are stationed so far away (as well as just chatting and not actually watching). With a pool safety should be number 1 priority. Caregivers should be swimming with their kids if they are under 5 not on their phones at the side of the pool and lifeguards should be actively on duty stationed evenly around the area.

Positive experience: More disability parking available than previously. Friendly welcome. Plenty of lane space at 10am after checked on the website before going. Shower was nice and warm. Will try out cafe next time.

Negative experience: Pretty disappointed with our experience today. came with a small group of school kids and were told we couldn’t hire any inflatables without explanation. They waited until 11 to use the slides, as per the timetable, only to be told then they wouldn’t be open until 11.30. The place wasn’t very enjoyable while these things are unavailable. My child is 7 and was allowed down the slides by a lifeguard last time she visited. This time she was allowed down but because of her age she was told only once. Some consistency from your lifeguards in enforcing these rules would be helpful. I get there’s an age limit but either stick to it or don’t, it’s very confusing for kids not knowing what to expect.

Fantastic experience: Great place to swim and workout at the gym - sauna is great too

Fantastic experience: Good aquaerobics class. Lovely cafe with good coffee and food at reasonable prices.

Fantastic experience: Awesome pool, grandkids loved it when the waves came on and waterslide was a big hit

Fantastic experience: Love coming over to the Aquatic centre from Dargaville friendly staff, always welcoming, we cone over 2 times a week.

Fantastic experience: Lovely place, helpful staff

Fantastic experience: Great facilities, friendly staff. Children had a ball. Great on-site Cafe- recommend Full Breakfast, awesone & great value. See you next time