Yep – like Speedos up a bum, I was sucked in by the Big Wedgie. Pester power got me there, and the kids absolutely loved it. A range of slides meant the young ones could build up to the big one. But at $35 for an hour, you’re not going back many times – which is probably why we almost had the place to ourselves.

Meanwhile the Waliscags Water Worx was giving bad spelling lessons at Dapto, with $24 getting you four hours splashing in a variety of pools and slides.

Great fun. But $100 is crazy for a family trip to a waterslide. Which is why I’m baffled – the Illawarra seems like the ideal place for a permanent water slide. It’s cheap family fun. Why don’t we have one, and how can we make it happen?

I’m not talking about some half-sized slide. I see the little things appearing in place of proper slippery dips at kids’ playgrounds across Wollongong. No. I mean the real deal – a couple of tubes way up high that spiral round then dump you into a pool. 

There’s the Jamberoo action park, but at $60 for a ticket ($70 for adults) it’s not feasible on any regular basis.

There’s talk of waterslides in the Beaton Park upgrade, where Wollongong City Council is going through its process of staging and strategising. So, quite possibly for sound reasons, work won’t start for years, and waterslide plans aren’t yet solid – they might end up half-sizes no-risk jobs.

Put your money where your mouth is, you might say. Trouble is I’m a journalist so I don’t have money. But I have mouth.

City councillors, what do you think? There’s plenty of room around the Corrimal pool. Newcastle has a slide, as does Canberra, Ballina, Nowra, Manly, and so on.

Entrepreneurs, what say you? Keep tickets reasonable and the folks will flock. And an entire region would love you for it.