Summer jobs: Running a massive inflatable water park

Kiwi Water Park is a sprawling inflatable water park on Lake Dunstan near Queenstown. Some of the structures like climbing walls and slides, are close to ten metres high. So far, 130,000 people had been on the inflatable structure.

Abbey Bisset, 19, is the main point of contact for administration and customer service. This is her second summer in the role.

What does a normal day look like for you when the park is open?

I will get there at 9am to answer the phone calls and emails we’ve had overnight. We have someone get there at 7am to do a bit of a pump up if anything has deflated overnight. When the air gets hotter during the day, the air expands, and then overnight it gets a bit colder.

Then I start checking-in groups when we open at 10.30 am. Everyone has to wear life jackets. Everyone has to be over six [there is an inflatable playground for kids under six]. They all have to wear grip socks, like a trampoline park, because the socks stop ankle and knee injuries from happening. It stops people's feet from slipping out from under them, and their bodies not going quite so quickly.

What happens when someone gets stuck on one of the tall towers and doesn’t want to jump down?

It does look a lot higher from the top, to be fair. I'll give them that. But often, if they don't want to jump off the back, there are the slides, and if they don't, they'll just climb down the tower and stay on the obstacle course.

We also have a new slide on the beach that we are putting in this year. It’s been designed and built especially for us. It has a tower that comes off the beach and becomes a slide into the water. It will be great for people who can’t pull themselves up onto the park or aren’t looking at being in the deep water and having to jump off the towers.

What do you love about your job?

I love working in the sun, which is great. I love working by the lake, and it is like a picture-perfect kind of job. I'm with people. It’s great job experience too.

We have season passes so local kids buy a season pass at the start of the season, and they have like unlimited access to the park pretty much all summer, which is great. The kids get quite comfortable with us. We see them every day. They get excited to come and tell us about what they've done. It's really cool to get quite close with the local kids because a lot of them, I was in Year 13, and when they were in Year 7. I grew up in Cromwell [the closest nearby town. I've lived here my whole life.​

In our peak time in late December and early January, most of our customers are young adults between 20 and 30 years old from overseas. It is cool to see other people from places that don’t have mountains like we have and have such an appreciation for the place.

What did you did you do last winter when Kiwi Water Park was closed?

I worked at a summer camp in New York from May until the end of August, and then I backpacked around Europe until early October.

Next winter, I'm doing my clinical courses with St John's to become a a local ambulance volunteer, and then I might travel to South East Asia.

This interview has been lightly edited.