Want a rollercoaster in your garden?
An Auckland dad has listed a homemade designer playhouse for sale on TradeMe, complete with sandpit, slide, climbing ramp and 20-metre roller coaster.
If Aussie theme parks are not an option and you can't face the crowds at Rainbow's End, fear not. Bjorn Burton might have the solution.
During lockdown, inspired by backyard roller coasters on YouTube, the Auckland father designed from scratch and built (with some weekend help from his own dad) a kids' playhouse with a built-in roller coaster.
Now, for $4,500, it can be yours.
Trees encroaching onto the roller coaster track have become a safety issue, Burton says.
Bjorn Burton
Burton got some help with designing the roller coaster's framework from ex-aerospace engineer Paul Gregg's backyard roller coasters website.
After lots of iterations and testing, and the complicated and time-consuming work of constructing the cart, he says his homemade roller coaster turned out really great.
"It's a really good cart design, but it does come in a little bit hot at the end, a little bit faster than I'd like."
The view from the top.
Bjorn Burton
Calling all thrillseekers! Want a rollercoaster in your garden?
In the testing phase, Burton sent 90kg of concrete bags - three times the roller coaster's maximum weight - down the ride multiple times.
"I was very confident in its safety before we put one of the children down it."
With his kids much older now and some encroaching trees starting to become a safety issue, Burton says it's time for his family to say goodbye to their own private roller coaster.
The playhouse has a plastic slide alongside the roller coaster track.
Bjorn Burton
The $4,500 buy now price he has listed the playhouse and roller coaster for = pick up in Cockle Bay - takes into account the investment of building it, Burton says.
"It's a tough economic climate at the moment, but we've had a couple of offers that haven't been too far off. I'm happy to price it to the market. We'll see how it goes."
As it comes time to let his homemade roller coaster go, Burton feels "a little bit jealous" that he's never been able to ride it himself, but it's unsuitable for adults, he says, and not just because the track winds through "some quite tight trees".
"I think the weight would be fine, it's more than it's got a child's car that I don't think I'd get quite into... Maybe one day, when I have grandchildren, I'll build a bigger one."
