Meet West Otago farmer and rocketeer Russell Body.
The sheep, beef and deer farmer was involved in building an adventure playground at Kelso School in the late 1970s.
His children, Roanna and Al, were at the school until the government closed it.
In 1980, a swollen Pomahaka River spilled its banks, sending water across Kelso and the school, the town's second major flood in 15 months.
As a result. any further building in Kelso was prohibited by the government and the school closed.
Any salvaged playground equipment was moved to Tapanui School.
His children were now pupils at Tapanui School and he joined the school committee, suggesting building a rocket-themed flying fox to add to the playground.
The flying fox design included a launching platform about 4m from the ground.
"At the time, the education board weren’t very happy because of the height."
Government officials took some convincing before the project got the green light, the launch platform retaining its 4m height.
The rocket was built on his farm near Tapanui for relocation to the school.
He recalled the day the rocket was mounted on the deck of a truck to take to the school.
"It look like a South Korean missile over the cab of the truck."
To use the flying fox, children enter a door at the bottom of the rocket and climb an internal ladder to a landing in the middle, before continuing up another ladder to the launch platform.
On the opposite side of the rocket, at the same height of the launch pad, lies another platform to access a fireman’s pole for children to grip and descend to the ground.
All of the material was donated, including irrigation pipes and hardwood poles.
"It was a real community effort."
In later years, after his children had left the school, the rocket was cut in half to lower the height of the launch platform.
Then the rocket was removed from the playground, presumably due to health and safety concerns, he said.
His son, Al, said he had never heard of any children getting hurt riding the flying fox.
"You learned how to hang on and if you were stupid enough to fall off, you didn’t go and moan to anyone because you’d get no sympathy."
The only injury relating to the flying fox was when it was being shifted on the school grounds, Al said.
"The teachers got the kids to shift a pole and it got dropped and broke a kid’s leg — that’s the only injury I can remember."
In the early 2000s, the Body family spotted the rocket lying behind a shed of a neighbouring farm.
Rumours were the rocket was going to be used as a culvert so they asked if they could have and restore it to its original use on his farm for his grandchildren to play on.
The flying fox now stands at its original height and remains operational on the farm, but the fireman’s pole remains missing.
Russell said modern playgrounds had too many safety measures, which could reduce the physical and mental challenge required to complete a feat.
"I’m not saying they should be dangerous, but there should be some adventure."
Sometimes it felt like were were living in an age of road cones and resource consents.
"Now they spend thousands and thousands on adventure playgrounds and they are not as much fun."
