Skateboarding
in New Zealand
Words and photos by Simon Clayton
One clear blue day, Maui and his brothers were going fishing.
They went far out into the South Pacific Ocean and Maui’s
brothers were nervous being so far from land and home. Maui
was happy and confident he had found the deepest and best fishing
spot. He had with him a special hook made from a human jawbone
and the hair from a dog’s tail. He didn’t have any
bait so he hit himself on the nose and caught the blood, spreading
it over his special hook. Maui then let his hook sink deep into
the ocean. When at last he felt it catch he began to steadily
pull the line up. The boat was almost swamped and his brothers
pleaded with him to cut the line. The fish was too big, he must
let it go. Maui ignored them and from the ocean emerged the
land we now call New Zealand.
This is the Maori (indigenous people of New Zealand) creation
myth about the origin of land they call Aotearoa. In 1999 Aotearoa
is populated with about 3.5 million humans and 65 million sheep.
Aotearoa has an amazing range of geographical extremes from
the snowy southern alps to the sub tropical climate of the far
north; lots of potential for adventure. For local and visiting
skaters a full range of public skate parks, from parks built
in the 1970’s to modern street courses for the new millennium
all are free to enjoy. The cities are an urban landscape perfect
for street skating.
The best advice I’ve heard for travellers to New Zealand
is don’t just come to enjoy one thing like skating, surfing
or snowboarding come with a plan to check it all out.
Dunedin, my home town, is on the lower east coast of the southern
of New Zealand’s two main islands. As far as nice concrete
transitions go there is the Mornington Capsule bowl built in
the late seventies with a street course built in the nineties
next to it. There are also several nice public mini ramps. Street
skating the inner city evenings away is how a lot of skaters
get their daily dose. It’s my home town so I love it, but
as far as traveling here to skate, there are better cities in
Aotearoa for skating with a wider range of terrain. So most
years, I try to travel to some of my favorite spots around the
country.
The next city north from Dunedin is Christchurch. Located on
the east coast in the centre of the South Island, it’s
five hours north of Dunedin by car. Its got an international
airport so if you’re flying in to go snowboarding you will
most likely end up there. Christchurch has a good range of excellent
skate spots.
Number one for me is Waltham bowl, a small mini kidney bowl
with smooth cement walls just touching vert where they meet
slick metal coping. This is Aotearoa’s second best bowl.
I make a pilgrimage to this place every winter as I pass through
on my way to the local ski areas to satisfy my cravings for
powder. Washington
Way Park is the new spot in Christchurch. It is the first stage
of what may become the best skate facility in New Zealand. Through
the efforts of local skaters it is well designed and built.
Stage one of the park is a nice Y-shaped mini ramp concrete
creation with varying heights and super nice hips. It’s
often crowded so be prepared to snake.
The next stage is awaited with high expectations considering
the quality of what’s already there. There is also a small
indoor park unit, Nine Skate Park, built and run by a local
skate shop that’s worth a visit for its well constructed
wooden ramps and fun box. There are some other small concrete
public parks that aren’t so well designed. Christchurch
is one of the best cities for quality public skate terrain in
New Zealand; a must visit on any skate/snow trip to New Zealand.
In roughly the centre of the South Island is a picturesque tourist
town on the shores of alpine Lake Wakatipu called Queenstown.
In winter there are four of the best South Island ski resorts
nearby. Here they have developed to a fine art getting locals
and visitors to part with their money. However, it won’t
cost you anything to ride the nice plywood half pipe and concrete
terrain park, so the best thing about this town is free.
The terrain park is a two sided reservoir with smooth cement
and nice metal coping. It’s hard to get speed to flow lines
but it’s good for one hitters. There is a plywood quarter
pipe about eight feet high that helps get speed to hit the reservoir
walls. A nice plywood mini ramp with oversized coping sits next
to the concrete park. The locals are friendly and a good source
of info on Queenstown night life. An hour and a half drive from
Queenstown the small town of Alexandra has the “hand basin
bowl” It’s located behind the outdoor ice skating
rink on the edge of the main road out of town. This is a unique
just touching vert square seven foot mini bowl with smooth metal
coping. It is intimidating at first but if you can master it
the flow is worth the effort. You can get dizzy very quick pumping
forever corner to corner. Not many people know about this spot
or skate here but it’s pretty close to the Southern Ski
fields and well worth the effort of a visit if you are in the
area.
Wellington is the capital of Aotearoa, located at the base of
the North Island. It produces lots of good street skaters and
has some nice terrain. Midlands is a favorite spot for street
skating with lots of marble ledges and stairs. Downtown street
skating around the harbour and Lambton Key offers lots of terrain.
Chaeffers park has a concrete mini ramp and a bunch of street
stuff. A prime indoor skate park, The Machine has a few really
nice mini ramps and the usual street course, all well built.
It’s a business, so pay to play.
A truly evil relic from the 1970’s, the Onslow Bowl can
be found in the grounds of Johnsonville College. It’s big
concrete vert key hole bowl/pool that eats unsuspecting skaters
who don’t show it the respect it deserves. There are rumours
of a strange cult of people who can ride the monster. In fact,
Onslow would be fun if it weren’t for the harsh gravel-like
surface. Its better surfaced twin pool lives in the Central
North Island town of Hamilton where it intimidates most of the
locals.
is the biggest and northern most city in Aotearoa. Around a
million people live there. Its also got some of the best skate
spots and a nice sub tropical climate and palm trees. The city
sprawls out around a beautiful harbour. On one side the Pacific
ocean on the other the Tasman sea. It’s pretty low with
no big hills just a few small and long dormant volcanos. The
city with a coastal feel and maritime weather. The Hercules
and Xena TV series was filmed around Auckland so you might have
seen parts of rural Auckland on TV and never known it.
I try and get to Auckland as often as possible. This summer
I decided it was time to visit with some good friends living
there. Sick skaters, rad terrain and the multi cultural Pacific
vibe. Auckland is a great place to skate. The inner city has
several fine street skating spots, Aotea Square in the centre
of town is the epicenter of Auckland street skating. It’s
a large open concrete area with a large sculpture from the early
eighties stuck in the middle providing unique terrain to the
skater of the nineties. An extra large fountain with banked
concrete walls is like a magnet to street skaters. Within four
or five blocks there is also some nice street terrain spread
over some low hills. Auckland
has some nice public mini ramps. A short 20 minute street skate
from the central city gets you to a nice five foot mini ramp
at Grey Lynn Park. This is a super well maintained public mini
ramp about sixteen feet across with good coping. If you want
to see the most progressive mini ramp skaters in New Zealand,
this is the spot any summer evening.
My main reason for coming to Auckland is Lynfield park, the
nicest concrete park in Aotearoa. A smooth snake run into a
bowl. The snake is a kinda steep and fast, that funnels you
into this nice fun bowl with massive speed to burn off. Just
watch a local ride and you’ll see lines to steal through
the snake and the bowl.
Next to the snake run, is the best kidney bowl in New Zealand
with vert hips from large to small end. Learning the lines is
fun. Being a human pinball dropping in down through the channel
through a small bowl into the deeper end at speed, you get totally
weightless on the vert walls. Sick. It is my favorite place
to skate in NZ, I just wish I could skate there more. Every
time I go there, some local has the place dialed, doing airs
from small bowl to big bowl. A lot of surf influenced lines
go down as surf skaters seem to like the place. It’s kind
of a cult place; you either think the place is the best or you
hate it.
My favorite thing to do in Auckland is beg, borrow, or steal
a mountain bike, and catch the ferry across the harbour to Waiheke
island; a nice little island to explore with lots of scenic
little beaches for swimming in the warm water. Get a bottle
of wine from one of the vineyards and lush out on the beach.
Waiheke Island is small enough to cycle round in a day and is
an amazing place with a good feel to it. Sometimes you just
need to get out of the city, and this is the place to unwind.
When I get back home to Dunedin it is so good to sleep in my
own bed. Sleeping on couches and floors makes me crave the comforts
of home.
You appreciate things you took for granted before you left and
learn to value simple things.
New Zealand is a super fun place to skate but it is way the
fuck in the middle of a huge ocean. I don’t know if I would
travel here just to go skating, but if I was coming here for
some other reason I’d be sure to bring my skate, a fishing
rod, my snowboard, a ticket to Australia, and a sense of adventure.
Maui was right, sometimes you just have to travel that extra
mile out into the South Pacific to catch the best fish.
I asked local Dunedin skater Sean Duffel to comment on life
in NZ:
Best skate spot: The Machine, indoor park in Wellington
Best thing about NZ: It’s a small tight skate community,
parks, old and new, indoor and outdoor check them out, main
city street skating.
I asked Dan Buckley, skate clothing company magnate, about skating
in Auckland. Dan is a solid and well travelled skater.
Best place to skate in New Zealand: Auckland City
Best thing about New Zealand?
The Dr Seus landscape, it’s sick surreal countryside
Alternative skate activities: Swimming in the ocean, snorkelling,
surfing, snowboarding
Best travel tip: Smile A
few day’s after I got back home to Dunedin, I caught up
with local skater Nick Blair. I’ve known him since he was
a little kid skating every where. Now he’s turned into
the full on legend skater. He is super good and had a taste
of being sponsored but gave it up. In his words it was lame.
“I skate because I love it not cause someone wants to pay
me.”
I asked Nick some questions about New Zealand.
Favourite skate spot: Anything new and challenging
Best Thing about NZ: Clean, green and home
Nick lives in Dunedin during the Winter where he studies at
the university, but in the summer he goes across the Tasman
Sea to Australia. If you make it to New Zealand it’s a
great opportunity to check out our nearest neighbor, a country
equipped with some of the finest skate terrain in the Southern
Hemisphere.
Nick had this to say about Sydney, the biggest city in Australia.
“Sydney is a great city to skate in and around, A real
depth of skate talent and spots”
Favourite spot: “An indoor park called Vert X, fucking
wicked, vert ramp,
mini ramps and sick street course.
Every suburb seems to have a epic new concrete outdoor park.”
“Sydney’s got a good urban transport system of trains,
buses and ferries to get you to the prime skate spots. There’s
so many it’s hard to keep up with all the new spots. Try
asking in a skate shop or pick up a copy of local skate magazine
Slam”
Nick’s travel tip: “Keep an open mind and be friendly”
Chey Ataria is Mr. Smooth of Aotearoa street skating.
I hooked up with him skating at Aotea Square one evening and
asked him some questions.
Best skate spot New Zealand: Midlands in Wellington and Lambton
Key in downtown Wellington
Best thing about New Zealand: It’s clean, so much to do,
anything you want to do
Best skateboarding in Australia: Melbourne inner city street
skating
Attitude for travelling:
If you have a good attitude people hook you up here.
One clear blue day, Maui and his brothers were going fishing.
They went far out into the South Pacific Ocean and Maui’s
brothers were nervous being so far from land and home. Maui
was happy and confident he had found the deepest and best fishing
spot. He had with him a special hook made from a human jawbone
and the hair from a dog’s tail. He didn’t have any
bait so he hit himself on the nose and caught the blood, spreading
it over his special hook. Maui then let his hook sink deep into
the ocean. When at last he felt it catch he began to steadily
pull the line up. The boat was almost swamped and his brothers
pleaded with him to cut the line. The fish was too big, he must
let it go. Maui ignored them and from the ocean emerged the
land we now call New Zealand.
Washington
Way Park is the new spot in Christchurch. It is the first stage
of what may become the best skate facility in New Zealand. Through
the efforts of local skaters it is well designed and built.
Stage one of the park is a nice Y-shaped mini ramp concrete
creation with varying heights and super nice hips. It’s
often crowded so be prepared to snake. 
Auckland
has some nice public mini ramps. A short 20 minute street skate
from the central city gets you to a nice five foot mini ramp
at Grey Lynn Park. This is a super well maintained public mini
ramp about sixteen feet across with good coping. If you want
to see the most progressive mini ramp skaters in New Zealand,
this is the spot any summer evening.
A
few day’s after I got back home to Dunedin, I caught up
with local skater Nick Blair. I’ve known him since he was
a little kid skating every where. Now he’s turned into
the full on legend skater. He is super good and had a taste
of being sponsored but gave it up. In his words it was lame.
“I skate because I love it not cause someone wants to pay
me.”