The SkateNewZealand Blog

It's over

2008-02-27T22:27:00.002Z

We got to bluff on Saturday 23rd of February at 3.30p.m. It has taken us 37 skating days (44days in total) to skate 2082 km (1294miles) Not bad going really.

The road from Dunedin to Bluff took us across some truly amazing places. We stayed at Warwicks farm, just Outside Clinton. It was one of my favourite days on this journey. We wrestled sheep, drove quad bikes up a mountain, rode horses, chased pigs and fed Alpacas. The next day we popped into the school in Clinton and taught the whole school how to skate before skating towards Invercargill.

The last day was a weird one. A bit of an anti-climax really. We got Bluff, took some photos of us climbing on the signpost, got a drink then went to get some blue cod and chips from the chippy.

It's only since then that we have really thought about what we have just done. We got on the front page of the Southland Times and then decided what to do next. Sheldon hitched back up to Auckland and the rest of us spent a few days in the Fjordland National Park. A day in Queenstown to look around and now we are in Wanaka. We are Staying at a friend of a friend's house. Eddie and Vicki treated us to an amazing meal last night, we got some slalom skating in, Adam has just gone for a climb with Eddie (after cycling to school with the kids and getting lost) and we are just chilling out here before driving north to climb a glacier.

The site will get a big update soon, loads more pictures to go up (I'm on a Mac at the moment and can't figure it out) and then we will be on our own separate ways. Adam and Sheldon leave on the 6th, Kari the 10th, I'm going to try to stay here for a few more weeks and Julia is here till July.

nat
x

Christchurch to Dunedin.

2008-02-20T07:55:00.002Z

Sorry for the lack of pictures on this one, time is short.

Christchurch was amazing, we stayed in a backpackers, a hotel and a truly amazing B&B. Glenda and Rick opened their house to us and treated us so well. We urge anyone ever going to NZ to go and stay at CoastalCliffs B&B it really is an amazing place.

Day 37 We woke up in Ashburton and knew it would be raining all day again. The roads continued to be straight and very slow.Myself and Adam skated over 'NZ's longest bridge' and I persuaded Kari to come and skate the last 18km with me. By this time the rain had stopped but the wind was pretty much gale force. Just horrible. For the first time since somewhere near the top of the North Island I was skating without some sort of ailment and so I skated with Julia into Timaru. It was meant to be about 6km but turned out to be a lot more. The weather turned nasty and the others took about 2 hours to locate us. We were both freezing and hacked off. We went for a BK.

Day 38 was going to be a long one, Timaru to Oamaru almost 90km. All of us seemed to be up for skating fast today and it was quite early by the time Adam and I rolled into town. We hooked up with a friend of mine from Southsea, Graham and skated his miniramp for a while. Adam voulenteerd to get up at 5 and go and milk the cows.

Day 39 started with a huge hill out of Oamaru. I skated the first section with Adam and it seemed to fly by. The second leg with Sheldon was really hard. We all agreed to meet at the Moeraki Boulders and somehow still managed to get ourselves lost and moody. I think we all need a holiday. We got to Palmerston and realised that there was absolutely nowhere to camp. We drove about for a while and eventually found a house up in the hills that had someone at home. After introducing ourselves and what we were up to, Peter led us to one of his fields and let us camp there for the night. It was exactly what we all needed; free camping in a beautiful place. We all slept really well and were up refreshed for the skate into Dunedin.

Day 40
We knew that the motorway would once again stop us skating Highway 1 all the way into the city. At Waitati we had intended to catch the train over to Port Chalmers and skate in on Highway88. Unfortunately it seems that no trains run anymore so we drove over to the port to skate the last 14km into town. A reporter and Photographer from the Otago Times came and interviewed us for the paper and we posed for the photos (I'll post a pic soon, - Adam looks like a fairy!) It is 'Freshers Week' in Dunedin so the accomodation we had been offered for the first night was a bit inappropriate, we drove out to a campsite and decided upon a rest day.

Day 41
Today was going to be a day of rest. The Otago Times did a really big article on us and we will be in there tomorrow too, as it turns out that Dunedin is home to 'The World's Steepest Street' So this morning Adam, Sheldon and myself skateboarded all the way to the top! Yes ladies and gentlemen. We skated the whole thing. Pictures soon!

nat

It's been a while.

2008-02-14T09:07:00.002Z

Hmm, where were we?

Ah yes. Levin...

Day 23 Levin to Peakakariki.

My toe was still in a state, I think the toenail might fall off. You could tell we were getting closer to Wellington, the traffic was getting crazy again. Sheldon and Adam took on the Km today, with Kari joining then for the last 10. Myself and Julia had a look at what Paraparaumu had to offer and then went to catch the other three up. After driving for a while, I start to say, ‘They sould be around here!’ another 200m, another 200m. We both get a bit worried. After 6km we come across the three of them smiling and waving outside Paekakariki station. A lovely police lady had given them a lift. This section of road is the most dangerous in the North Island - they don’t let cyclists use it. So tomorrow we start from Paekakariki Station.

As we had finished earlier than expected we decided to go for a a swim. As we were looking at the water we were met by Mayatiita and his gorgeous daughter Beri. Maya had only re-started skating a few days before and had been inspired by SkateNewZealand. After some rooting around in 'The Van' we managed to hook Beri up with a Dervish, some chargers and a newish set of pink Big-Zigs, both of their smiles have been the highlight of the trip so far for me.

We still had time to kill before meeting up with Joe and spending the night at his house, so Sheldon worked on his nose pivot to body varial things and the girls set about drinking 2 bottles of fizzy 'pop'. We had a brilliant night at Joes; ate 8 pizzas, Adam played Jungle Fever on the computer and we were joined by Joe's daughter, Grace, who was amazing .

Day 24 Paekakariki Station to Wellington
The next day we were hooking up with a few skaters from wellington; Craig, Maya from the day before and Joe for the skate to town. We all set off in a big group and followed the cycle track in to town. There were a few huge hills and we all blasted them with grins on our faces - This was the last day of skating on the North Island! It was only 40 or so Km to the ferry but is seemed to go on forever. We stopped to have our photos taken for the Dominion Post (The capital's paper) and stoped for Craig had hooked us up with yet more pizza fron Hells Pizza (Cheers Benji!) and we prepared for the Ngaio gorge road. Nat tazzed about on the back of Benji's motorbike taking photos and the boys took on the hill. When all was done we skated into the Interislander port - ready for the South Island!

We had a few rest days in Welly, Thanks to Craig for everything, we went to One Love Reggae festival, went on the radio, appeared in the paper and skated very little. It was amazing.

So Day 27 saw us catching the ferry North (go and look at the map, it doesn't make sense!) from Wellington to Picton. We arrived at sunset and camped up.

Day 28 Picton to Blenheim
Today was a short day, we got up early and skated (Julia cycled) the 30km to Blenheim where Nat and Julia went to sample some of the local wine, very nice too.

Day 29 Blenheim to Kekerengu
We knew we had a few 'non-campsite' days ahead of us so we stocked up in New World. The roads were pretty hilly. Throughout the last year there has been a day skating that has been in my mind, the last 10k of the day was this day. I was skating by myself, the sun was out, the mountains were on one side of me and the sea was on the other crashing ont othe rocks. It was what SkateNewZealand was about. We stopped at a place called 'The Store' and planned our camping. After a bit of off-road driving we found a really nice spot right by the sea. We pitched out tents, played with seaweed, made sculptures and went to bed.

Day 30 Kekerungu to Kaikoura 60km
Adam and I got woken up by what we thought was a huge gust of wind. It was only when the 'wind' turned out to be a 'wave' that we started to panic. We dried out and got tready for the day. We are still skating in the hills, but this time we could see the Kaikoura peninsular in the distance. The last 20 were really fast and it was amazing to skate into town. We camped at a wonderful site, it had spa pools, a swimming pool and amazing showers.

Day 31 Kaikoura to Hundalee 35km
A half day today, we went for a walk around the coastal path, did a bit of climbing and set off after lunch. A few huge hills - but the surface is getting better.

Day 32 Hundalee to Greta Valley 67km
We got woken up by roosters and watched as the weather closed in. By the time we drove to Motunau Beach it was pouring with rain. We parked up under a huge tree and set up camp. Everyone was in a bit of a mood and it was made worse by wind and the rain. I don't think any of us slept for more than an hour (apart from Kari who had a 'wonderful night's sleep').

Day 33 Greta Valley to Christchurch 66km
A horrible day for skating. Inches of water on the roads, headwinds and no visibility. Adam and I got stopped in Amberley by a photographer for the local paper and we managed to get into town. A day off was called for. We all booked ourselves into a hostel and did out best to dry off. We went of to eat at the local Indian and Adam managedto complete the 'Suicide Curry' challenge and win himself a t-shirt.

It turns out that the photographer was for The Press, the National newspaper. We got a huge photo and article on the inside cover and spent the next day answering phone calls and being offered accomodation. So here we are, in a beautiful B&B in Redcliffs. We skated yesterday, about 50 or so Km and it is absolutely pouring with rain this morning.. It's the coldest day too. None of us want to leave. We are going to go and get Julia's bike from in town and put out wet weather kit on for the day. Then its south to Timaru.

I'll upload some more photos as soon as I can. Thank you for all the concerned emails, we are still alive!

nat

Wellington is near.

2008-02-01T19:05:00.000Z

We are in Levin. That is to say, we are just 2 short day's skate from the capital, Wellington, and the end of the South Island.

We needed the rest at Rotorua, everyone was feeling it. We always knew that skating long-distance would take it's toll; and it was beginning to. Sheldon was skating less and less; me and Adam skating every day. Kari was getting frustrated with not being able to skate the distance and Julia was going a bit stir-crazy in the car. Everything has changed in between there and here. Kari is skating 10km a day, Sheldon IS staying with us for the South Island and has skated two monstrous days and Julia is getting about 10km walking in a day. Me and Adam continue to skate and everything is smiley. If a little mental.

Day 17. Rotorua to Taupo
The road from Rotorua was mad, 88km across huge pine forests. When the dig up the land to plant these forests the run across the stumps and roots of all the original native forests that were there. They put them up in massive piles and just leave them there. it makes you feel like you are in a land of giants. It was a big day and the run into Taupo was fast and smooth through the traffic. Taupo is beautiful.

Day 18. Taupo to Turangi
The day we skated around the lake. It was blisteringly hot and the road was busy. Managed to get a swim in the lake and camped at the YHA where we met a Canadian cyclist who had been travelling for 4 years. He had cycled everywhere, had knives pulled out on him, been robbed and was still going. 'I eat like a dog so I can travel for longer', he plans to keep going for 8 years. He was travelling by himself and was free camping everynight.

Day 19 Turangi to Waiouru.
When we got to Taupo we had seen these huge mountains in the distance. Today we had to skate past them; across the Rangipo Desert Road. The Rangipo Desert is a hostile place, almost 1000m above sea-level it is a dry and beautiful place. There is absoultely nothing like skating down a road surrounded by sand and scrub with 'Mount Doom' on your right hand side. Truly amazing. As the 61km day passed we left the Mountains behind and arrived in Waiouru; an army base, with absolutely nowhere to camp. We spent a good hour scouting for a place to sneakily put up our tents. We are not helped here by the fact that they have bright orange covers and there are vans with lights on checking the security of the town. We managed it though.

Day 20 Waiouru to Mangaweka.
Hilly day today. In fact I would say it was one of the biggest downhill days yet, coming off the desert plain back down to the lowlands. I always base my ability to go fast on Adam. I skate in front for the most part, Adam right on my tail. When it comes to the downhill sections I let Adam go in front and tuck in behind him. He is my safety barometer. So when I go into a tuck and start to blast a hill I am thinking 'If Adam is OK, then I'll be fine.' When I look up from my tuck and see Adam footbreaking, I panic. There was a lot of panicing! We stopped for a photo for the paper in Taihape and then on to Mangaweka. What a beautiful place. We camped right by the river surrounded by huge white cliffs, and got atttacked by hedgehogs.

Day 21 Mangaweka to Bulls.
My worst day yet. I was in a foul mood when I started skating; NEVER skate in a bad mood. Sheldon was not skating and I had a big rant at Adam. My foot was so sore, not the blisters anymore, but my toes kept bashing the end of my shoe making each push painful. Managed to crawl into Bulls, who seem to have based everything they do upon the 'oh-so-witty' idea of putting 'a-bull' on the end of everything. So the the sandwich shop was 'Fill-a-bull', and the tent shop 'collapse-a-bull'. Honestly, there are hundreds of them.

Day 22 Bulls to Levin.
I didn't skate and I hated it. The all-new-and-improved Sheldon blasted it. Everyone was in a good mood. Even though Adam and Sheldon managed to take a wrong turn. Don't ask. 'The signs we are looking for today are ones pointing at WELLINGTON. Wellington, the last place on the South Island, the CAPITAL of New Zealand. The city that is where we have been talking about skating too for the last 3 weeks!!!!

that's all for now. Look at the new pics.
nat

Whangarei downdwards.

2008-01-26T03:31:00.000Z

Well we are in Rotorua, home to bubbling volcanic eruptions, mudpools and hot water. We have had a couple of horrible days skating, feet are playing up but we are here...

so let me recap.

Day 7. Whangarei to Waipu cove - 52km
Whangarei seemed a long time ago. from there we folllowed the coast all the way to Waipu Cove. Adam and I were on the last leg and we both got super excited when we saw the sea. There are some amazing jagged islands here, and it looked amazing. A beautiful beach, huge waves and a yet another campsite full of kids who wanted to skate on our crazy boards.

Day 8. Waipu Cove to Warkworth - 62km
A Horrible day. The hottest yet. Skated down some of the most scary roads I have ever been on. I managed to wear through a brand new shoe in one day. Just google earth the road between Wellsford and Warkworth, then imagine it a 12% angle. So so scary. We camped at a place called Sandspit and met the best bunch of people. The two owners donated to us, gave us a reduction and a discount card for loads of other sites. We also met a couple called Derek and Elle who gave us their house in Auckland for the following night. We juat had to skate there in one day!

Day 9. Warkworth to Mairangi Bay - 53
We followed lovely roads that ran along State Highway 1, it was so nice to get off the chipseal. We met up with Grason at Orewa and got given a load of free t-shirts and stuff from UndergroundSkates. We had mexican for lunch then pushed on towards Auckland. Along the way we hooked up with Craig and bombed some of the fastest hills I've ever been on. Truly, truly scarily fast. Craig was going to do a similar skate journey across NZ, so it was good to finally meet him. We skated all the way to Mairangi Bay and the beautiful home of Derek and Elle. House-sitting for them Jesse; the biggest Maori guy ever. He was the funniest guy ever and we had an amazing night. I think he is going to buy a van and come and join the circus that is SkateNewZealand in Wellington.

Day 10. Mairnagi Bay, over the ferry to South Auckland - 22km
Street skating agian. The road down to the ferry was fun, fun, fun. Adam and I chilled on the ferry while the others drove over the bridge. We then skated up Queen Street back to Cross Street Studios. We then drove 15km South out of the city and skated back into town. It was Sunday and the Great South Road was pretty quiet. We spent the next day chilling out, getting 'The Van' serviced and updating photos. It was good to be back in Auckland, but we wanted to keep skating.

Day 12. South Auckland to Tuaku - 54km
We got up and walked into town for a radio interview at Fleet fm. Then picked up 'The Van' from the garage and drove south to where we stopped 2 days before. It was absolutly pouring with rain and we were skating through huge puddles. As the sun came put it dried and we were all feeling good. Afterwards everyone felt that we are finally in proper shape. Oh, and I got hit by a car. As you do... We camped right out at Port Waikato, I thought I had really sweaty feet, but infact it was raining.

Day 13. Tuaku to Ngaruawahia - 64km
We drove back to where we finished and skated across to re-join State Highway 1. The whole of the day we were skating on the roughest top-seal yet. all day. This is when it becomes a mind-game. Searingly hot sun and rough road for miles and miles. On the downhill sections you are pushing 5 or 6 times and rolling about a metre. so you do the same again and again. If you do get any speed up, your feet go numb. At one point a police car pulled up infront of me and a grinning Sheldon got out. People had phoned worried about our safety. We chatted for a while and the police were completely happy with what we were up to. The even offered to take Sheldon back to where they picked him up! We had been getting text messages all day about staying at Hamilton with Josh and his family. So glad we did!
Josh and his mate Mark, along with the rest of his fantastic family, seem to be running the most amazing boardbuilding company. check out bombadierlongboards and show them some love.
Josh's parents made some amazing food, Adam got a wrestle in, then got beaten at arm wrestling by Josh's dad. We did washing and slept well.

Day 14. Ngaruawahia to 10km East of Tirau - 65km
we drove back out to Ngaruawahia and skated into town where we met Josh (snazzy socks fella!), Mark Tim. Mark and Josh were going to skate with us through Hamilton and onto Cambridge. So 5 of us skated through town and out the other side. It was really amazing sight. I love it when there are lots of us, I would never want this to be a solo skate. My 3rd shoe finally died on me and I managed to get 2 replcements from Cheapskates for $45! We camped in a random field and had an early night. Adam took pictures.

Day 15 10km East of Tirau to Rotorua - 64km
We knew we had to get to 'The Stinky City' in one day, the roads were truly horrible again. I got a fresh blister and Julia walked 14km in flip-flops (Jandals!) I think cabin fever was setting in. We managed to get to town and I did a radio interview surrounded by bubbling mud and hot pools. The campsite we are staying hat has steam cookers and 3 hot spas, perfect for achy feet. We went down to the shore and dug holes in the sand which filled up with blisteringly hot water. The whole town smells of sulphur and we are having a rest day here today. Tommorrow we are heading for Taupo.

nat

adam's thoughts

2008-01-21T05:54:00.001Z

Hey ho folks,

So some new news attack. Went grocery shopping and the lady asked me if she should put the food in the "trolley" i thought it was cute, yes i like using the word cute. shopping cart equals "trolley"

Have you ever had a meat pie? They are yummy. If you are ever in Auckland you have to eat at the cafe called "Revel" and you got to try the porrage or the museli which is the NZ term for granola.

The team is doing swell. We have all been smiling super big because we have bombed some amazing hills. Some of the hills we have to foot brake like all hell and run off on the shoulder because huge milk, logging or rock carrying trucks are threatening our lives but man it is such a rush. It is you vs the cars. Some times you just go for it, look over your shoulder get in your tuck and take up the whole lane and you are just racing the next line of traffic to come down the hill. You peer over your shoulder and bam here comes a mountain of cars coming at you but wait you are getting near the bottom you can make it before they catch you, you think. So you get a little lower in your tuck to get some extra speed and go for it. So much fun, you judged right, you get to the bottom pull of the road a bit and the cars go past. Some times you don't make it in time and cars go by so close you can touch them or you just be bold and signal them to hold off and finish bombing the hill.

Shoes have been taking abuse, Nat has worn through 2 pairs in 2 days. Chip seal pavement combined with steep hills and semis kills your shoes.

As far as camping goes, mostly ever night and it is so lovely. We camped at a camp site that smelled like poo and in the middle of the night you would get this huge wiff of it and i woke up with a sore throat. Also the campsite had these super loud ducks that would just wander around your tents yelling. I threw flip flops at them frisbee style and missed everytime but scared them off. It was fun.

The mental edge..... this kind of sums it all up. We have only been on the road for 9 days and it feels like 1 month. So much goes on mentally and physically, so much constant change and movement that time does fly by but when you look at the overall picture it goes so slow. We are slowly becoming machines, muscles are bulging, lungs are getting stronger and crappy pavement is conquered with daydreaming or mind power. We are excited for Kari's foot to heal so she can join the skate and get huge legs and muscles, mwa hahha. Also, the distance of 50k- 70k might not seem like a lot and yes it can be easily pushed but what makes this challenging is you got to do this distance day after day after day, and the conditions can just be horrible. It is this repetition that can break you but to help right after you get done skating, drink tons of water, and have a feast and then another and get rest. I love these trips because i can eat 3 dinners and not feel guilty because these dinners are rebuilding our muscles and shall be fuel for the next day. You can be cheap and try to save a bunch of money but it is really not worth it all the time, you need quality hardy food to keep you healthy. We all have been doing great eating lots.

The one fishy problem that comes about on a lot of distance trips in the past is we have run into problems with the support team. Sitting in a car all day can wear on ones mind and make them turn into man eating monsters. Not this support team. We have adopted the strategy that 2 people shall be apart of the support team and we are so lucky to have Kari and Julia apart of it. When Kari's foot gets better we will just all alternate driving and every driver shall have a buddy for company. We have also adopted the strategy that 2 people shall be skating on the road at once, so if Nat, Sheldon or I get tired, hurt what not we can opt to sit out a lege or a day. The goal is not for one person to skate the whole way, but for the whole team to make it to the end happy.

Girls in NZ are cute.

Kisses, Adam

Rest day in Whangarei

2008-01-16T09:06:00.000Z

Day 1 - Cape Rienga to Te Keo 23km

Day 2 - Te Keo to Ahipara 42km

Day 3 - Ahipara to Whangaroa Harbour 54km

Day 4 - Whangaroa Harbour to Pahia 59km

Day 5 - Pahia to Whangarei 71km

So so much has happenend in the past 5 days. We have skated some absoulutely brutal roads; the worst surface I have ever seen, some of the craziest downhills (just under 70kmh so far) and met some of the best people.

On Day 1 we drove up to the Cape Lighthouse and took a few pictures, Adam did a couple of backflips and we headed south to where the gravel stopped and the road started. Beautiful clear empty hills and 23km later we stopped, buzzing from skating the first day. We camped right on the beach and went swimming in the sea.

Day 2 introduced us to the legendary NZ 'Chipseal' - basically rocks stuck in tarmac. We also got used to blasting hills and managed to get to Ahipira. We camped in the nearest town, ate chinese and met a cool girl Maori called Ata who we taugh to skate.

Day 3 was yet more hills, really big ones. We skated through some beautiful little places and jumped in rivers. We made it to a campsite and got to see an amazing sunset over the harbour. We had a mini skate session with all the kids from the campsite in the morning and headed south.

Day 4 was about getting to Pahia for lunch. Sheldon took the day off so it was Nat and Adam all the way. Julia met us for a beer and is hanging about for a while. Pahia is a really pretty place, right in the middle of the Bay of Islands. We camped by the sea and woke up the next day for the 70+ km to Whangarei.

Day 5 (yesterday) was a big one. We managed to get the 70km done but started to witness some of the NZ driving we have to get used to. Trucks, crazy overtaking and some huge, huge hills. The traffic became more of a problem as we headed into town and we happily had a few beers in town last night. Rather bizarrely, Kari found a 2 page article all about the trip in a paper as we were leaving the pub. We also got eaten alive by mosquitos

Today we have shopped, done the tourist thing (Nat, Julia and Adam climbed under a waterfall) and hooked up with Derwin and Anthea (owners of the local skateshops) where we are staying at the moment.

Tomorrow we have press photography at somepoint on the road and the editor of a NZ skate/surf/snowboard magazine is going to catch up with us too.

Happy days.

Got to go to sleep. So will post more soon.

Kohukohu

2008-01-10T04:32:00.001Z

New pictures are up on the SkateNewZealand photo page
We are just chilling in Kohukohu at the moment, tomorrow we head north to the cape in preparation for the big push off the next day. Everyone is pretty tired, we have been swimming and Jestah's dad has paid for us to stay the night in the Backpackers. So no sleeping in the car - comfy beds all the way...

I don't know when the next update will be, but hopefully soon.

nat

Adam's Diary

2008-01-08T21:46:00.001Z

All here attack in NZ in good spirits. Where is the sun? Been raining but for some reason it's not that bad, we just walk around and get wet and have a laugh.

A couple little things about NZ that I have noticed so far. So when you flush a toilet instead of having a handle you pull down you push these two (pill shaped) buttons on the top of the toilet and sha bam.

At some of the intersections in NZ, all the traffic stops and everyone walks at once, you can even cross the street diagnolly.

Cereal is really expensive here. "Special K" is like $8.99 here but avacados are super cheap 4 for $1.

I had the classic NZ breafast bacon and eggs and I ate my first ever poached egg, pretty yummy.

There is a pretty big Asian scene here in Auckland, we have been shopping at the Asian market the got some crazy drinks, the Young cocunt drink with cocunt chunks is quite nice.

Been meeting lots of nice people. Randomly dropped in on a house warming gathering last night because i threw an apple threw a window. I love it when strangers let you into their place. Meet Rebecca and Anna last night and I think Sheldon is in love and is going to stay in Auckland and get married. People have really cool places here, they just moved into warehouse dealio spaces and have these huge windows that open up and you could fall 5 stories out of them. Plus you can roller skate in their kitchen.

Sheldon and I have been sleeping on cemet floors, hahah and actually quite comfortable. Nat slep in a hammack last night. Before we went to bed Nat read us a bed time story and tucked us in and gave us each kisses on our foreheads.

I have not took a shower yet and I smell, and I know I smell because I can smell myself. My goal is not to take a shower the whole trip but only bath in the ocean of lakes. I bathed in Fiji on our lay over it was nice. We shall see if the team can tolerate my smell, hahaha.

We are staying next store to a whore house. It not actually called this forget the f ancy name and it is completely legal here in NZ. Sheldon and I went in and got a tour around, pretty classy and talked to this young girl and learned a great deal. Very interesting or sure.

I think we are going to get a vehicle today and into the wild we shall go.

Kisses

Auckland. Day 1

2008-01-08T03:19:00.000Z

Well we are here. All 5 of us.
Everone arrived at the airport to meet me, we drove back into the city and are staying at the best place ever. It's called Cross Ctreet Studios. As I type a band are rehearsing; 2 drummers and a bassist. There are people making hats out of rubber inner tubes, planning a street festival and building websites. Basically is it a huge studio where people have built little indoor houses and cabins, and I love it. One of the girls is in a band and we will be using some of their music on our videos. We sat around for a while, put our boards together and talked all things arty with our new hosts.

The flight from LA flew (ahahahaaaaaa!!) by and I woke to be greeted by an amazing sunrise. I actually slept for most of it and have managed to get throught the day without feeling too jet-lagged. You will all be pleased to hear that it has been raining pretty much constantly since this morning. But it is 21degrees.

Since then we have been to look at vans, been for a little skate and are about to go and get some food in town. Jestah and Kari are going to head North this evening and we will hopefully follow them tomorrow in our new van.
I'll keep you posted.

Los Angeles

2008-01-06T10:05:00.000Z

Los Angeles is a funny old place; it feels like a really tiny provincial airport surrounded by billions of people. It is the last place on earth that I actually ever want to be; especially when it’s raining. Last time I was here I was returning from NZ in quite an emotional state of mind, I might have even been crying. This time I feel fine, even after a 10 hour flight. (I watched The Darjeeling Limited twice)

My sleep pattern at home over the last week or so has been erratic, to say the least, so I haven’t been getting to sleep until 4 in the morning. Pretty perfect really as its 2.37 in the morning at home, I will be getting onboard flight NZ3 in an hour or so and will hopefully sleep for most of it, waking up all refreshed for an early morning landing in Auckland. For those of you who are astute and observant - or if you have spoken to me about my trip in the last few weeks - yes that’s right flight ‘NZ3’ not the intended NZ1. Don’t know how that one slipped through the net! Ah well.

My bright orange Decent Hardware Bag has stood the test of trans-Atlantic flight, it’s only got another 14 hour one to go. Full to the brim with skateboard goodies, It weighed in at 22kg’s and my smaller one a measly 17. The bizarre thing is that I only slept for about 20 minutes on the last flight and I dreamt about setting the board up. Forgive me, those people who don’t skate, but there is something utterly ‘Christmas morning like’ about setting up a new deck. I can’t wait to get that first push under my belt (I’m grinning as I type this!)

Mark and Lee came with me to Heathrow, It was nice to have them there. Then about an hour later Munchh arrived with a card from all the Hove slalom crew. It’s one of the things I will be thinking about on those hard days ahead - skating slalom on the seafront with a really good bunch of mates. I will be back there as soon as I get home. Thanks guys, your support means an awful lot.

Right, I off to withdraw some money from the wall to purchase some horrible looking burger, I just love this place, I really do.

Hugs.

Here we go...

2008-01-05T02:22:00.000Z

It’s 1.40 in the morning on the 5^th of January as I sit in my front room typing this. Jestah has already headed North for Auckland form Wellington, Kari left her house and family yesterday to fly from Michigan, Adam is on his way to L.A .where he will hook up with Sheldon and head West and I will be in New Zealand in less than 2 days. So much has happened in the last Year; not just personally but also to do with SkateNewZealand; and it all begins in less than a week. Not that I am excited or anything...

I just wanted to make everyone aware of the reasons behind this trip. First and foremost we want to raise money and awareness of 2 important charities. To find out more got to www.skatenewzealand.com/charities so far we have raised over 13% of out target and we haven’t even started skating yet.

We also wanted this trip to be a positive advert for skateboarding. I truly believe that I wouldn’t be the person I am; wouldn’t have made the decisions I have made, met the friends that I hold closest and travelled to the places I have visited if my Mum and Dad hadn’t got me a £3 skateboard for my 6^th birthday. This trip is only an extension of that. We will all make new friends, meet new people, visit new places and leave with new memories. It’s funny how a plank of wood can change your lives.

Please keep an eye on the website www.skatenewzealand.com

Read about the team www.skatenewzealand.com/team

Read out blog www.skatenewzealandnat.blogspot.com

Look at our pictures www.flickr.com/photos/skatenewzealand

And most importantly DONATE HERE www.justgiving.com/skatenewzealand

Nat

It's funny what you find.

2007-12-26T14:00:00.000Z

Every so often I pop onto the SkateNewZealand Google Analytics site and see how the website is doing and how people come across our website. One thing I noticed was that in the last month or so there has been a lot of hits coming from a site called Northwest Longboarding.

After a bit of rooting about it seems that out man Sheldon is the reason. Right there on the front page was a big article about SkateNewZealand and a pic (see below). This is Sheldon skating at a place called Tolt Hill where he got over 50mph. Now, I consider myself quite confident at downhill. I think that i have possibly got somehwere near 35 when I raced a Gurston. Over 50mph, however is something different, very, very fast indeed.

Not long now people. Not long at all.

What an ace day.

2007-12-18T14:26:00.000Z

A wonderful skate today, 26 miles or so, topped 30mph on the only hill. T'was so sunny, cold, fresh and confirmed why I love skating. Popped into Gran's house on the way and had a chin-wag. Just perfect. Going out to see a band tonight and i'm 32 in 2 days.
4 really good mates have all donated to SkateNewZealand and Mmedo wrote an awesome thing on NCDSA.com. So now we have raised over 11% of our total. We also got the front page of the Silverfish forum...
Happy Days.

'The time is near.' Jack Smith 15.11.07

2007-12-15T10:45:00.000Z

Hello, nice to see you again!

Well Christmas is nearly here, and its getting close. Very, very close.

I have oficially finished work - it seems strange that I won't be eating another school lunch until April. But it's not a bad feeling. I got a huge cheque from the parents of the triplets in my class. At first I thought it was for the charity and i was just gobsmacked. After a chat it turns out it wasn't. It was for SkateNewZealand. I'm not going to say how much it was; but it is enough to buy a van outright when we arrive. A truly amazing gesture and when we finsih the journey and sell the van the money will either go to Lowe and Canteen or be put toward further journeys.

Kari only went a bought her ticket to NZ! She gets in a day before me and we are all super stoked to have her as part of the team. So now we are 5.

Media-wise. We got the front page on the Silverfish Forum - one of the largest skateboard forums out there and will hopefully get a 2-page spread in the Northland News just before we arrive.

I got my bag from Decent Hardware (cheers Jonno!), shoes from Vox (Cheers Mel!) and Skatersocks (Cheers Adrienne!) through the post. I also got my secret santa from someone from the OMA forum - stupidly excited about that!!

As you should already know, this journey is to raise money and awareness of two charities. As time marches on and we are struggling with lots of safetly, police and charity issues, one person keeps popping into my head - I recieved an email from him today. Jack Smith is the main reason for me doing this. He sent me a picture of himself and his two sons; Dylan and Jack Jnr. Dylan turns 16 next week and Jack is the reason 5 random people are travelling half-way across the globe to push a plank of wood on 4 wheels.

You are right, Jack. The time is near.

New T-shirts

2007-11-25T13:09:00.000Z

Skating in November

2007-11-24T20:15:00.000Z

Yeah I've had the day skating. It's been wonderful.
SkateNewZealand wise; a lot has happened. Sheldon has booked his ticket. Jestah has been working like a man posessed in sorting out T-shirts. (I will post up a pic of the logo when he spells it right!!) We have got the official from Jaclyn from Road Trip NZ. They are going to be supplying our support for the first part of our journey from Auckland to the Cape and then back to Auckland again.
So thank you to Jaclyn and all at RoadTrip NZ. Can't wait to meet up.Click on the logo to visit their wonderful site - they have some amazing pics.

I got a surprise parcel in the post on Friday. A drevish flex1 and a set of pink big-zigs. Skated it today and it is truly awesome. Took it to Hove with me and there was lots of 'ooh's and ahh's' A good thing.

I've been a busy bee at work, only 2 weeks to go. I've also been doing more precise route planing. We are going to stick to the back roads.

That's all for now.

Looking forward

2007-11-16T10:16:00.000Z

Blimey, it's the middle of November! Frost on the ground every morning and dark by 4. It's making training very hard indeed. I am however doing well on the eating front!

Jestah has been on the case speaking to lots of people about sponsorship, a very good friend of his seems to have taken us under her wing and is on the SkateNewZealand case!

Adam continues to make people aware of what is going on and we have got 2 more websites supporting us. Global Boards Australia is a online longboard specialist and they have stuck us up on our front page. Skurfboards is a NZ based longboard blog that keeps the good people of NZ fully up to date and our man Jestah is throwing some moves on their front page! Click on the logos below to go and see!

In other news, I recieved a package from Rayne Longboards at work yesterday; the new '08 bamboo Demonseed arrived. It's leaning up against the wall at the moment. I'm udecided about my board choices for NZ. The Loaded Fathom I've been riding is amazing, There is a possibility of a Loaded Dervish as well. Decisions, decisions.

I'm in the 'Report writing' part of term, Parent's evening in a week or so. So I have to have my sensible head on for a few weeks. But time is passing and as Mmedo said 'Keep looking Ahead'.

54 days and counting!

nat

Hove picture

2007-11-06T22:00:00.000Z

Had a bit of a rubbish day, I do now and again. Then my good friend Mmedo (of GeneralImprovement fame) sent me this picture. One of our Hove Sessions from 05. This is what matters most.
Mmedo is amazing with words. He left me with this quote:

Take good care of yourself; I know that kids have a way of keeping you looking ahead rather than behind. That is the right direction.
Come back soon for more sunny sessions.
I hope to.

Line up

2007-11-03T19:58:00.000Z

Another magazine article. This time the good people of Line Up magazine will be doing a little section on SkateNewZealand. Click on the picture to go to their site. Or add them to your myspace.

nat

New coverage and new Team members

2007-11-02T19:47:00.000Z

Lots to report back on here at SkateNewZealand HQ. Firstly, the new look site. Adam has been like a man posessed over the last few days - his ideas haven't stopped and through the medium of email we have managed to get the site looking pretty sweet.

We will have a little mention in Concrete Wave magazine (big love to Pablo!) and when we finish will be getting a spread covering the whole journey. CW has been about the only skate magazine that I have read over the last 5 years so I am truly astounded to be getting in it.
Thanks to Adam's persistence we will also be getting a mention in Napthe Digital Magzine. Click on the pictures below to visit their respective websites.

Other breaking news is that Adam and I will be joined by two new team members during SkateNewZealand. Sheldon (a mate of Adam's) and Jestah (a Kiwi - currently in Nepal!) Welcome along Fellas! I will sort them both a team page so you can find out all about them ASAP.

nat

The Somerset Freepress

2007-10-28T23:21:00.000Z

First Press I guess! Front page of the Somerset Freepress! More to come I hope.

Back on it!

2007-10-25T13:04:00.001Z

Well, it's all change here. It really is. My life has seen some pretty major alterations in the past few weeks. Holly, Mark and Tracy will not be joining me as part of SkateNewZealand. I am completley gutted about this but am proud to announce that taking their place will be non other that Adam Colton. I met Adam when he came to visit after BeatswalkinEurope had finished early. He was so into SkateNewZealand and he had to come along. Adam is an awesome skater and has skated across America and Europe. He has his own website (www.whoisadamclton.com) and you can see some of his videos on his page on the SkateNewZealand site.

What else, We had a SkateNewZealand Fundraiser last weekend at Primrose Hill Holidays in Somerset. All in all about £190 was raised on the day and it was good to catch up with Bam and Momo. The Freepress came along too and took pictures, I think they might go in this Friday. All in all we have raised over £300 and there is still 2 and a bit months to go. Amazing really.

I got a parcel from Loaded Longboards the other day, it contained a t-shirt and some stickers and the oddest looking deck you have ever seen. I'll take some pictures and post them soon. Basically I am testing a prototype called the 'Fathom' for them, I've skated on it a few times and its a fun ride; low, flexxxy with a lovely concave.

Apart from all that turmoil, I've got 6 weeks of work left before SkateNewZealand really kicks off. My tickets are booked (6th January arriving in Auckland!) and I've got all the kit I need. We are on the final leg. If you know of anyone who has a spare campervan in NZ - tell them to get in contact with me nat@skatenewzealand.com

nat.

Eastbourne Downhill Race

2007-09-03T17:48:00.001Z

The first weekend of September saw the IGSA World Cup Downhill Race being held at Eastbourne. I was one of the racers and it was my first ever competition. To say i was a little nervous was an understatement! There were racers from all over the globe; Germany, Brazil, USA, Austria, Sweden, South Africa and a few from Porstmouth! The course was pretty brutal, really rough surface and no braking needed. I donned my racing leathers and did my best. I didn't get through to the final qualifying but as most of the foreign racers are professional atheletes I didn't feel too bad. Eric Lundberg won the stand-up convincingly and is actually going to be in New Zealand when we are there, he is going to come and have a skate with us!

'Bish Bash' Outlaw Slalom

2007-07-22T15:48:00.000Z

Yesterday saw an 'Outlaw' slalom race being held at our secret spot. About 20 Skaters turned up some coming from London, Hove and even Gosport. We were given a precise weather update which was accurate to about 3 minutes by our SkateNewZealand Weather Support UKMet. It rained for 20 minutes just before 11 but dried up quickly - as expected.

Martin went about setting a testing course and we started to skate. It was excellent to see the likes of Paul Price, Mike Stride, Marting Drayton and Sam G really pushing themselves through the course.

After a little while Munch went and had a big old slam and after a bit of magic by Curt it was decided a trip to the local hospital was in order. An X-ray later and it turns out Steve had broken his pinky! Sufice to say he was a bit gutted not to keep skating but took on the time keeping duties with grit and determination!!The racing was pretty fast an furious. All the usual suspects getting remarkably quick times. After about 6 runs each we totted up the times and the results were as follows.

1st: Paul Price 11.91

2nd: Michael Stride 11.98

3rd: Sam Gordon 12.25

4th: Martin Drayton 12.42

5th: Nat Halliday 13.05

6th: Pat 13.57

So I got 5th! And thanks to the kind generosity of the 4 'Pros' I walked away with a bottle of Leffe beer and a new set of 70mm Zig-zags! A very happy nat!

As well as the competition, the day had another purpose. To raise some money for SkateNewZealand's Charities Lowe Syndrome and CanTeenNZ. Over £50 was raised on the day and more is to come. Thank you to everyone who donated, it was an excellent way to celebrate Bish's 40th.

Photos from the day are HERE

nat

Borrow a board??

2007-07-18T10:43:00.000Z

Bit of good news arrived in the inbox of SkateNewZealand HQ this morning.

Hi Nat,
Wow, thanks for the update. Your skate is going
to be incredible.

How would you like to borrow my RollsRolls for your
journey? If you can promise me that I will get it back when you are done I would
be honored to have you use it. I'll pay for shipping it to you, if you pay the
return shipping.

Look forward to hearing from you.
All the best,
Jack

Now for those of you who don't skate let me fill you in. Jack, is in fact Jack Smith and he is a bit of a legend. In 1975 he competed in the Del Mar "Bahne-Cadillac" Nationals. This competition was the inspiration for the films 'Dogtown and the Z-boys' and later, 'Lords of Dogtown' .

Thirty years later he played the part of the 'Del Mar' announcer in the 'Lords of Dogtown'.

In 1976 he skateboarded across America. In 1984 he repeated the journey to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. And in 2003, after his son Jack Jnr was diagnosed with the rare Lowe Syndrome he decided to complete the journey once again, aged 46.

So it is with great pride and honour that I will get to skate one of Jack Smith's skateboards for part of the SkateNewZealand journey.

nat

Summer Holidays

2007-07-10T16:36:00.000Z

Yeah, so I've broken up for my summer holidays. 8 weeks off.

The last few weeks of term are always the most hectic. Reports, parent's evenings, summer performances, assemblies, moving-up days and to top it of everyone is getting stressy and the kids are acting bonkers. So when last Friday rolled around I was a happy bunny.

The basement, or Unit19 as it's called is up and running. been skating it loads. it really is the most perfect mini ive ever skated. And I have a key. That's 24 hours a day enrty if I want it.

The BeatsWalkin crew stayed on Friday night en route from Barnstaple to Dover. They are skating across europe to raise money for the Boardfree charities. I treated them to pizza and we skated at the new ramp till 1 in the morning. t'was a jolly good night. They are a top group of lads and have the right approach to this longdistance skating malarkey - not taking it/themselves too seriously. Meeting Bam made me re-assess the rollsrolls I'm riding. He is riding a LBL deck and it seems a lot more suitable.. watch this space.

Then yesterday the annual Lush Summer Jam happened at Slades. Slades isn't really my cup of tea, but the longboarders had a great day. There were loads of people there and the sun shone. Met up with rich from lush and had a good old chinwag and compared T4s! After lunch we decided to go and find a hill for a slide/bomb and drove round for a while till we hooked up with a few locals in the know. I'm new to sliding but they were killing it.

I cracked open the leathers and had a good old blast.

Been getting on the case with the NZ route today and went to look at video cameras. Getting excited now!!

nat

Lush Skate-a-thon

2007-06-05T21:07:00.000Z

What a day!!

We caught the early train to Bath from Fareham and arrived to the gathering crowds outside Bath Spa station. After a weird but tasty fruit juice courtesey of Bish we went round the corner, registered, picked up the free t-shirt and set off. We pushed down onto the canal path to whoops and hollers and popped out onto the bath-bristol cycle track. It was a beautiful day and everyone was smiling. It was so good to put names to faces and great to hook up with old friends.

The day went really smoothly (Thanks Lush!), about 90 skaters made their way along the cycle track rolling on a variety of stlyes of skateboard.

The most money raised award went to Psy who collected over £600 for Lowe Syndrome Trust. Well done mate!

Let's do it again people. I have put a whole heap of photos here.

nat

'Bish Bash' Outlaw GS

2007-05-28T22:01:00.000Z

Here is the flyer for the Outlaw GS race to be held for SkateNewZealand

Busy Busy Busy

2007-05-28T21:45:00.000Z

Sorry, it's been chaos. I've been so busy.

Busy skating thankfully.

On Thursday we went for a slalom skate along the seafront at southsea. Bish and I got the train across to Pompey and along the front to meet up with Boneles. We set up and Psy joined us. It's the first time we've skated there and it was really good. A little bit like our own Hove. Lots of passers-by and we hooked up with loads of skaters. There was an amazing sunset and my arm wasn't acting up too bad. I skated the 15 miles home as well.

On Friday i drove to Hove to meet up with the crew. Curly Curt gave me a set of randalls for free (cheeeers Maaaaate) to put on my downhill setup and I got the splitfires from Martin (Mr. Drayton to you!). After much discussion with Munchh I set them up and had a few runs through the cones. Holy Moly! I am gonna be soo fast now. They make the wheels stick to the ground and make me feel in control.

Then, to top it off, Stridey has made the rough flyer for the Outlaw GS race later on in the summer. See the website for more.

Bath to Bristol

2007-05-10T18:43:00.000Z

Well I'll be doing it. 15 miles will be a laugh. I know Psy is already racking up the contributions. See you there? Outside Bath station at 10.

This event is organised by Rich at Lush and the World Record holding Dave Cornthwaite who will be in attendance. I know that Bish, Psy and possibly even Mister Stride (of Scrapheap fame) will be there, though Stridey was showing off a petrol driven board at Gurston which is a worry!!!. One of the charities to benefit from this event is the Lowe Syndrome Trust. As SkateNewZealand is also supporting this worthwile charity we will be there skating along with everyone else.

Hang Ten Duuuuuudes! nat (it's me in the picture!!)

Gurston

2007-05-07T16:31:00.000Z

Today is the day after Gurston. Gurston is a meeting of memebers of the UK Gravity Sports Association. Mostly lugers attend but stand-up skaters turn up too. Well yesterday I was one of those skaters. Having only done downhill 3 times before I was absolutely crapping myself when I stood at the top of the run, in full leathers and with a full-face helmet. very very scared.

Joel on the start line

The first corner is awesome, footbraking down from 35mph+ the corner is a right hander. A very big right hander. All 4 wheels sliding sort of right hander. Then you get up straight onto the footbrake again for a left hander followed by another left hander.

2nd corner

Joel had a bet with a few people before i started that:I would get under 1 minute 10 and I would have a stack.
Well...... I got under 1.10.. I got 58.7 ... the following run I nominated, hit the first corner faster than I had eved imagined all 4 wheels sliding then took the second at serious speed. juat about made it round but clipped the rumble strips and flew off the front of the board, landed on my shoulder and hip. Got up and finished.
So today i am struggling to move my arm but with a huge grin. I think I got the second fastest stand-up time of the day and everyone was saying that nobody had ever done a sub 60 on their first day!!

Thanks to everyone I met. I will see you at the next one.

Downhill Madness

2007-05-01T17:56:00.000Z

Another weekend. Another day at 'The Hill'. Having chatted with Psy about trying to crack 25mph - we had a challenge.

I was happy as hell on the rayne, and with a bit of effort we both reached 26.7mph. I then had a couple of runs on the 'super-unstable-at -speed' Rollsrolls; tinkered with it for a bit then felt a lot happier.

After lunch with some sweeping for extra run up I managed to get a top speed of 28.5 mph.

Another try on Burt and I managed to push him to 28.2mph.

Possibly going back again tomorrow.

nat

Hove Slalom

2007-04-28T09:47:00.000Z

A really good turn out at Hove last night. Good to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones. Thanks to everyone; Martin Drayton, Smokestack, Edwin, Stridey, Jonno, Niall, Jim, Jelly and all the regular Hove crew.

I broke out my new camera (well, Hol's old one!) and played around with the fisheye. We had 4 courses set out. 5ft spacing (Yeah right!), 6 ft, offset mellow and one of Curly's crazy offsets. I also got 25 cones (green seismic's) and some bushings to fuel my ever increasing tweaking obsession.

Jelly was there and he went through the cones on 2 seperate occasions on a slalom board and there were unconfirmed reports of him buying a variety of different coloured khiro bushings.

It's true.

Also skated The Baement on Wednesday, took the camera along there too. only got a couple of good shots; John doing a roll-in, capturing Andy's back Smith and this one of Tyrone on the wallride.

Going skating with Joel, Psy and Boneless on Sunday again. Hopefully going to get Jonno and some of The Basement crew there too.

Video From Wasteland

2007-04-26T21:22:00.000Z

Here's a video of me racing Ella, my nemesis!!

I finally beat her!

Wasteland Classic Slalom Race.

2007-03-26T13:23:00.000Z

On Sunday I got picked up by the brothers Bish and with john and their dad drove up to Hillingdon for the 3rd 'Wasteland Classic' Slalom Comp. We stopped on the way for a cheeky skate at Twellsy's garden mini then headed over to the racetrack. It was a little blustery and after the warm-up it turned out the expensive timing equipment didn't work. Head-to-head it was then!
I seemed to do OK at the start so went through to the winners half, reaced a couple of people and kept winning. Then i was up against Paul Price... almost pipped him in the first round; lost by a couple of inches. the second round it turned into about a foot or so! Next was Sam Gordon. I beat him then he beat me twice.

Throughout the afternoon a seperate competition was being run, due to the generosity of Octane Sport. The innaugeral 'Long-distance lap' race. The eventual winner was Louis, who walked away with an Axe2 slalom deck. All in all £45 was raised for SkateNewZealand. Cheers to all those who took part.

Here are the results of the 'Long-Distance Lap' race.

Mmedo 3.38
M.Stride 3.59
Crowbar 3.56
Louis 3.15
Josh 3.41
Paul T-C 3.26
Sam G 3.49

all times are in minutes... just.

Here are the Slalom results.

Cornwall sessions

2007-03-12T14:44:00.000Z

This weekend I headed to Cornwall. It was Trevenen's 42nd birthday and a full assault of cornish concrete was in the offing.

I left fareham at 5.30 and was in the pub in Hayle by 10. The hotel was basic, but because Andy had knackered his leg in (yes that one) I had the room to myself. Got up quite early and went and had brekky with Jelly, SteveS, NickSk8Goa and Twellsy then headed over to Penzance.

I've been there before but it was bigger than I remember. Had a good blast around and then we all got ready to go slalom/sliding.

After buggering about for ages we headed down to the town and parked by the dock. over a wall was a disused road. Perfect. the cones went up, I did a bit of slalom then donned the gloves Trevenen had shackled up.

Absolutely amazing fun! We headed up into the moors and found a nice road and started on the steeper stuff. I love sliding. I was getting smooth fast frontside and backside slides and was grinning the whole time. Twellsy and Jelly were the same. Video evidence will go up here soon.

Then we headed back to Tuckingmill. I love this park. the little capsule bowl is the best fun now that I have nailed the figure of 8 carve. We hung round there way past dark then went over to Patrick's for chilli!

Sunday morning we got up, went for brekky again, had a roll around at Hayle (!!!!!CRADLE!!!!!) then went back to Tuck for an hour before the 4 hour drive home.

All in all an amazing weekend. Cheers boys and girls!

The first of many

2007-02-28T19:10:00.000Z

Well here we go.

SkateNewZealand is up and running. It's been a hectic few weeks, loads of stuff has happened, so I'll run you through it bit by bit.

The website went up without a hitch, its all done by me so sometimes my OCD overtakes my 'leave it be' side and I twiddle too much. I'm pleased with the result at the moment. We'll see how long it lasts. It's here by the way www.skatenewzealand.com

Equipment sponsors have been pouring in. I'm so stoked by the response. The big 'one' has to be Independent trucks. They are going to be supplying the whole team with clothes and there is talk of them doing a collaboration with us on a T-shirt design! I'll put links to all the sponsors at the bottom of this post (or you could go and look at the site!)

We have truck, wheel, ceramic brake, clothing, sunglass, skateboard and longboard sponsors. It's all going well.

My only worry at the moment is the logo. But I have a man on the case!

Watch this space, I might be here often.

nat

Skating a pool? No? Anyone?

2006-03-29T21:39:00.000Z

So here goes..

I'm so shit. look at me 'I'm gonna blog all the time' Halliday.

Well it's been a while. But have I had an amazing week.

1stly i meet up with Paul and Mark from gravity parks. Looks like they are going ot build a park 2 minutes from my front door. Here are the designs they put forward to the council. Let's just say.. they have changed somewhat. Looks like we might have the best mini on the south coast to play with.

Then they only go and finish Verwood. This bowl is goddam perfect. It's like a mini Epic. 5 ft deep end, 4 ft shallow. Escalaltor, extension and 25 degree hip. Jumped the fence and have skated it loads. B.D.P. and the Brizzle Crew are coming for a skate this weekend - Session on!

THEN! Me and Hol went for a lush walk along the seaside this afternoon. Gran had to go for a Doctor's appointment and it turns out I have my board and Hol has her camera in the car!!
So I get to skate a POOL. No, infact I get to skate 'The pool that I have swam about in for the last 20 or so years'.
To be honest it was without doubt one of the highlights of my 30 years on this earth. To skate a transitioned pool, in the U.K. without having to barge it. I am still grinning. Yup 10 hours later, still grinning.

This evening at the Basement was heaving, 14 people. Mark and the London Crew came down so it was hectic. Madness. Every time you went to drop in there were 3 other decks ready to roll. Just like the old Southsea days. Ty got front and back smiths on the extension. madness.
I was doing my usual hooning around, tho I feel more into 50-50's than ever before.

oh and I scrawled on my deck this evening. Represent! Five Points Skates!

So thisweekend looks like a blinder. Verwood or Basement on Friday night. Hyde Park on Saturday (Meeting up with DaveBoardFree) Possible scoot on slalom. Then Verwood with the Brizzle massive on Sunday. Roll on the weekend.

teach

Back on the blogging wagon.

2006-03-12T16:22:00.000Z

Forgive me blogger for I have sinned.
It's been 1year 5 months since my last post!! Genius.

Feeling inspired by my other half's weekly blogs I have decided to start mine again today. So much news to catch up on.
Still skating lots, Hol lives with me now and she is going to Australia in September as a photographer for http://www.boardfree.co.uk
I am almost as excited as she it.

Hols has also started skating, which is amazing. She took a bail yeaterday and tweaked her elbow. but was straight back on it and was hassling me today to go again!

What else. Erm, been skating lots. The basement is still going strong. Loving the wallride

We skate there 3 times a week. It's amazing really. Kept us 'standing strong' throughout those cold, wet and dark winter nights. It' now about 48 foot wide. Wallrides, spine extension.... all perfect.

However now we have Bournemouth. The park isn't open officially but I have skated it the last two days running. Went yesterday with Lee, he wasn't that fussed. Went today with Tyrone and Toby. Ty loved it and was skating well for someone who is so ill. Toby. I think, broke his hand and is currently in Q.A. getting it sorted.

All very exciting.

VOTE JOHN PEEL FOR KING

2004-10-05T23:08:00.000Z

SOO tired.

This evening got in from work, skated into town, went to record shop (just to look hol! love) dropped a signed Chritian Hosoi poster (to teach, skate hard for jesus Christian Hosoi) into the shop to get framed.

A little later Steve came over and we went climbing.

so now I hurt, ache, am knackered but am full (just ate steak n chips)

so there we are.

Music of the moment is JOHN PEEL. Respect.

night.

Sick for toys

2004-10-03T22:44:00.000Z

Just got of the phone with My Hol. I get to see her again in 4 and a bit days. This is, if you didn't know, a 'eeeeeeeeeeh' kinda feeling.

My life at the moment can be split into the following sections.

1. Holly (makes me sooo happy)
2. Skating the basement.
3. Hooking up, skating, eating with, letting him drink all my vodka, watching DVD's with, lee.
4. Recently, climbing with Steve.
5. Making sure Edith is ok. (she has a snazzy green velvet collar by the way)
6. Going to work, which for the uninitiated, I love.

Another ebay for sale sign went up today, this time a beautiful Jay Adams DTS deck. I know i'd never skate it (it's not Black Label, come on!) and it was only gathering dust. So its there.. to be sold... all monies to the 'Nats going to NY' fund.

Music at the moment is Stereolab - Les Yper Sound
Thought of the moment is I must go to bed.

Rain, rain go away. Come back another day.

2004-10-03T13:00:00.001Z

See, now this just pisses me off.

Didnt go skating last night.

Just cruised into town to look at mobiles and to get some books to draw in and it starts to rain. Looked on the weather and it it's going to continue for days.

music of the moment is The Beta Band - Monolith.
smell of the moment is the smell u get when a wooly jumper gets wet in the rain.

Also, just about to hook up with Greg N Sarah in Australia, they r sorting out their camera as i type. I bet it's not raining in Melbourne.

He has got eyes... but no ears.

2004-10-02T22:16:00.000Z

hello again, same old same old..

I so wanted to go on a late skate session tonight, was really in the mood for just getting into the streets and skating for skating sake. I'm just getting fed up with going to a park and not really enjoying it. I have figured out that it's not about trying to be 'one up' on everyone else, its all about making myself happy. Just skating about does that.

Launchcast continues to shock me with its ace music that I have chosen, interspersed with completely random acts of weirdness. In the last few mins its been MBV, Jet, The sugarcubes, The Strokes then Bobbie Gentry??

Thanks to Hol and her art, I'm going into town tomorrow to buy hardback books from charity shops to paint and draw in. I know that U at A/S level art I took a few years ago would rear its ugly head. I feel inspired.

night.

DAY 1

2004-10-02T20:54:00.000Z

Well erm..

The music of of today has been bis. I was going through all my old records, with a view to seeing how much they were all worth. (Garbage - vow £50) I have soooo many bis 7" singles its unbelievable really. No wonder i was skint throughout uni.

And, how is it that my station on launchcast can play genius like Grandaddy... then follow it with Kevin Lyttle?

I have also put my Rowleys up for sale on ebay, they were one of 'those' purchases. You know the ones that u just have to have... unfortunately they are half a size too small.

so they had to go. This puts my vans collection down to about 11.

what else? Holly came to stay last night, it was soo good to see her, she went back this afternoon to go car-booting tomorrow. She is back down to see me again this friday, so im super happy.

thats about all folks. tho u must start to read the little notes that are written on the quiet section on a record as it finishes (what IS that called) one I read today read 'feel free to jeer'