and a top which showed plenty of his non-
existent cleavage. The girls paraded Eric and
Jeff down the street (amid whistles, cat calls
and threats of bodily harm) to the restaurant
where Keith and Christ were dining peace-
fully-that is until Nash and Grosso strolled
in, blowing kisses and generally camping it
up in full limp-wristed style.
Before it was over the crew had settled
back at Kimberly and Astrid's, where Nash
re-established his manly ways by beating all
comers in impromptu wrist wrestling compe-
tition. He finally met his match and lost a
loudly disputed bout with Christian. A re-
match had to be scheduled for the NSA finals
in Dayton, Ohio, to appease the high rollers
who'd backed Nash "The Crusher" to win.
GETTING DOWN TO BASICS
Back at the Diplomat most of the Ameri-
cans were getting ready to bail Stateside, so
we decided to hit the local public ramps and
bowls for some farewell sessioning.
As I discovered on an earlier visit, Aussies
tend to downplay their public facilities. They
think the average American has more terrain
available than could be skated in a week's
time. We assured our hosts that this was a
66
FEANSTAL
myth carried over from the dark ages as we
pried for the whereabouts of every public
piece of skateable cement inside city limits.
The next day-and-a-half was spent samp-
ling a variety of terrain where the sessions
went down in a laidback and relaxed atmo-
sphere. Bulleen ditch is situated in a grassy
neighborhood park in the suburbs of Mel-
bourne. This long, mellow trough of smooth
cement with a grindable lip and dog leg with
a hip was worked to dust by our able crew.
A blazing Australian sun was just kicking in-
to summer mode during our visit and the
Above: Michael Mulhall has fun
just reaching the lip of a deep.
nasty hail-pipe near Sydney. In-
sets: Gregor Rankine (top) of New
Zealand now operates in Mel-
bourne. Fellow Kiwi Lee Ralph
(right) skates where the fun takes
him. Left: Halloween harlots Erica
and Jeffine camping it up.
sweat flew with every slash
and grind. A vertical urge
set in so we piled off to
Northcut ramp, another un-
supervised public structure
within an easy cruise.
distance from downtown.
Melbourne. Christian and Mark Gonzales
worked the metal surfaced ramp with it's in-
herently slick texture for all it was worth, ad-
ding several new moves to their skating
repertoires. Skating siblings Stephen and
Peter Hill took leave from their offices at
Hardcore Enterprises, which is responsible
for much of the renewed Aussie skate fever
in this decade, to trade licks and chat with
the boys. Christian worked the ramp until the
sun was well below the horizon. We then
departed for the Diplomat to prepare for a
last night in Melbourne town.
SIN SYDNEY
Melbournians and Sydneyites seem to
have a running feud going about who's bet-
ter. Best beer, best nightlife, best bands, best
class of people. Naturally, it spills over into
the skate community-best skaters, best
ramps, best street spots, etc.
Sydney is more cosmopolitan and
open-often compared to San
Francisco or Seattle-while Mel-
bourne claims to be "real Aus-
tralian" and proud of it.
Regardless of all the chest
beating, they both have equally
healthy skate scenes. Cochrane,
Christian and I dropped into Sydney
for a few days of R and R before
their departure back to the states,
and wouldn't you know, the Powell
boys were having a demo in Mar-
tin Place, downtown. At least a
thousand youngsters were already
gathered when we arrived, chan-
ting and raging. Peter Lynch refus-
ed to start until 50 or 60 unruly skate
fans climbed down from a scaffolding,
overlooking his Skateboard World demo.
ramp. After walking around the base of the
all-metal ramp/trailer rig that Hawk, Cab,
Lance, McGill and eventually Christian were
about to skate, I had a feeling Peter shouldn't
start the demo at all. Up on the roll-out deck
I could feel the whole structure sway and rock
with every practice run, as if it was about to
collapse in a mass of twisted metal and crashi
to the ground, sending skaters and spec-
tators sprawling in the worst skate disaster
since the Mile High product toss of 1985.
The boys didn't seem to mind though, and
soon Stacy was on the mike pumping his
boys into a skating frenzy. Tony, who could
probably skate in a bathtub if he had to, con-
tinued his ripping ways. Cab was cautious..
but slung big airs into the night sky amid
Above: Overview of the donut-shaped dish near
Sydney with light sessioning going down. Below Left:
The incredible capsule bowl at Adelaide's public
skatepark features cement work as smooth as any
American park ever had. Notice the keyhole pool on
left and the elongated donut beyond the capsule.
Below Right: Melbourne hot shoe, Chris Paine
torques allen method then stops to sign for a gaggle
of school girls at the Bicentenial Expo, Melbourne.
roars of approval. Lance did his best to wreck
the ramp, but surprisingly enough it held..
Even when Hawk and McGill spun double
McTwists the ramp bounced back into shape.
Christian climbed the steps to a chant of
"Christ, Christ." Stacy announced him as "a
special guest," and Hosoi proceeded to light
a fire. The crowd swarmed up to the skating
surface and right into the "danger zone" next
to the transitions. It was inevitable that
boards would fly, and several people got
nailed. The rad red stuff flowed and stitches
were needed-kind of a harsh
souvenir to take home to Mom.
Stacy called his boys off the ramp
one by one to avoid an even uglier
mob scene. Tony climbed down the
ladder first, with Cab right behind.