Winter storms and high winds
couldn't keep our 747 off the
ground. Readily prepared,
Phelper slipped me 2 Valium as
we downed expensive beer in
the airport bar. I woke up in
Auckland, New Zealand. I guess
I snored through 3 movies on
the 17 hour flight. We stumbled
through the cattle-call customs
line. It was 8:30 am, beautiful
day, 80 degrees sunny summer-
time. Lee was waiting for us sit-
ting at a table in McDonald's,
no shoes, no shirt, just as I had
heard about him. Little did I
know he would wear those
same sweatpants the whole
time we would be with him,
eventually wearing a whole-ass
blowout, covering it with a t-
shirt. Lee took us up and down
the whole North Island, hijack-
ing Radar's van for 9 days. We
drove it into the ground.
The first park was near the air-
port. Lynfield, one of the sickest
little peanut pools with a chan-
nel in the shallow and a snake
run into a little bowl. It is one of
the newer parks on the island-7
years old. New Zealand is where
the wild things are. There lie
countless concrete creations.
Stories of parks left over from
the 70's were the only thing
that filled my mind. How can
we sit around slaving our way
through a 9 to 5 existence when
just a little water is separating
us from the vast assortment of
skate pits dotting this country-
side? After Lynfield we went
straight to New Lynn. A gnarly-
ass snake run with a kidney dish
at the top and an oblong full
pipe into a bowl at the bottom.
Serious lunar pad alien landing
site. 20 years old. This was our
to
2nd stop already before noon.
We piled back into the van and
drove through the hills and
beautiful valleys
Whangamata, where Lee has
been living the last 6 months of
his nomadic lifestyle. 2 blocks
away is an insane huge hip snake
run into a bowl. We session on
and off for the next few days
between swims in the ocean
and learning how to carve with
Lee's awesome chisel set. Waihi
was our next hit. Concrete bowl
which Lee and Radar and Spittle
put pool coping around and
poured some little bank bath-
tub with twinkie. Sick. Block
76 THRASHER
party back at Lee's psycho party pad. Tauranga vert ramp
session one day-local rippers pushing limits. Back to Lee's
block party. Ride Whangamata snake some more, mini
ramp sessions at Radar's. Day 4 we go to our 5th concrete
conformity being Morrinsville. A perfectly mellow kinked
round bowl with steel coping around the whole thing.
Smooth as shit. Rip Ride Die. Back to Lee's block party all
night long. Wake up day 5, ride snake run again finally fig-
uring some lines in the giant. Big time barbecue Joey's
gumbo shellfish from the beach. Spittle comes home with a
bag of clams/mussels. Marty's meat melt. We gorged to say
the least. Next day we hijack Radar's van on a 9 day mis-
sion-first stop Birkenhead semi street park with 2 concrete
minis with 3 hips and steel coping. Next to Browns Bay 8 ft,
concrete vert ramp bowled in with mini banks on the
beach. We eat, drink and skate. Too insane to explain,
power to the membrane. Next day we head south. Allenby
is on the way, crazy-ass ditch/snake old skate track 15-20
years old. Next stop Hamilton. Perfect 11-12 ft round bowl.
20 years old, with new surface felt fast. Smooth-ass layer,
grindable lip. We rip. It rains right as we finish. We pile back
into the Jackmobile and head 10 hours south to Wellington.
We arrive 2:30 am. Hell drive, we crash at Matt's. Hella spots
and tea. They take us to Johnsonville (the Onslow bowl);
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: RICHARD KIRBY BARGES THE CONCRETE
PIPE AT BROWNS BAY. PARAPARAMU HAS IT ALL. PORIRUA HAS A
TIGHT SIX FOOT TALL METAL VERT RAMP WITH NO PLATFORMS.
THE HIPS AT LYNFIELD MAKE SPEED A BREEZE. THE BOWL AT THE
END OF THE LYNFIELD SNAKE RUN IS MORE THAN 50-50-ABLE.
gnarly crazy 13 ft, 15 years old, kinked, ruff, chunky coping
death drop. We loved it. Next Porirua metal ramp with no
decks or coping. Sketchy scary snake run. Next to Pukerua.
Mellow big dish flounder pan with Olympic-style starting
gate. Next stop Paraparamu, vert ramp with old-ass splin-
terwood, killer tight mini, concrete hips/humps/bumps. We
head inland to the Jedi Ramp Jam in Palmerston North.
Drink, skate, six keg blow out, lights all night, roof jumps.
Wake up with rain pitter patter on my forehead. We grub
and head to Plymothton snake dish. Next we go to Levin
metal mini with kink kicker. Gang scrawlings on each side
read Eastside Chickens/Westside Gerkins. Power sesh. Next
stop Melrose Park, a punk size 8 ft vert with mini cross
ramp. We skate. We leave go to Karori mini. Mini curb block-
coping grinds. Fun time. Now to downtown Wellington
Shaffer's Park. Concrete mini/vert street ramps. We ride till
dark; 5 spots today. We left Wellington today. Back north to
Auckland. I got to drive the windy roads through moun-
tains and valleys. The hills and scenery were breathtaking.
Wanganui was on the way. We rode the cement half bowl
with hips out on both ends. We arrived at Hamilton at 2 am.
Slept and went back to my favorite bowl in all of New
Zealand. We sessioned hard for 2 hours. Beating the rains
just as before. We packed up and headed to Auckland. We
stayed in the city above strip clubs. Rooftop dwelling.
Harassing people on the sidewalks as we partied. We skat-
ed around the city finding many hot spots, hills, and a mini
ramp in a park called Grey Lynn. This was the last leg of the
trip. We had come a long way.
21 parks/spots so far day 7. There's more concrete here
than I could have imagined and we haven't even ridden
half of it. Let alone the South Island, which has more
newer parks-we've heard stories and seen pictures. We're
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