By Andrew Jacobsmeyer
Australia is a country that has not been ventured through thoroughly and with the age old rumor “everything down there will kill you”, it’s easy to see why it has not been explored by many. The stereotype reinforced by Steve Irwin, Crocodile Dundee, and other characters that are products of the perceived outback can lead anyone with a notion of “civilization” to think it’s a wild, untamed land. In fact, its reputation is extremely misleading and the skateboarding there is something that should get some notice all by itself.
When I first arrived in Australia, I had no idea what was going to happen and had
very little information about skateboarding there. I was placed there by an internship company in Brisbane. Officially I went to do an internship in order to graduate, but I also went there in order to skate my ass off. I knew of the skateboarding that Australia had through the Anti-Hero video “Tent City”, and the numerous pros that had come out of Australia, such as Dustin Dollin, Chima Ferguson, the Pappas brothers, and others. I knew that it was not the land of barren desert, red rocks, and crazy men that piss off crocodiles like others who were not skateboarders, or well informed, might think. I was skeptical of what Brisbane would be like. It turned out to be pretty amazing and I would love to visit/live there if I ever get the chance to again.
I lived by a skatepark in the suburb of Fairfield which is where I met almost all my good friends. From when I got home from work, until night time, I went there almost everyday and skated, hung out, and made plans in order to skate other places. The main skateboarders that I hung out with, went on missions, and overall hauled mileage with, was a guy named Bones, and another guy named Al. Other people that deserve a mention are Louis, Tom, Chris, Pat, and the other guys that skated Fairfield on the daily.
On Wednesdays, Bones and I would go to a place called God Bowl, at a Christian Church. As much as some skateboarders like Satan, God Bowl is a sick bowl and anyone who says otherwise doesn’t have the guts to skate it. Juzzy who runs it is a great human being and gave me a board when I broke mine. Go to God Bowl if you have the guts, I guarantee that you will slam but sometime in the session get the cahones to actually skate it. It’s not for the faint of heart.
I also got to check out the only core skate shop in Brisbane, The Small Room. Jay and Norm who run it are awesome. Jay is a man of his word and gives all the money from the Small Room back to skateboarding, whether it’s from building the Brain Drain or putting the money back into the shop to get re-stocked with boards.
Al and Bones also took me outside of Brisbane and down the east coast of Australia to other great Australian skateparks. We went everywhere from the famous Pizzey skatepark to the skate heaven that is in Nimbin. Every skatepark that I went to in Australia had some great stuff to offer. Pizzey has one of the most famous bowls in the world, and Nimbin is a skatepark in a little hippie town with some huge and tight transition that cannot be contested with. You gotta have one thing when you want to skate either of those parks: BALLS!!! And if you don’t want to take the time to skate Pizzey bowl, you can watch Jesse “Red” Noonan kill it with some raw aggression!!
There is also some great, gnarly skateboarding outside of the northern east coast of Australia. In Sydney there’s Bondi Bowl on Bondi Beach and yes it is as gnarly as it looks. With a five foot shallow end with a decent amount of vert and a waterfall which goes into a 13 foot deep end, it’s steepness would cause any skateboarder to piss their pants. In Sydney, this was the only skateboarding I did. As much as I wanted to skate, I opted for the more touristy/sight seeing side of the city. Anybody who goes to Sydney, and Australia in general should go to the Prahran skatepark and serves great food for anyone who is hungry after a skate sesh.
Australia is a great country for skateboarding and is amazing in itself. If you are a skateboarder, others will help you out, especially if you are from outside of the country. The cool guy mentality that you find in parts of the States is pretty non-existent except for a few choice lame-os that I won’t name (although you can tell just from meeting them) but that is pretty much everywhere. I did not get to street skate at all really, but all the cities have quality spots, especially Melbourne. Go there, see it for yourself like I did!!! You won’t regret it.
