Damn Am Down Under – The Search for a Site
Posted on Thursday, February 28, 2008 by Ryan
Words by Ryan Clements
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek
It’s a long, long way from Tampa, Florida to Melbourne, Australia. After literally 30 hours of travel time (Tampa to Cincinnati to LA to Auckland, New Zealand to Melbourne) we finally landed down under at 9:30am Monday morning. We’re 16 hours ahead of Tampa time…meaning that we left Tampa on Saturday afternoon and got here nearly two days later. Crazy! But our bags didn’t quite make it. There’s nothing like taking a shower and putting clothes back on that you’ve already worn for two days!
Our tour guide and ripping Australian skateboarder Shane Azar was waiting at the terminal for us and had everything planned out. He got us to the hotel and we grabbed some food. Ironically, nearly the entire Emerica team was staying at the same hotel, on a filming mission for their newest flick. So after we ran into those dudes at the local restaurant, they were also at our first skate park stop, Riverside Skate Park, also knows as the City Park because it’s in the middle of the city.
We were all tired, jet-lagged, and Brian and I were wearing our non-skate shoes, but we had plenty of support. Leo, Braydon, Westgate, Spanky, Hsu, and Figgy were showing us how it’s done. You have to see Leo skate a ledge in person to truly appreciate the speed and amount of tricks he has on lock at mach-five.
It felt like the longest day of all time for us, so we went back to the hotel to chill. Shane took us to some local Chinese food in downtown, which is a pretty happening scene and will make a great spot for a couple of parties to accompany the Damn Am. Rothmeyer and Rob went to the Casino while the rest of us hit the sack.
Spot 1: Riverside Skate Park – this is the same park that we skated the day prior, but we were meeting Aussie rippers Luke and Jeza to join us for the day. About the time we got warmed up, it was time to head out, but this looks like it’s going to be the park that we use for Damn Am next year. It’s got potential, but needs a very slight face-lift. It’s close to the tram line and the party zone, so the nightlife has potential, too. Now the work begins on making it happen…
Spot 2: Prahran Skate Park – we drove about 20 minutes out of downtown and visited this little park with a metal mini-ramp, a huge vert ramp, and an interesting street course. It was no park that was fit for a contest, but it would be a killer park to have down the street from your house. I particularly like the little cement quarter-pipe. Shane, Luke, and Jeza proceeded to destroy the little rail.
Spot 3: Knox Skate Park – this place was way out of the city, but was by far the most fun and most diverse park we skated. Once again, it’s not set up for a contest, but they had a big bowl with clam shell, proper manny pads, and great quarter-pipes and ledges everywhere
Spot 4: President Skate Park – Knox was on one side of the city and this spot was on the clear opposite. The design was interesting, but it resembled more architectural art than a skate park. It had a few good elements, but the place straight-up didn’t flow at all. It had varied surfaces, with marble banks, metal quarter-pipes, a legit Jersey-barrier, and the three-quarter-pipe had some weird expanded-metal surface. Very cool looking, but not so practical.
By the way, in case you might have forgotten, we were still wearing the same clothes. It was getting late and Shane needed to get to the airport, so we made a pit stop to see if our bags had made it to Oz. It was like Christmas morning for Rob, Brian, and I when we saw our bags! Clean clothes! Dinner was great, I was beat, but once again, Rob and Rothmeyer hit the Casino.
We wanted to see some real Australian Outback wilderness, so Rothmeyer routed us a trip to a place called Wilson’s Promontory. After nearly three hours on some winding, two-lane roads, we made it to our destination. Wilson’s “Prom,” as the locals call it, is a huge national park. We saw some of the most amazing wildlife, did some hiking, and climbed on rocks next to the ocean. What an amazing day! The highlight for me was getting about 20 feet from a wild kangaroo! Rob got even closer and you could tell that dude got pissed, so we backed off and left him alone.
The drive back was long and we were worn out. It was everything I could do to stay awake during dinner. I would like to dedicate Day 3 to Jason Rothmeyer because without him I doubt that this amazing mission would have happened. Can you believe that Rob and Rothmeyer hit the Casino again?
Thanks to Shane and Luke and Jeza for taking their time to show us around. I love this place. 99% of the people are totally cool. The weather here is like Southern California. It’s never really too hot, but it gets a bit cold at night sometimes. One thing…beer is really expensive and the Australian dollar is equal to the U.S. dollar. We actually spent $45 on a case of beer! See you next year, Melbourne…
Ryan
Photos and Captions by Rob Meronek
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![]() We know we're in for some wacky wildlife when we start seeing signs like this on the side of the road |
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Day 1:
Picking a spot to host an event on the other side of the world is pretty much impossible without actually going there. Every skateboarder knows that pictures just don’t do a spot justice, so we had to check out the possibilities on our own. Kevin Braden at Volcom gave us a little budget to work with and Globe was flying us to Oz for the Slaughter at the Opera anyway, so we decided to go on full-on Melbourne spot-checking mission to find a venue for the Damn Am that is planned for February 2009.
It’s a long, long way from Tampa, Florida to Melbourne, Australia. After literally 30 hours of travel time (Tampa to Cincinnati to LA to Auckland, New Zealand to Melbourne) we finally landed down under at 9:30am Monday morning. We’re 16 hours ahead of Tampa time…meaning that we left Tampa on Saturday afternoon and got here nearly two days later. Crazy! But our bags didn’t quite make it. There’s nothing like taking a shower and putting clothes back on that you’ve already worn for two days!
Our tour guide and ripping Australian skateboarder Shane Azar was waiting at the terminal for us and had everything planned out. He got us to the hotel and we grabbed some food. Ironically, nearly the entire Emerica team was staying at the same hotel, on a filming mission for their newest flick. So after we ran into those dudes at the local restaurant, they were also at our first skate park stop, Riverside Skate Park, also knows as the City Park because it’s in the middle of the city.
We were all tired, jet-lagged, and Brian and I were wearing our non-skate shoes, but we had plenty of support. Leo, Braydon, Westgate, Spanky, Hsu, and Figgy were showing us how it’s done. You have to see Leo skate a ledge in person to truly appreciate the speed and amount of tricks he has on lock at mach-five.
It felt like the longest day of all time for us, so we went back to the hotel to chill. Shane took us to some local Chinese food in downtown, which is a pretty happening scene and will make a great spot for a couple of parties to accompany the Damn Am. Rothmeyer and Rob went to the Casino while the rest of us hit the sack.
Day 2:
The weather was perfect and it was time for a full-on skate mission for hours on end. Shane hooked up a deal at PSC Skate Shop for some socks and a few t-shirts for the crew, we had a crappy breakfast, and hit the first park.
Spot 1: Riverside Skate Park – this is the same park that we skated the day prior, but we were meeting Aussie rippers Luke and Jeza to join us for the day. About the time we got warmed up, it was time to head out, but this looks like it’s going to be the park that we use for Damn Am next year. It’s got potential, but needs a very slight face-lift. It’s close to the tram line and the party zone, so the nightlife has potential, too. Now the work begins on making it happen…
Spot 2: Prahran Skate Park – we drove about 20 minutes out of downtown and visited this little park with a metal mini-ramp, a huge vert ramp, and an interesting street course. It was no park that was fit for a contest, but it would be a killer park to have down the street from your house. I particularly like the little cement quarter-pipe. Shane, Luke, and Jeza proceeded to destroy the little rail.
Spot 3: Knox Skate Park – this place was way out of the city, but was by far the most fun and most diverse park we skated. Once again, it’s not set up for a contest, but they had a big bowl with clam shell, proper manny pads, and great quarter-pipes and ledges everywhere
Spot 4: President Skate Park – Knox was on one side of the city and this spot was on the clear opposite. The design was interesting, but it resembled more architectural art than a skate park. It had a few good elements, but the place straight-up didn’t flow at all. It had varied surfaces, with marble banks, metal quarter-pipes, a legit Jersey-barrier, and the three-quarter-pipe had some weird expanded-metal surface. Very cool looking, but not so practical.
By the way, in case you might have forgotten, we were still wearing the same clothes. It was getting late and Shane needed to get to the airport, so we made a pit stop to see if our bags had made it to Oz. It was like Christmas morning for Rob, Brian, and I when we saw our bags! Clean clothes! Dinner was great, I was beat, but once again, Rob and Rothmeyer hit the Casino.
Day 3:
If I felt like a little kid at the end of Day 2, then I felt like a full-on adult on Day 3. Shane was gone, so that left the driving and navigating up to us. I chose to take the wheel and Rothmeyer handled the navigation. This would normally not be that big of a deal, but keep in mind that they drive on the opposite side of the road in Oz, along with the driver’s side of the car being on the other side, too. Add in everything being in kilometers and things get a bit confusing.
We wanted to see some real Australian Outback wilderness, so Rothmeyer routed us a trip to a place called Wilson’s Promontory. After nearly three hours on some winding, two-lane roads, we made it to our destination. Wilson’s “Prom,” as the locals call it, is a huge national park. We saw some of the most amazing wildlife, did some hiking, and climbed on rocks next to the ocean. What an amazing day! The highlight for me was getting about 20 feet from a wild kangaroo! Rob got even closer and you could tell that dude got pissed, so we backed off and left him alone.
The drive back was long and we were worn out. It was everything I could do to stay awake during dinner. I would like to dedicate Day 3 to Jason Rothmeyer because without him I doubt that this amazing mission would have happened. Can you believe that Rob and Rothmeyer hit the Casino again?
Day 4:
We woke up to rain and cloudy skies. It was chill time, but chill time for us means catching up with your emails and writing this story. Not a bad ending to a few action-packed days. We’re off to the airport this afternoon for an hour-long flight up to Sydney, which is the location of the Slaughter.
Thanks to Shane and Luke and Jeza for taking their time to show us around. I love this place. 99% of the people are totally cool. The weather here is like Southern California. It’s never really too hot, but it gets a bit cold at night sometimes. One thing…beer is really expensive and the Australian dollar is equal to the U.S. dollar. We actually spent $45 on a case of beer! See you next year, Melbourne…
Ryan
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