Sam Wright (OG Colchester legend) and his lovely lady Zoe are travelling around New Zealand in a van. Having lived and worked in Auckland for a couple of years they’re understandably a bit homesick and in a few weeks they’ll be heading back to Colchester, but before they leave they’re doing a grand tour of the country by van, seeing the sights and skating the parks as they go. Their route has taken them down the west coast of the North Island, all around the spectacular South Island, and now back to Wellington (at the very south of the North Island) via ferry.
They arrived in Wellington on Friday evening. I headed down to the park after work to meet Sam. It was so good to see an Essex head, an English skater with the heart for skateboarding that you take for granted back home, but that we both agreed is less common in other corners of the world. As luck would have it our housemate was away for the weekend so we were able to offer Sam and Zoe a bed for the night away from their van, and we chilled the evening away with a few beers.
Saturday morning Sam and Zoe checked out the city, then in the afternoon we took them out to the world-famous Chocolate Fish cafe in Scorching Bay. This place was the favourite watering hole of many a hobbit back when they made those movies. We drove round the beautiful coastline, then into Island Bay to skate the park there. We had a cool little session, both trying to get nice lines hopping over the hips. Sam took a liking to the stacked blocks, learning wallie manuals on the top one. I ended up snapping my baseplate (which was cracked from a replacing a busted kingpin) to end my day (boo hoo)- but it’s the excuse I needed to setup a whole new ride with the Harmony board I picked up from England in the summer (hoorah!).
Sam and Zoe have headed off for further adventures up the east coast today. They said they were stoked to have the true Wellington experience from hanging out with us locals, and we were equally stoked to have some lovely, decent Essex folk come knock at our door. So bon voyage to Sam and Zoe, and to everyone back home with itchy feet – get yourself over here and experience this city with us!
- Dan (LBD) Jacka
