The Land of Oz

If you were to hijack the Mole Man's tunnel machine, and drill a hole through the earth from Beasley Park in Hamilton Ontario, you might just end up at the Fitzroy Bowls in Melbourne, Australia. Built twenty two years ago in beautiful Edinburgh Park, located just north of the now hip Fitzroy neighbourhood, the Bowls could be Beasley's sister skate park: same punk aesthetic and laid back vibe, funky graffiti and down to earth crew of rad skaters. The main difference is, when it's winter at Beasley, and everyone is wearing three layers of cloths, it's summer at Fitzroy, and peeps are lying around in the grass, listening to tunes on a portable boom box, skating, replenishing fluids, and having a good ol' time.

 Ditto for Waterloo Park in Sydney, which is a little newer than Fitz, but attracts a diverse crew of skaters, two of whom were good enough to teach me the intricacies of "the flamingo," while I introduced the backside no-comply wall ride to the land down under. But don't forget to wear sunscreen!!! I arrived at about 11 pm, and skated for two hours, thinking the cloud cover would protect my freshly shaven head from solar radiation. Wrong! Turns out the ozone hole is directly over Australia, and those harmful UV rays pierce right through the clouds like spears. My neck and head looked like a flayed salmon for a few days after that. Lesson learned. Sure was a fun skate sesh though.