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‘Goin’ up the Country’ with Nike SB Australia

Melbourne to Canberra with the @nikesbau crew...

Welcome to life on the road through the eyes of Jason Morey as the @NikeSBau crew take the scenic/skate route to the Nation’s Capital city. Starring: Jason Rainbird, James James, Hootie Andrewes, Sam Atkins, Dean Johnston, Geoff Campbell on drums and Chris Middlebrook on Bass…


                                                                    FINAL DAY!!!

Final day in Canberra! This spot is very Alien Workshop. Hootie said so.


Big thanks to Floyd (far right) for making us feel so welcome in his city. Looking quite bummed here assuming he never wants us to leave. “I keep trying to find my way but all I know is I’m lost without you. I keep trying to face the day, I’m lost without you” – Floyd


Geoff is the Master Splinter of Nike SB Australia. Seen here with his legs crossed in sk8 sensei stance. It’s a yoga thing.


Dean bunged his ankle only a few days ago but still kept things going. Good man


This is why Peter Pan never wanted to grow up. #skateboardingisfun


This is also why Peter Pan never wanted to grow up. Rainbird sticks it to all those disbelievers that say water is the only thing you can swim in. Imagination is one hell of a drug.


It wouldn’t be a trip to Canberra without skating the mall. We love the mall.


This kind club goer named Alex came up to greet us a half dozen times. He offered us a bottle of vodka and a packet of cigarettes. He was a wealth of club knowledge. Anyone that passes through the mall, just yell out “Alex!” and I’m sure he’ll come out of the bushes for a chat. Cheers friend.


Dean with a warm up smithers for Alex. Thanks to all that helped us out on this trip. Until next time. What a banger!


DAY 8

The day began with more ominous clouds… So we broke out early to get some skating in while we could, I wish I had a chance to skate these myself… Before, yet again it started bucketing down.

Pre piss-down results!!!

Amazing little spot… Kicked out before anyone could channel their inner Shane O’Neill

It was also Grand Final day today… So much hype for the Western Bulldogs – Squish Dog shakes the pre game nerves with the pill we found on a Ballarat roof.

This is post Western Bulldogs premiership victory. 62 years of hype!!! Go Doggies!!!Hootie: Backside 180 nosegrind at our good friend Floyd Scott’s house (On the very famous Kambah-Palooza rail). It was a dream come true to visit one of the 7 skateboarding wonders of the world.

Geoff Campbell – drops the session ender after much peer pressure to pull out his ever faithful switch krooks!


DAY 7

Unfortunately we were left in equally damp weather today. Hence, we found ourselves at the mercy of indoor conditions… Bless Adrenalin Skateshop Canberra. 

Geoff Campbell: The man, the mystery, the legend, the TM… The skateboarder… Blunt to fakie.

Jake O’Grady: Last time I skated with him he was gnarly. Now, he’s really gnarly…

Dean Johnston: Stand up… 5-0… on top… grind… Awesome

Hootie: One foot 5-0… which is very 90’s by the way… #brazillian

The rains once again poured with gay abandon… Caringbah’s finest; Jack O’ Grady came in hot and ground out cool…


 

DAY 6

Yesterday the rains came to Canberra. It got so torrential that we found ourselves trapped indoors all day with nothing but good company, conversation and old skate videos on YouTube. 

In the stagnate state of affairs I thought why not get a portrait of each fella and chuck it up on the blog. We found ourselves talking politics as the night went on which is quite fitting, being in the nation’s capital and all…

“John Howard is my favourite prime minister because he looks funny.” 

Dean Johnston, 2016

“If I were prime minister, I would give free water bills and cheaper electricity to pensioners.”

Jason Rainbird, 2016

“I wish we had Obama. My sister has a card board cut out of him.”

Sam Atkins, 2016

“I don’t know anything about politics so I honestly can’t speak on it. There was a guy in the NZ Greens Party who had dreads named Nando Tanchez or somethin. He had a skateboard. That’s all I know. I don’t know any of his policies.”

Geoff Campbell, 2016

“If you vote for me I guarantee you will have a smile in the future.”

Jack O’Grady, 2016

“I wish aboriginal heritage was embraced the same way Maori history is taught in New Zealand. Aroha!”

Hootie Andrewes, 2016

“I like Bob Hawke ‘cos he skulls beers at the cricket.”

Charles Robertson, 2016


 DAY 6

We made it to Canberraaaaa! Jack O’Grady and Charles Robertson bussed in from Sydney to join us for the rest of the trip. Good dudez, ol’ Squish and Char.

James is stoked to be in the sun because he saves heaps of money on fake tan lotion. This spot is awesome. Three of us got sacked on it.

Geoff and Hootie getting it. It’s hot out here, which is why Geoff wears odd shoes.

Debut album dropping FALL 2017…

Rainbird’s Summer get-up. Fashion: you probably wouldn’t understand… 

Rainbird hopping the fence. Props to the guys that have rolled away from tricks at this spot.

Canberra is like an Australian Venice. Am I the first person to say this? Yus.

Vibes be high, throw yo hands in the air like you just don’t care. Uncle Dean’s squad has a spot bible too. WE DON’T PLAY.

This old faithful… Charles is hungry for hammers.

We’ve been out late most nights keeping it LIT. We do not play!… Did I already say that?


DAY 5

Big day of driving today with only a few stops along the way. One of them being the Wagga Wagga scooterpark.

Sammy’s disobedient  toe is all fixed and back in it’s socket! Backside flip

Bird’s eye view of the boys while Rainy steps up to the spot

 Last minutes of sun for the day and back on the road to Canberra. More updates tomorrow..


DAY 4

Today we woke up in Moama, which is in New South Wales above The Murray River. On the other side of the river is Echuca which is in Victoria. That’s pretty tight.

 

Remember these? It’s called an iPod, and it plays Graduation by Vitamin C. Geoff’s fave.

First stop: Moama Skatepark.

We mainly skated the new extension but the whole park is super fun. Dean, Frontside Boneless.

Hootie with a smithers. I don’t think the locals have seen a skateboard before…

It’s all ya need…

Geoff showing the team how it’s done… Woof!

Straight outta Dunedin! A Crazy nollie flipper called Geoffrey!

We skated a school for a bit. Dean was buggered, you could say he was in quite a state. Spot Moama.

You can’t get much more rural than a tailslide on a garden hose. Trick of the trip contender for sure.

 

Midds and Dean in search for an entrance to Lake Mulwala.

Lots of time on the road. Lots of 90s pop music. Lots of good times…


DAY 3

When you’re taking photos from the roof of a school you’ve got about an 87.6% chance of coming down with some kind of ball. Today we scored a fluro green Sherrin footy. Right off the back of last night’s win by the mighty Western Bulldogs!

 Rainbird looks like a French chimney sweeper that makes beautiful landscape paintings in his spare time, while Dean looks like he manages Average Joe’s Gym, and sweeps chimneys between shifts.

 

Poor Sammy bunged his pinky toe this afternoon. That toe has a mind of its own.

SKATE BREAK! Go Dean, Go! Bump to bump.

This contraption is for people that have sore hands and difficulty holding drink containers.

Chimney sweepers… Told you!

If you’re ever in Bendigo looking for dinner, make sure you check out ‘CLOGS’, which is a pizza restaurant that’s been operating for 41 years.

 “Some of the best pizza we’ve ever eaten. 9/10… Would definitely try again…”  @nikesbau


DAY 2

Van lyf 2016… Hope Dean has some nice smells stashed in the esky, it’s only day 2 and it’s starting to smell funky in here.

“Hi, I’m Jason Rainbird: You might know me from beverages such as ‘Almond milk flat white with half a sugar’ and ‘Mocha Frappuccino…”

 Tradies standing around an invisible ditch they’ve just dug or a bunch of blokes standing by an invisible fireplace talking about footy? Nah, just skateboarders at the ol’ Gold museum tranny.

 This ain’t no pretty skatepark tranny. The tiles are cracked to buggery and it’s covered in gum leaves and twigs. Let’s just say only a few had the gum nuts to drop in on this thing…

Brekky sesh… Warm up sesh… Balla-rat sessshhhh!

Dean is bonkers!!!

Hootie, frontside flip

GREY MARLE HOODIE DAY!!!. Bring a friend to the skatepark and donate $1. All proceeds go towards people who can’t afford HD cameras.

What is this? ‘Misled Youth’ for ants?!!! Sam Atkins, all the way from Geelong, 5-0.

 Jason Rainbird jams full speed over an unknown person… called Dean.

Deep in the streets. The boys prep the spot with some good ol’ fashioned builders bog. A smooth run up is the key to my heart.

Fun fact: James Magnus James is from East Melbourne, not Tasmania. Cool camera, man.

Sam’s one of those people that grinds big rails for fun. I wish I could do this. Instead, I just grind my teeth anxiously in my sleep as I dream that I’m trying to do this in reality…

Success!!! #skateboardingisfun


DAY 1

As soon as we got in the van James James piped up with a little riddle for the ride. After about 2 hours Geoff cracked the Da Vinci code and figured it out! It drove us nuts. Have a go, without Googling the answer…

– CLICK HERE FOR ‘THE FOUR MEN IN HATS’ PUZZLE –

“Look ma, no board!” After dreaming of all the manoeuvres he could try here, Dean wasn’t about to let a bit of rainwater rain on his parade. Enter the ol’ heel clicker…

Just in case you were wondering; Rainbird skates for Nike SB… #NASCAR

“…and this is the scratch it got when Jason Dill bailed the switch back tail that went on to feature in the opening montage of…” The Parallels boys and Middsy sussing the well loved 2005 VX1000

Introducing Nike SB Australia’s new Team Manager, Geoff Campbell. After many years in the back of the van, this is Geoff’s first tenure at the wheel. Middsy (brand manager) is currently talking him through the transition from back seat to front seat and explaining what all those buttons and pretty lights on the contol panel actually do. Geoff is diesel

Last night was freezing. So cold in fact, that I resorted to putting my pyjama pants on under my trousers. Dean opted for the ‘jump stuff’ method…