How to travel with skateboard-obsessed kids

Carla Grossetti Carla Grossetti
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The best way to see a city with children is to pack skateboards for a more portable commute, as Carla Grossetti explains.

The one thing my sons never leave home without are their skateboards and their skateboard gear from Free Skateshop. Our mantra is: ‘Have skateboard, will travel’. It’s how we roll.

 

The beauty of travelling with skateboards is that we have been better able to convince our two sons to take long walks with us when they know their efforts will be rewarded with a few runs at a new skate park.

 

The fact that many of our favourite getaways include long smooth paths along coastal foreshores means that as well as letting the kids carve it up to their happy place, we all get to enjoy a bit of exercise while exploring a new town or city.

 

When my boys, Fin and Marley, were really little, it was quite often hard work; we would pretzel our spines to push them along. But as well as giving them a feel for rolling on a skateboard, it got us all from A to B.

 

Now they are of an age where they like to ‘pop shove it’ in peace; we are equally happy to leave them momentarily at a skate park while we continue on our merry way.

 

When it comes to planning our day-to-day itineraries, our first move when visiting a new region is to find out where the local skate park is and plan our morning walks accordingly.

 

It often feels like a covert operation, to wake up while the city lights are still winking. But the fact that we all get up around dawn means we also time our runs when the skate parks aren’t too crewed out.

 

My husband grew up skateboarding in drainage ditches in Canberra and what he and I have noticed over the past decade is that many councils have realised that skateboard parks are an attraction: community assets that should be built in picturesque public places.

 

The Cairns City Council has been particularly progressive, with Cairns Skate Park the biggest of its kind in the country, integrating beautifully with a playground and beach volleyball park on the Esplanade.

 

The beauty of many of the newish skate parks is that the transitions and bowls have been built for everyone from rank beginners to world-class skaters.

 

Rather than encourage stealth boarding at the scuzzy end of town, more and more towns and cities are including skate parks to enhance the urban landscape as well as encourage social cohesion.

 

I also love that skateboarding encourages my children to do something that is active, healthy

Need tips, more detail or itinerary ideas tailored to you? Ask AT.

AI Prompt

Where to go for skateboard-friendly walks

• Lake Ginninderra foreshore (next to Belconnen Skate Park) in Canberra, ACT

 

• The Royal Park river-edge boardwalk (near the Royal Sk8 Park) in Launceston, Tas

 

• The green space around Princes Gardens (near Prahran Skate Park) in Prahran, Vic

 

• The walk to Yamba Point (near Yamba Skate Park), Yamba, NSW

 

Visit skateboard.com.au to find a skate park near you and fun while we stick together as a family. While we still occasionally cop a board bite in the Achilles, or have to compromise on our holiday wardrobes in favour of packing their hardware, cruising through the cityscape with our kids away from roads confused with cars and cyclists is a great way to navigate your way around. Stoked.

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Carla Grossetti
Carla Grossetti has written across print and digital for Australian Traveller and International Traveller for more than a decade and has spent more than two decades finding excuses to eat well and travel far. A prestigious News Corp cadetship launched her career at The Cairns Post, before a stint at The Canberra Times and The Sydney Morning Herald gave way to extended wanders through Canada, the US, Mexico, Central America, Asia and Europe. Carla was chief sub editor at delicious and has contributed to Good Food, Travel & Luxury, Explore Travel, Escape. While living in London, Carla was on staff at Condé Nast Traveller and The Sunday Times Travel desk and was part of the pioneering digital team at The Guardian UK.
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How a $1 deal saved Bendigo’s historic tramways

    Megan Arkinstall Megan Arkinstall
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    The passionate community that saved Bendigo Tramways has kept the story of this city alive for generations.

    It was an absolute steal: a fleet of 23 trams for just $1. But such a fortunate purchase didn’t happen easily. It was 1972 when the Bendigo Trust handed over a single buck for the city’s historic collection of battery, steam and electric trams, which had transported locals since 1890.

    inside the historic Bendigo Tram
    Bendigo Tramways is a historic transport line turned tourist service. (Image: Bendigo Heritage)

    The city’s tram network had been declared defunct since 1970 due to post-war shortages in materials to upkeep the trams and declining passenger numbers as motor vehicles were increasing. However, determined locals would not hear of their beloved trams being sold off around the world.

    The Bendigo Trust was enlisted to preserve this heritage, by converting the trams into a tourist service. The Victorian government approved a trial, however news spread that the Australian Electric Tramways Museum in Adelaide had acquired one of the streetcars for its collection.

    a tram heading to Quarry Hill in 1957
    A tram on its way to Quarry Hill in 1957. (Image: Bendigo Heritage)

    An impassioned group rallied together to make this physically impossible. Breaking into the tram sheds, they welded iron pipes to the rails, removed carbon brushes from the motors, and formed a blockade at the depot. The community response was extraordinary, and a $1 deal was sealed.

    A new chapter for the city’s fleet

    the old Tramways Depot and Workshop
    The old Tramways Depot and Workshop is one of the stops on the hop-on, hop-off service. (Image: Tourism Australia)

    Today, Bendigo Tramways welcomes some 40,000 passengers annually, operating as a hop-on, hop-off touring service aboard the restored trams. Fifteen of the now 45-strong fleet are dubbed ‘Talking Trams’ because of the taped commentary that is played along the route. The trams loop between Central Deborah Gold Mine and the Bendigo Joss House Temple, which has been a place of Chinese worship since 1871, via other sites including the old Tramways Depot and Workshop.

    a Gold Mine Bendigo Tram
    The fleet comprises 45 trams that have been restored. (Image: Visit Victoria/Robert Blackburn)

    Keeping things interesting, throughout the year visitors can step aboard different themed trams. Tram No. 302 becomes the Yarn Bomb Tram, decorated both inside and out with colourful crochet by an anonymous group of locals.

    During the festive season, Tram No. 15 operates as a tinsel-festooned Santa Tram, and the big man himself hides out somewhere along the route for excited children to find. And on selected dates, the adults-only Groove Tram runs nighttime tours of the city, accompanied by local musicians playing live tunes and a pop-up bar.

    the historic post office turned visitor centre in Bendigo
    Visitors can hop on and off to see the city’s sites such as the historic post office turned visitor centre. (Image: Tourism Australia)

    As well as preserving the city’s history, however, the continuation of the tram service has kept the skills of tram building and craftsmanship alive in a practical sense. Bendigo’s Heritage Rail Workshop is world-renowned for restoring heritage trams and repurposing vehicles in creative ways.

    Locally, for example, Tram No. 918 was transformed into the Dja Dja Wurrung Tram with original Aboriginal artworks by emerging artist Natasha Carter, with special commentary and music that shares the stories and traditions of Bendigo’s first people. You can’t put a price on preserving history. Nonetheless, it was a dollar very well spent.