There's a song by Lupe Fiasco that all skaters know. Some hate it, some love it but I feel like all of us can identify with the feeling he describes in the chorus. It goes "Kick, push, kick, push, coast." Now if you take those first four words and remove the fifth you have our North Island experience. Constant physical work with no substantial momentum gained.
     I know, I know. I can picture you playing the world's smallest violin and telling us to harden up and deal. But for real, when you're used to that general pattern of pushing and coasting, the absence of the latter starts to get to your head. Things start tweaking up top and you'll see Rob throwing his deck in frustration or me foaming at the mouth, cursing physics for abandoning us. It's probably a strange sight for motorists passing by.
     But after enduring a 3 hour, vomit-filled ferry ride over to the tip of the South Island (insane waves, everybody got sick), we witnessed a drastic change in the road conditions; simply put, they've improved significantly. Of course as I'm writing this the dudes are getting raw knuckles as they desperately knock on wood. I probably shouldn't be talking about it, we're not that far down the South Island. But still, it's looking really sweet right now. Finally, as if New Zealand has decided we're actually serious about getting to Dunedin, the coast factor has exploded in intensity.
     This has initiated a domino effect of positivity. Most importantly, we can skate further, faster and with less pain. The result is high spirits that inspire good jokes which inevitably evolve into ingenious pranks. Result: 3 happy Canadians and one disgruntled Aussie. Hey, someone's gotta be the recipient. Don't worry, it's not a xenophobic alliance, it's just that James' reactions are waaay too funny to resist. "You goys think yor soy cleeva doint yoy!?" Seriously, the best.
     And as if that's not enough, the vast scenery has somehow managed to get stepped up. Mountains peak into wispy clouds as we wind around them, passing jagged rock formations that jut out of the sea. And lining those ancient boulders are literally hundreds and hundreds of seals, all chilling after a hard day of fishing. Despite being very comfortable in the presence of humans, they can be quite aggressive, so obviously we've been testing the boundaries. I mean how are you not gonna try to pet the cutest lil' ocean puppy!?
     It's like a mystical beast world out here actually. We've also seen the standard cows, horses and sheep. But NZ has thrown reindeer, emus, llamas, dolphins and whales into the mix. Ahem...did you catch that? Ya, whales. No big deal, just THE BIGGEST ANIMALS ON THE FREAKING PLANET. Sorry, tiger got outta the cage there.
     Wanna know the most subtle but important addition to the skate? Ocean. Sure it's beautiful and calming and smells great, but that's really not the point. The point is that we can bathe. Now that may not sound appealing to you and your luxurious heated showers with soap and shampoo and loofas and jasmine scented candles and inflatable bath pillows and...i need to relax. But for us, crawling into a jammed tent that smells like fresh salt-water instead of the remarkable amalgamation of four men's natural odours is a blessing you can't imagine. Ocean, our nasal passages salute thee.
     So all in all, the first three days in the South have been mad epic, and things seem to be getting better.
     Now it's off to bed for you, the grown-ups have to heat up their porridge and go shred the gnar.

Keep pushing.
Daniel + The S4C Team

P.S. Rob says check out www.Push.ca to follow our skate and peep some sick Canadian-based skate culture.