How to travel with skateboard-obsessed kids

Carla GrossettiBy 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

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.

Carla Grossetti
Carla Grossetti avoided accruing a HECS debt by accepting a cadetship with News Corp. at the age of 18. After completing her cadetship at The Cairns Post Carla moved south to accept a position at The Canberra Times before heading off on a jaunt around Canada, the US, Mexico and Central America. During her career as a journalist, Carla has successfully combined her two loves – of writing and travel – and has more than two decades experience switch-footing between digital and print media. Carla’s CV also includes stints at delicious., The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Australian, where she specialises in food and travel. Carla also based herself in the UK where she worked at Conde Nast Traveller, and The Sunday Times’ Travel section before accepting a fulltime role as part of the pioneering digital team at The Guardian UK. Carla and has been freelancing for Australian Traveller for more than a decade, where she works as both a writer and a sub editor.
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Mornington Peninsula’s storied past: war, shipwrecks and a runaway convict 

    Kellie FloydBy Kellie Floyd
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    The Mornington Peninsula is a coastline of contrasts, where convict and military history meets shipwrecks, wild seas and adventures above and below the surface.

    The Mornington Peninsula can be the kind of place where salt-tangled hair feels like a badge of honour – proof you’ve been somewhere wild, raw and real. Peel back the layers and you’ll discover stories that anchor this region to something other than its famed food and wine.

    This land is the traditional Sea Country of the Bunurong/Boon Wurrung people. Long before grapevines were planted and artisanal goods were crafted, the Bunurong Traditional Owners lived in deep connection with the land and sea. Today, places such as Mushroom Reef Marine Sanctuary echo that tradition, with families exploring its rockpools in search of colourful sea stars and crabs at low tide and learning how these fragile ecosystems have been cared for across countless generations.

    a group of people visiting the Port Nepean National Park
    Take in the rugged coastal landscape at Port Nepean National Park. (Image: Tourism Australia)

    A visit to Point Nepean National Park feels like stepping back through time. The fort, built in 1882, protected the narrow entrance to Port Phillip Bay until the end of the Second World War. It was here that the first Allied shot of the First World War was fired – at a German cargo ship trying to escape just hours after war was declared. Nearby, the old Quarantine Station, one of Australia’s first permanent quarantine facilities, established in 1852, still stands. Walking through the hospital and disinfecting complex evokes stories of those who arrived from faraway shores.

    Not far from here is a story of survival that inspired the Aussie phrase ‘you’ve got Buckley’s chance’. In 1803, escaped convict William Buckley vanished into the bush near what’s now Sorrento. Everyone thought he had no hope of surviving, but he reappeared 32 years later, having lived with local Aboriginal people.

    Even the waters here hold history. The infamous stretch known as The Rip, just three kilometres wide at the entrance of Port Phillip Bay, is among the most treacherous waterways. Countless ships were lost here in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and in 1967, Australia’s own Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared while swimming off the coast, never to be found.

    a seal swimming in Port Phillip Bay
    A seal swimming in Port Phillip Bay. (Image: Tourism Australia/Two Palms/Harry Pope)

    But for all its danger, the sea here also holds extraordinary beauty. Dolphins are often seen near Sorrento’s cliffs, while below the surface, seagrass meadows and rocky reefs teem with life. Marine tours offer a viewing to this underwater wonderland, while back on terra firma, walking trails lead along beaches, through coastal scrub, and over rock pools.

    And if you think you’ll forget about the Mornington Peninsula once you’ve left? You’ve got Buckley’s chance.

    A traveller’s checklist

    Staying there

    the suite interior at InterContinental Sorrento
    Luxury interiors at the historic InterContinental Sorrento. (Image: Greg Elms)

    Point Nepean Discovery Tents is immersive glamping beside the historic Quarantine Station. Or upgrade to luxury at the 1875-built InterContinental Sorrento .

    Playing there

    an aerial view of Cape Schanck Lighthouse
    Make your way to the Cape Schanck Lighthouse. (Image: Tourism Australia/Two Palms/Harry Pope)

    Bayplay Adventure Tours offer eco-adventures from snorkelling with sea dragons to kayaking with dolphins and cycling Point Nepean. Cape Schanck Lighthouse is fascinating to explore on a guided tour, which takes you into the lighthouse and keeper’s cottage.

    Eating there

    Portsea Hotel is a beautifully restored 1876 Tudor-style pub right on the beach, serving seasonal local fare.